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Direct & Collateral Damage of ICE Raids on Schools and Daycare

Aces and Trauma, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Protection, Children's Rights, Day Care and Education, Domestic Violence, KARA News and Events, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Reporting and News - US Based

Imagine being a child watching armed officers dragging children and teachers from your school and the chaos of citizen protesters risking violence to stop it. These attacks are destroying the fabric of your community and will make your next days, weeks, and months of classroom learning full of fear that it will happen again.

Targeting children in or around schools to enforce immigration laws is a profoundly traumatizing attack on children and ethical failure of a society’s duty protect minors.

Holding the Line For Children In Need of Protection

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Mental Health + Over Medication, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

What is it like to do social work, child protection, or nonprofit work with at‑risk children and families in this climate? How do you avoid being worn down by the steady drip of misinformation, negative media, and viral “anti‑CPS” narratives that are hitting workers and agencies hard?

Close-up of a child's face with braided hair and intense eyes.

Deep Dive Into “Child Neglect” & CPS Deregulation

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, KARA News and Events, NEGLECT, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based

Current federal and state conversations about CPS are moving in two, conflicting, directions: a push by advocates to sharply limit “family policing,” reduce mandatory reporting, and narrow or remove “neglect” in law, and an opposing concern from child protection and public health experts that weakening these protections without robust alternative supports will increase lifechanging child abuse and trauma for millions of America’s most vulnerable children.

Logo of Kara, an organization for kids at risk action.

Child Neglect & Substance Abuse Study

Aces and Trauma, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, NEGLECT, RESEARCH, Statistics

This study of 251 neglected children and 502 community matched control group over a 17 year period found that 32% of child abuse fatalities occurring in the same year were attributed to child neglect alone. Most of these children were unnoticed by teachers, law enforcement, healthcare workers and others and received no child protection or welfare services.

Every State Has Child Death by Abuse/Neglect, Only a Few Make the News

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Domestic Violence, Reporting and News - US Based, The States

This from Idaho today. The tip the iceberg reported on by Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota recently. Add to this the Federal Government’s “Bonfire of Deregulation” millions of abused and neglected children will be underserved and many more of them die of trauma and abuse in 2026.

Weaponizing of Trump’s Presidential Order

Aces and Trauma, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics

While Trump’s child welfare orders do not delete “neglect” from law, they lean heavily into language about “unnecessary removals” and “overreach” that can be weaponized by parental rights, MAGA, and some religious groups to argue that neglect rarely justifies CPS involvement.​

How the order’s framing minimizes neglect

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Responding to Richard Wexler’s Child Neglect Imprint News Article

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Children's Rights, Public Policy, Rebuttals & Guest Posts, Reporting and News - International, Statistics

Richard Wexler’s Child Neglect in America article uses a Swedish child neglect study to make sweeping claims about “American child neglect and poverty,” even though childhood conditions in the two countries are radically different. In the Nordic welfare states, far fewer children live in deep poverty and families receive broad supports like child benefits, paid leave, subsidized childcare, and universal health care, while U.S. child poverty is roughly twice as high and basic needs often go unmet without thin, means‑tested programs

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Mental Health Video & Podcast Resources for Abused & Neglected Children & Trauma Survivors

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child self harm and suicide, Mental Health + Over Medication, PODCAST & STREAMING

Below are KARA’s researched useful videos and podcasts on

child abuse and neglect mental health

ACEs, trauma, healing, and skill‑building cluster into a few groups: big‑picture science, practical trauma‑informed care, and survivor‑oriented healing content.

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What Teachers Can Do: Trauma‑Informed Classrooms and Child Protection

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Day Care and Education, Education, Mental Health + Over Medication, Reporting and News - US Based

TRAUMA INFORMED TEACHING, TRAUMA  INFORMED CLASSROOMS Teachers as Mandated Reporters and Frontline Defenders – Teachers are uniquely positioned—they often spend more awake hours with children than any other adult, especially for those from troubled homes. They are confidants, first responders, and witnesses to the silent suffering of abused, neglected, or traumatized students.

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Child Protection in the News (find your state here)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Mental Health + Over Medication, Public Policy, Religion, Politics + the Law, Reporting and News - US Based, The States

Child Protection in the News (find your state here) KARA reports on child abuse and child protection around the nation counting on readers sharing it with friends and policy makers in your community. Inform your legislators and changemakers and let’s work together to make life better for at-risk children and families.

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Fixing a Public Health Emergency

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Reporting and News - US Based

At some point, we and our policymakers must recognize what a crisis 7.8 million children being reported every year to child protective services is. Research suggests the true number of abused children is likely twice as high due to the invisible nature of the epidemic. This life ruining crisis has been escalating for decades, making chronic generational child abuse and neglect one of the most misunderstood and under-addressed public health emergencies in our history.

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Domestic Violence to a Five Year Old (living in a house of terror)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Child self harm and suicide, Domestic Violence, Public Policy, Religion, Politics + the Law, Reporting and News - US Based, Stunning Statistics

Watching mom beaten or raped is terror. Homeless mothers and children are many times more likely to be assaulted and molested.

Children of addicted and alcoholic moms and dads are beaten and raped more often too.

Trauma is *torture. Watching mom being raped is torture.

High Cost of Ignoring Childhood Trauma (Podcast)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, KARA News and Events, PODCAST & STREAMING, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics

Emma and Michael expose the staggering economic cost of ignoring childhood trauma. With U.S. taxpayers absorbing trillions in health care, education loss, criminal justice, and reduced productivity, the data paints a devastating picture:

America’s Childhood Trauma and ACEs Impact (podcast)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, KARA News and Events, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics

Emma and Michael expose how childhood trauma is quietly devastating the lives of millions of children—some as young as toddlers—who are misdiagnosed, overmedicated, and left unsupported in overwhelmed systems.

All About ACEs (Podcast)

#childabuse, #childprotection, Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Data, invisible children, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics

This episode of the Kids at Risk Action podcast dives into the science and societal impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—early life traumas like abuse, neglect, and household instability that dramatically shape physical and mental health outcomes. Through powerful commentary from child advocates

ACES Economic Burden on Healthcare (PODCAST)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Data, PODCAST & STREAMING, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics

In this PODCAST episode of Kids at Risk Action, Emma and Michael expose the massive $14.1 trillion economic toll of untreated childhood trauma in America. They connect the dots between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and long-term impacts on health, education, and the justice system

Logo for Kara, Kids at Risk Action organization.

Struggles for Foster Care Children in Education (podcast #4 in Foster Series)

Aces and Trauma, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Education, Featured Articles, Mikes Favorite Posts, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - US Based

how foster youth are systematically failed within America’s education system. They expose how constant school changes, untreated trauma, and misdiagnoses isolate these children, often pushing them into special education, overmedication, or even the juvenile justice system

Seeking Stories About Childhood Trauma

Aces and Trauma, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, KARA News and Events, LGBTQ, Their stories

KARA’s next book will be the gathered wisdom from those of us with stories about child abuse, child protection, and childhood trauma. Do you have a story you want to tell?

We invite writers to submit original work of 300-400 words for consideration in our upcoming book, (working title), CHILD ABUSE IN THE MIRROR.

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77 Years of Child Abuse (podcast)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Protection, Mental Health + Over Medication, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - US Based

Kids at Risk Action, Katie and Jenna explore the deep, lasting effects of childhood trauma through the lens of a survivor’s 77-year journey. They discuss how childhood abuse, often unrecognized, rewires the brain and shapes a lifetime of emotional struggles, relationships, and self-worth issues.

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Tip of the Mental Health Iceberg (podcast)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Mental Health + Over Medication, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - US Based

Kids at Risk Action, the hosts address the growing mental health crisis in child welfare, particularly in emergency rooms and foster care systems. They reveal alarming statistics, such as the significant rise in ER visits for children’s mental health crises and the systemic failures that leave many without proper care.

Child Protection/CPS: If Lawmakers Only Knew

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Mikes Favorite Posts, Reporting and News - US Based, Videos

Child Protection/CPS: If Lawmakers Only Knew (why they don’t – & why they should) Not many lawmakers come to the job understanding child abuse and what happens to children in CPS (Child Protective Services). Few legislators have experienced childhood trauma or the institution (CPS) that protects children from growing up in homes of life-threatening harm.