International Rights of the Child VS. Child Rights In America
It is important to note that the U.S. is the only nation in the world to not have ratified the United Nation’s RIGHTS OF THE CHILD TREATY of the 1980s.
State of Foster Care In America (Week of 8.28.24)
American Fosters are struggling. These reports from around the nation indicate a great need for more help for at risk families and safe homes for children unlucky enough to be born into toxic homes.
Overwhelmed Institutions & Public Policy
To be fair, what does an overwhelmed institution do when caseloads double and budgets are cut in half? Rural counties will always be underfunded, understaffed and unable to provide the level of service larger urban areas can with their larger budgets giving them more options.
Thank You Ann Ahlstrom (MN Guardian Ad Litem Board Chair)
From Ann Ahlstrom (bold emphasis from KARA)
August 19, 2024
Greetings Minnesota Volunteer Guardians ad Litem:
Self-Destructive Habits of Institutions
Let’s imagine a government that controls (1) automobile safety standards, (2) the state inspection for compliance with automobile safety standards (3) the automobile repair industry, all within the same department, and all done in official secrecy so as to protect the privacy of would-be drivers.
And let’s also suppose that the people who drive automobiles are, 98% of them, poor and very young people, who have no effective political voice.
KARA’s Invisible Children Traveling Community Conversations
This fall and winter, KARA is inviting universities, community centers, and businesses to engage our INVISIBLE CHILDREN COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS.
FOSTER CARE REALITIES (the problem and solutions)
FOSTER CARE REALITIES
Children are fostered only if they have been removed from homes where egregious harm has happened to them and a judge thinks their lives are in imminent danger.
Child Endangerment (Star Tribune “IN HARM’S WAY”)
The Star Tribune’s investigative report titled “IN HARM’S WAY” provides a rare glimpse into the world of Child Protective Services. This report illuminates the disheartening fact that children often do not have a right to safety.
Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters of Child Abuse
Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters of Child Abuse – A lawsuit and threatened firing of a 40-year veteran nurse and mandated reporter in California is ruining my week. This will bring fear to nurses and other mandated reporters of child abuse everywhere.
Child Protection/CPS: If Lawmakers Only Knew
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.
KARA Award Winning Video (6 minutes)
Who Will Speak For The Children?
Child Protection work is hard. Community CASA volunteers (Court Appointed Special Advocate) speak for abused and neglected children in County Child Protection.
Volunteer CASA Guardians ad Litem spend their days with abused and neglected children that have been raped, neglected, beaten, and tortured by other means.
Child Protection Intake Notes (through the eyes of a child)
Intake notes from County CPS
These are a tiny sample of County intake notes
social workers and guardians ad Litem are assigned each week;
Recent Child Suicide and Self-Harm Articles Around the Nation
What parents should do after a child’s suicide attempt? Answering caregivers’ frequently …
KARA Presentation Janesville CASA (heart of the matter)
KARA Presentation Janesville CASA (heart of the matter)
Child Protection work is hard. Community CASA volunteers (Court Appointed Special Advocate) speak for abused and neglected children in County Child Protection.
Volunteer CASA Guardians ad Litem spend their days with abused and neglected children that have been raped, neglected, beaten, and tortured by other means.
Part II: NonTransparency in Child Protective Services (CPS)
The lack of transparency regarding the well-being of children in Child Protection Services leads the public to assume that everything is satisfactory, which is frequently not the case. Unlike any other American institution, Child Protection closely guards its client outcomes metrics. The extent of childhood trauma, torture, suicide, self-harm, depression, school failure, and mental health crises remains largely unknown to us.
Non-Transparency In Child Protective Services (find your state here)
Read more below to follow the conversation
about the absence of transparency in
Child Protective Services
KARA – CASA Ad Grant Initiative ($120,000 annually)
KARA’s Google Ad Grant Initiative for CASA’s
The U.S. has 950 CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) organizations consisting of community volunteers trained as County Guardian ad Litems advocating for abused and neglected children in Court within Child Protection Services.
U.S. Child Welfare Articles May 8 & 9 2024 – (From the Children’s Bureau)
Sign up HERE for KARA’S free Friday updates Support KARA Programs Here KARA Maintains this site with the hope that this information will compel you to share it with media contacts, lawmakers and other changemakers. change won’t come without you. KIDS AT RISK NONPROFIT EIN: 510570258 INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION Who represents me in…
New Child Fatalities Database (thank you Safe Passage for Children of MN)
New Child Fatalities Database (thank you Safe Passage for Children of MN)
WI Child Abuse Reporting April 1- May 9 2024
WI Child Abuse Reporting April 1- May 9 2024
MN Child Abuse Reporting April 1 – May 9 2024
MN Child Abuse Reporting April 1 – May 9 2024 | INVISIBLE CHILDREN
CASA of Rock County’s Break The Cycle Luncheon
CASA of Rock County’s Break The Cycle Luncheon
CASA Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Opportunities
information from the CASAMN website about Guardian ad Litem volunteer opportunities, CASA CARES grants for Minnesota children, and updates on the program’s recent newsworthy events.
U.S. Child Death and Self-Harm Reporting
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. KARA reports on the issues of invisible children These articles compiled by Former CASA Guardian Ad Litem Mike Tikkanen Signup For KARA’s FREE Friday Morning Updates All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION These articles and videos about child abuse,…
Realities of Mandated Reporting (why child abuse reporting is sporadic)
Mandated Reporters genuinely fear for their safety and reputation and regularly fail to report (or, “see”) horrific child abuse to avoid potential damage to themselves.
DATA WORTH HAVING (for making informed decisions)
Is Child Protection Services (CPS) creating what it was designed to stop? KARA reports on the issues of invisible children This article submitted by Former CASA Guardian Ad Litem Mike Tikkanen Signup For KARA’s FREE Friday Morning Updates All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION This…
Child Abuse Prevention In America (videos & articles)
articles and videos about child abuse prevention and child protection
Keep Minnesota children safe in Child Protection
Today’s Safe Passage for Children of MN’s action request to keep children safe in Child Protection: A small effort with big dividends. Share this with your State Representative (find them here). On Monday, a group of us gathered at the Capitol to meet with key legislators about Minnesota’s child protection system. We shared the stories…
Education in 2024 – Educating At Risk Children (what tomorrow looks like)
This is a synopsis of Education Week’s last 12 months of reporting on conditions in American schools today with attention to educating abused and neglected children. It’s a deep dive into what it means to be a teacher in America today.
Celebrating Minnesota’s CASA Guardian Ad Litem Progress
Celebrating Minnesota’s CASA Guardian Ad Litem Progress
KARA – CASA Ad Grant Initiative ($120,000 annually)
KARA’s Google Ad Grant Initiative for CASA’s
The U.S. has 950 CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) organizations consisting of community volunteers trained as County Guardian ad Litems advocating for abused and neglected children in Court within Child Protection Services.
200 Child Abuse Calls Each Day (76,000 calls / year)
Currently, there is little information is available about an abused child’s safety when CPS makes the decision to investigate. “Family Assessment shouldn’t be the default. It should be the “alternative response” it was intended to be.
New Linked In Group For Volunteer CASAs & All Guardian ad Litem (interactive)
KARA’s New Linked In Group Guardian ad Litems Exchanging Learning & Ideas is gathering and sharing information from the 950 CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in the U.S. and similar child advocacy models around the world. Please share this with your child advocacy friends wherever they may be: Search for: Guardian ad Litems sharing conditions,…
Don’t Leave It To the Professionals (thank you Naomi Schaefer Riley)
Minnesota’s struggle to keep a strong CASA volunteer force advocating for abused and neglected children in the state has captured the interest of Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of NO WAY TREAT A CHILD and writer with City Journal (a national publication). Read her complete article here. Excerpt from Naomi’s article: “One major problem with child…
Leadership and Child Protection
What should leadership look like in Child Protective Services? What should leadership look like in Child Protective Services? The CASA guardian ad Litem volunteer program motto is “For the Child”. The heart and soul of the CASA program is to give voice to the child in the institution of Child Protective Services (CPS). Being removed…
Professionalism In Child Protection
Professionalism In Child Protection “professionalize” the Guardian ad Litem role vs leveraging a both paid staff and trained volunteers
Lies We Tell Ourselves About Child Sex Abuse
Lies We Tell Ourselves About Child Sex Abuse: the incidence of sexual abuse in child protection cases has been increasing over the years. The reported percentages for sexual abuse were 17.9% in 2014, 20.9% in 2015, 23.7% in 2016, 24.9% in 2017, and 26.4% in 2018
A CPS Reality Check (good for admin – bad for children)
CPS reality check in the current political battle for community CASA guardian ad Litems in MN. To put it bluntly, what’s good for the administrators often may be bad for the children.
Mike Tikkanen’s Public Comments to the Guardian ad Litem Cost Effectiveness Analysis Report
Mike Tikkanen’s Public Comments on the Guardian ad Litem Cost Effectiveness Analysis
for the Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Board Dated September 15, 2023
This report (the actual final report is posted below)
Minnesota Children Killed By Caregivers While Known to CPS (& how to stop it)
2023 Investigative Report on MN Children Killed
by Caregivers While in Child Protective Services
HUGE NEWS: Former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz Appointed to MN Guardian ad Litem Board
After years of turmoil caused by GAL management’s efforts to end the Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer program, Minnesota’s former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has been appointed to the GAL board.
Chief Justice Blatz attended the recent GAL board meeting where the vote was being taken to end the CASA program. She made observations and asked questions that prompted enough board member no votes to stop the elimination process.
What’s It Like For Troubled Teens Where You Live?
What’s it like to be a CASA guardian ad Litem (child protection worker) unable to find safe housing and mental health services for the 14-year-old struggling foster boy in your caseload? This child’s self-harming and violent behaviors could change if there was help to manage behaviors triggered by childhood traumas. These children can go on…
CPS Intake Notes (what it’s like from the inside)
Intake notes from County CPS
These are a tiny sample of County intake notes
social workers and guardians ad Litem are assigned each week;
International Rights of the Child Treaty (& why jails are full)
Over 25 years ago the rest of the world (194 nations) decided that children have basic human rights and begin signing the International Rights of the Child Treaty. Under this document, children are to have the rights to education, safety and well being including not to be made soldiers, not to be enslaved).
America is the only nation that has not signed that agreement, largely because we still demand that southern states continue to militarize youth as young as eleven, through military schools.
A Courageous Vote! Thank You Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Board For Saving CASA Volunteer Program
Thank you, Former MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz, for your comments and questions at this board meeting. Your words enlightened board members of the need for an open and objective investigation into the CASA volunteer program in the effort to provide safety and stability to Minnesota’s abused and neglected children.
When Is Child Abuse a Crime
If I had committed the crimes parents perpetrated upon their own children in my CASA guardian ad Litem cases, I would be writing this from jail.
Saving Minnesota’s Vulnerable Children
Understanding why children die violent death a the hands of their parents while in Child Protective Services (CPS) can save them (share this): Lawmakers address issues that people demand action on. Actions that will get them re-elected. This is all about invisible children (kids at risk that don’t have a voice at the State House).…
Were Governor Walz State Board Members Misled About Volunteers (and what it could mean)?
There is a political battle being waged over the elimination of qualified community volunteers in Child Protective Services. There are too many pieces of this puzzle to include in this article, but one piece must be addressed to determine if wrongdoing has happened in the drive to eliminate the Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers. KARA has sent two requests to Governor Walz Guardian ad Litem State Board members over the past few months requesting a conversation about their role in making this critical decision.
Highlights on Family Assessment and Child Death from Star Tribune Child Abuse Reporting Part I
These highlights on Family Assessment and Child Death from recent Star Tribune Child Abuse reporting (1, 2, 3) are the tip of the iceberg. Read to the end to get KARA’s historical perspective of how Child Protective Services (CPS) has evolved over the years and its current iteration.
CASA MN Newsletter (Guardian ad Litem News & Updates)
CASA MN Newsletter (Guardian ad Litem News & Updates)