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 ACEs, trauma, healing, and skill‑building cluster into a few groups: big‑picture science, practical trauma‑informed care, and survivor‑oriented healing content. WHEN YOU Share KARA’s reporting with FRIENDS, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK good things will come a little bit faster. Small efforts = real results. Support KARA’s work with a small monthly donation: CLICK…

Child Protection Podcast Series (part 2)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Child self harm and suicide, PODCASTS

Check out KARA’s most current child abuse and child protection podcast series and hear their stories. Short Powerful Social Worker Interview(7minutes) Rising Numbers of Suicide and Self-Harm Among Children ((5 minutes) What it’s Like Being a CASA Volunteer Guardian ad Litem (2 minutes) Unpacking ACEs ((7 minutes) Listen to these child abuse and trauma expert…

Why We Are Failing To Save At Risk Children

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Child self harm and suicide, Children's Rights, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based

There is little transparency in Child Protective Services. If there were, more people (and legislators) would know and we might have the laws, programs, and support these children need. Today, access to information that should be public often requires a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

Making Life More Miserable For the Most Vulnerable Children In America

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child self harm and suicide, LGBTQ, Mikes Favorite Posts, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based

The head of the Federal Administration for Children and Families (Adam Alex), is attacking LGBTQ+ Foster Families over youth gender identity. Life is hard enough for foster families and the struggling LGBTQ+ children trying to rebuild lives filled with abuse and neglect in their birth homes and a growing sense of unwelcome in our communities. Federal policies demonizing queer children gins up hatred and legitimizes fear and violence against almost ten percent of Americans.

Child Endangerment (Star Tribune “IN HARM’S WAY”)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child self harm and suicide, Children's Rights, Reporting and News - MN Specific

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.

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.

Foster Child Self-Harm & Suicide June 2025

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - US Based

Childhood trauma, suicide and self-harm among American youth are at historic highs, with alarming increases among fosters, preteens, girls, LGBTQ+ youth, and children of color. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for ages 10–24, and nearly one in five high school students has seriously considered suicide in the past year. Rates of…

A Win For Abused Children of Minnesota

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Stunning Statistics

Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota has helped bring the issue of transparency of child abuse death and near death into the light and Legislature in our State. In about three weeks, Minnesota will create a statewide child fatality and near fatality review panel to track cases of children dying and suffering egregious harm while…

U.S. Child Death and Self-Harm Reporting

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

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,…

Remembering Young LGBTQ Lives & Moving Interview (guest post)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, LGBTQ, Rebuttals & Guest Posts, Reporting and News - US Based

How did you come to terms with your identity?

Being queer and the sexuality part wasn’t as hard for me. I always knew I liked women. The journey was then finding out who else I liked and what I didn’t like. I feel like when you first join the community, you’re not always presented with how many identities there are. I feel like a lot of people tend to come in uneducated, and I think that’s definitively how I came in. I come from a very homophobic town, so we didn’t have that many people that were out. I didn’t know much. I started identifying as queer because I’m still not sure. My gender identity took a lot longer…

What Child Protection Means In Minnesota

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

From Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota today; This Peabody Award Winning video documents the critical issues that lead to the gruesome murder of 6 year old Eli Hart and dangers facing all of Minnesota’s abused and neglected children. 

Hundreds of children have died while known to Child Protective Services. Some have been tortured over time. Many more children have suffered years of  trauma as the institution standards and practices of CPS have deteriorated.

There are no metrics or reporting made available about children’s suffering at the hands of their caregivers or the self-harm or suicide attempts of traumatized kids in the system.

LGBTQ Foster Care, Suicide & Ground Truths

Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, LGBTQ, Reporting and News - US Based

About a third of kids in NY’s foster care identify as LGBTQ and nationally, about 24% do.  40% of homeless kids in NY City identify as LGBTQ and 42% of them had been in foster care.

This NY Times article focuses on how hard life is for them.  Many of these youth and children are in foster care because their parents rejected them.

Many are homeless, depressed and leading dysfunctional lives.

Every year about 12,000 children aged 5-14 years old are admitted to psychiatric hospital units for suicidal behavior. This and all the information following are PRE COVID.

Young children who have attempted suicide are up to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide again in adolescence

Suicidal Children & Hospital Beds

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

For every six-year old foster child’s successful suicide (Kendrea Johnson), there are hundreds of attempts and many hundreds of self-harming incidents in hospitals and Child Protective Services (CPS) – many if not most of these incidents are never reported.

For every child killed while in child protection (recent Safe Passage investigative study of child maltreatment deaths) there are hundreds of children starved, beaten, raped and otherwise abused that  are never known outside the home

Child & Youth Suicides Feb 2023 (find your state here)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association have joined forces to declare a national emergency in children’s mental health, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today’s declaration is an urgent call to policymakers at all levels of government — we must treat this mental health crisis like the emergency it is,

Alito’s Story

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

Repeated self-harm and hospital trips for healing were his normal behavior when he was depressed. He would cut himself and stuff objects into the wound – a paper clip, staple or anything he could find. This poor boy was a product of rape and incest.

His mother was raped by her father when she was 13. She abandoned her son to State Care at birth. Acanto never experienced love or the warmth of a family. Alito shared with me that the only love or tenderness he ever felt was nurses caring for his wounds.