Minnesota At Risk Children’s News June 2017
Officials Investigate Child’s Death In Osseo
High Hopes For Hennepin County’s New Child Protection Model (keeping up with reports of abuse)
Today’s heartening Star Tribune article gave me hope that I’ve not had in decades for the saving of abused and neglected children from extended traumas and ruined lives.
“No longer will a child need to endure maltreatment before they get social services in Minnesota’s most populous county, an unprecedented step in the state”.
Thank you Task Force on Child Protection, Safe Passage For Children, Governor Dayton and all the legislators and supporters standing for the weakest and most vulnerable children in our community.
Additional funding for staff, reduced caseloads, responding to child abuse reports at all hours (including weekends) and focusing on the child’s well-being instead of the crisis mode required after traumatic abuse has been endured (usually for years) will make a huge difference in the lives of these kids.
By making services available to struggling families and insuring that very young children reported as abused receive face-to-face assessments and the help they need, we will be interrupting patterns of behavior that can ruin a child’s life forever and making their lives safer and happier.
The ACE’s (Adverse Child Experience) medical studies have proven the negative mental health outcomes of childhood trauma.
Minnesota Child Protection News April/May 2017
Kids At Risk Acton gathers news about abused Minnesota’s abused children monthy and provides a snapshot of Child Protection to demonstrate how our state values its children.
If you are an aspiring writer/reporter, KARA needs you to help gather and report on these stories.
Contact mike@invisiblechildren.org with REPORTING in the subject line.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
Follow;
Safe Passage For Children MN (Join them and make child friendly legislation a reality)
CASAMN (become a guardian ad Litem and speak for abused children)
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
Advocating For Minnesota Children Right Now (thank you Safe Passage for Children)
Dear Safe Passage Advocate,
This is the final week of the legislative session and the two bills that will have the most benefit to children are still in play and being negotiated by the Governor and legislative leaders.
Let’s do everything we can to make sure funding for these priorities ends up in the final package.
Please call or email the Governor’s Office, your state Senator, and your state Representative now with the brief message below.
If you prefer to leave a phone message, an easy way to get phone numbers for your legislators is to send a text to #520 – 200 – 2223 with your zip code, you will receive numbers back for your state and federal representatives.
The Governor’s number is #651 – 201 – 3400.
Tax Cuts To Children (thank you Safe Passage for Children of MN)
Safe Passage for Children really nails it in this short paragraph (below) about how legislators just don’t know what child friendly programs do or how they work. It’s also true that it’s been proven by very conservative people that investing in children is the most effective investment of tax dollars a society can make.
It hurts me that we routinely deny other people’s children daycare, mental health services, food, insurance, early & high quality education and the things children in most other developed nations get lots of. There appears to be little concern about the long term effects or the cost to our community (tax base, jails, school quality, public health and public safety) of allowing at risk youth to pass through childhood without the basic well-being attributes required to cope with life and lead a normal existence. All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children.
Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota (and how lawsuits help two year olds)
Sad as it may be, lawsuits might be the most effective tool available for abused and neglected children to get the services they need from the state. Today’s message from Safe Passage for children of Minnesota about the AFSCME union lawsuit (below) is one of several game changing service provider suits that I have witnessed. The recent suit threatened by MN sheriffs worked to the advantage of at risk youth as it opened up the conversation around the lack of mental health services in this state (and most other states). The AFSCME suit points out how unfair it is to load up case after case on workers doing an almost impossible job and them blaming them when things go badly for a child (it always seems to be the social workers fault when a terrible child story hits the paper.
Legislators have all they can do to answer the people they have yelling at them (business interests, sports fans and transportation enthusiasts among them)
Abused children don’t have a say in the matter and things continue to degrade in in their young lives until some adult somewhere does something. Sue the pants off of em (my grandmother used to say and now I see why.
Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota article;
Child Abuse – Numbers & Why They Matter (thank you Chris Serres & Star Tribune)
MN has recently forcibly closed foster group homes in St Cloud and Buhl and housed state ward children in hospital rooms because there was no place else to put them.
How would it make you feel as a traumatized six year old to live in a hospital room because our community just does not have the money or concern to find you a home?
Not normal, not loved or of any value at all.
Think about becoming a volunteer CASA guardian ad Litem (or making a donation to a fund that gives foster children things that the state does not provide – make them more like your children
SAFE PASSAGE FOR CHILDREN MN (Federal audit of MN child welfare shows inadequate metrics, resources, quality assurance & training)
If you live and Minnesota and are willing to make time for one trip a year to the Capital in St Paul to speak for a child, there is nothing more meaningful that you could do for at risk children than volunteer with Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota. The appointment with your state legislator/s is arranged by Safe Passage for Children and you are provided a brief outline of the key issues facing abused children for you to share with your legislator.
Meeting time is seldom over 15 minutes but that will be enough time for you to show commitment to children and share the most critical information available with someone who can make a difference in the lives of the children you are advocating for.
Your state legislators actually do listen to you and they care what you have to say. Without your 15 minutes of child advocacy, legislators have little insights into the issues facing abused and neglected children. After all, children have no voice in the homes they are raised in, the media or government (they can’t vote).
Thank you Safe Passage for another powerful day on the hill
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
Minnesota Child Protection News March 2017
MN Child Protection News March 2017
KARA gathers news about abused Minnesota’s abused children every month and provides a snapshot of Child Protection and how our state values its children.
If you are an aspiring writer/reporter, KARA needs you to help gather and report on these stories.
Contact mike@invisiblechildren.org with REPORTING in the subject line.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
Follow;
Safe Passage For Children MN (Join them and make child friendly legislation a reality)
CASAMN (become a guardian ad Litem and speak for abused children)
KARA Star Tribune Articles; Child Protection Who Will Speak For Children?
KARA Star Tribune Articles; Child Protection Who Will Speak For Children?
Child Death and County Transparency (not) From Safe Passage For Children MN
This year local media have covered five child murders and one near-fatality at various stages of resolution. Links to the stories are here.
In only one case is there public information about whether county child protection was involved.
State law requires each county to review its child abuse related fatalities and near-fatalities, and to submit their findings to the Department of Human Services (DHS) in a report that is publicly available. Counties have either ignored our requests for these reports or sent cautiously worded summaries in their place.
More accountability and transparency are needed.
DHS is currently deciding whether to immediately release these reports to the public when they receive them from counties. We encourage them to do so. If not we will propose legislation to make this a requirement.
Join the Discussion on Facebook
Minnesota Child Protection News January & February 2017
Man In Custody Following Death Of Eagan Woman, Unborn Child
CBS Local
“We are devastated at the tragic death of my daughter Senicha and her unborn son. She was a loving, kind, smart and beautiful young woman who …
Woman killed in Eagan home ID’d; her 32-week fetus also died – Minneapolis Star Tribune
Full Coverage
Flag as irrelevant
Pregnant woman found dead in Eagan townhome was ‘excited to be a mother’
TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
Pregnant woman found dead in Eagan townhome was ‘excited to be a mother’ … Lane, a neighborhood east of Minnesota 13 and south of Lone Oak Road. … “We are devastated at the tragic death of my daughter Senicha and her …
Flag as irrelevant
Social Work (from the smartest person in the room – Dee Wilson from the Casey Foundation)
I had the honor of sitting next to Dee Wilson when he delivered the Casey Family Assessment of Hennepin County’s Child welfare system to the Hennepin County Commissioners (Minnesota’s Child Endangerment Model). Dee drew attention to damage being done by the toxic atmosphere in the Child & Family Services system, the inability of St Joseph’s home for children to manage the level of trauma their young clients were living with and pointed out the red herring that HIPPA laws have created by forbidding almost any public discussion of the conditions within the homes of abused children and the institutions of child protection. I resonated with how social workers are traumatized by their work and how community based solutions involving stakeholders and redefining what we want for outcomes.
All a part of why turnover is high in social work and terrible policies doom children and families to more cyclical trauma and failure.state child welfare systems
ssss
When reading Dee’s recapping of County screened out rates remember that when 4 year old Eric Dean died after 15 reports of child abuse by mandated reporters, there were 4 MN counties that screened out 90% of all child abuse calls.
Dee keeps a blog and wrote something recently that every social worker needs to read. He is the smartest person in the room on the topic.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
The Child Neglect Dilemma (from Safe Passage For Children)
Contrary to a common assumption, neglect is not less damaging than abuse. Research shows neglect victims have lifelong problems because they miss developmental milestones around language, self-control, and bonding with others.
A constant dilemma in neglect cases is whether to traumatize children by removing them from their families, or leave them in situations where their brains aren’t developing normally.
Quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs can make it possible to leave children at home while helping their parents improve parenting skills.
This study documents that neglect victims who got ECE moved quickly from having a language deficit to the normal range. Language development is critical to academic success and positive interpersonal relationships.
ECE can help many children avoid foster care and still obtain the baseline skills they need to thrive.
Join the Discussion on Facebook
Make a difference for the children of Minnesota today,
Donate Here!
Better Futures for Minnesota Children (from Safe Passage For Children MN)
Mission:
To rebuild the Minnesota child welfare system so children are safe and reach their full potential.
Vision:
There will always be a group of Minnesota citizens who advocate on behalf of victims of child maltreatment, and who will hold counties and the state accountable for continuously improving outcomes for these children and their families.
Goal:
Our goal is to build a child protection and foster care system in Minnesota that
continuously improves the lives of children, as demonstrated by objective, measurable outcomes. If the system is working well children’s outcomes will improve over time.
The following are major milestones for achieving this goal:
Read More
Read More
By 2017 all children will be periodically assessed for their level of trauma starting when they first enter child protection.
By 2019 all children in the system will be periodically assessed for improvements in their cognitive and physical development, as well as in measures of behavioral and mental health.
Workers and supervisors will be accountable for improving these outcomes for individual children as monitored through quality reviews and updates to the courts.
Counties will be accountable for improving outcomes for children in their caseloads overall as shown by summary reports.
In subsequent years our goal is to continue to monitor outcomes at the county and state levels, and advocate for necessary budget allocations, practice improvements, and related resources to ensure that the child protection system is continually improving its response to children.
Minnesota 7 Year Old Dies as a Martyr to a Parents Religion
Adopted seven-year old Seth Johnson has suffered terribly for years and it appears has died a painful (avoidable) death at the hands of Tim and Sarah Johnson. Thank you Paul Walsh, Brandon Stahl & Star Tribune.
The parents have moved to New Zealand and will most likely use a religious exemption defense that is very often successful as this case proceeds.
Minnesota At Risk Children’s News December 2016
Brandon Stahl Reporting KARA gathers news about abused Minnesota’s abused children every month and works to provide a snapshot of Child Protection and how our state values its children. If you are an aspiring writer/reporter, KARA needs you to help gather and report on these stories. Contact mike@invisiblechildren.org with REPORTING in the subject line. All…
Minnesota’s Mental Health Problem (probably your state’s mental health problem too)
Minnesota’s Mental Health Problem (probably your state’s mental health problem too)
The better part of being a volunteer County Guardian ad Litem is knowing that the 7 year old you advocate for will no longer be prostituted, or starved, beaten or sexually abused on a daily basis any more.
The saddest part of being a volunteer County guardian ad Litem is knowing that the children you helped save from the evils and traumas they lived with for so long were only kind of saved.
The guardian ad Litem cannot save the child from the suicidal ideation effects of Prozac or plethora of other psychotropic medications that are standard operating procedure in treated behavioral problems of state ward children.
About a third of children in my caseload were forced to take psychotropic medications like Prozac (they have no choice – the drugs are forced on them).
Nor can the guardian help the child to cope with the results of horrific traumas visited upon them.
We lobby for mental health services and feel like we have accomplished something when a psychological evaluation is ordered. The downside is that the resources to see that a meaningful percentage of abused children get into successful programs like the Washburn Center for Children just don’t exist. Instead we rely on the cheaper alternative, Prozac like drugs.
In 2014, America forced Prozac like drugs on 20,000 + one and two-year old children. One manufacturer (Johnson & Johnson) was fined 4 billion dollars for illegally selling these drugs to pediatricians for use on very young children (with 4 thousand cases awaiting trial and that is just one manufacturer).
Minnesota At Risk Children’s News November 2016
Recommendations Announced For Improving Child Services
CBS Local
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Hennepin County leaders are making new recommendations to help protect children in Minnesota. A child protection …
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Hennepin County discussing $26 million child protection plan that would add nearly 250 new staffers
Minneapolis Star Tribune
No longer would children need to endure maltreatment before they get social services in Minnesota’s most populous county. … Hennepin County has had 15,400 child protection reports so far this year, but county leaders expect to …
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Hennepin County shifts child protection mission with new model
Minneapolis Star Tribune
No longer will a child need to endure maltreatment before they get social services in Minnesota’s most populous county, an unprecedented step in the …
Flag as irrelevant
Minnesota At Risk Children’s News October 2016
Teen Arrested In Mpls. Shooting That Killed Man, Baby
CBS Local
Teen Arrested In Mpls. Shooting That Killed Man, Baby … Minnesota History Center Highlights Football Past, Present And FutureThe Minnesota …
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Lakeville parents charged with child neglect
Minnesota Public Radio News
A couple that was reported missing from Lakeville last week has been charged with neglecting their two young children during the five days they spent …
Charges: Minnesota parents lived in car 5 days, didn’t bathe or feed 2 boys – Duluth News Tribune
Full Coverage
Flag as irrelevant
Minnesota Child Protection Stories September 2016
Protesters call for boycott of Varsity Theater, Loring Pasta Bar
Minnesota Daily
The protest was meant to educate the campus community of sexual abuse … The lawsuits were filed under the Child Victims Act, which extended the … any of it,” said first-year University of Minnesota neuroscience student Mary Ellen …
Flag as irrelevant
Mother and boyfriend charged in MN toddler’s death
KFGO
ANOKA, Minn. (AP) – Authorities have filed charges against the mother of a Blaine toddler who died and her boyfriend. Anoka County Attorney Tony …
Couple charged in child death – Valley News Live
Two adults charged in connection with toddler’s death – White Bear Press
Full Coverage
Flag as irrelevant
Charges filed in murder of Blaine, Minnesota toddler
KMSP-TV
A man wanted in the murder of a toddler and kidnapping of a 5-year-old girl in Blaine, Minnesota was arrested Wednesday morning by the Missouri …
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Around the state: Mother, boyfriend charged in toddler’s death
Post-Bulletin
MINNEAPOLIS — A trial in Minnesota district court will test whether suburban … The toddler died at the scene from injuries that authorities say were …
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Child vs Family 2 (thank you safe passage for children of MN)
This article from Safe Passage for Children bears repeating;
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) research shows that abuse disrupts children’s brain development in ways that often aren’t reversible. This is a reason for county child protection agencies to remove children from abusive situations. But there are also benefits to keeping children at home.
Historically counties favored keeping families intact, sometimes despite serious ongoing abuse. Today they are giving child safety more weight. But we still basically have a bad either/or choice: remove children or leave them at risk.
We need services that keep children in stable settings while preserving relationships with parents and fostering safe reunions. Concepts that have surfaced include supportive community residences where parents and children live together, and foster care with a parent mentoring component.
Experimenting with ideas like these could resolve this child vs family dilemma. Join this Safe Passage Discussion on Facebook
Minnesota Child Protection News August 2016
KARA gathers news about abused Minnesota’s abused children every month and works to provide a snapshot of Child Protection and how our state values its children. If you are an aspiring writer/reporter, KARA needs you to help gather and report on these stories. Contact mike@invisiblechildren.org with REPORTING in the subject line. All Adults Are…
Children Feeling Betrayed (thank you Safe Passage for Children & PBS)
Children who are badly abused sometimes seek help from teachers, extended family, or social workers. When they get none they feel profoundly betrayed by adults. This can have lifelong consequences for the children and society, as this PBS story illustrates.
Today’s dominant political view is that children are nearly always better off with their families. This creates systemic pressures to leave children where they are even when abuse is extreme.
Decisions should be based on each child’s best interests. Children shouldn’t be vehicles for the politics of ideology, culture or race. They don’t care about these things. They just want the pain to end.
Children don’t participate in policy-making. Their interests can only be factored into child protection practices by adults who comprehend their anguish and speak out for them.
Important Child Protection News From Safe Passage For Children – Outside Review Needed
Representatives of counties and the Department of Human Services recently presented the Minnesota legislature with a revised plan for implementing the Governor’s Child Protection Task Force recommendations. It proposed $500,000 for an already agreed-upon outside review of screening practices (Recommendation #25).
This price tag could discourage legislators from funding the project. But the actual cost would probably be under $100,000 – more like $25K.
The review would address issues that are blocking progress on other recommendations, including whether to continue interviewing children in front of their alleged abusers. It would also provide a framework for developing a fact-finding protocol, which workers would be trained in to determine the most appropriate child protection response.
We encourage the Department to include this review in their 2017 budget using the most accurate number possible.
Join the Discussion on Facebook
MN Child Protection News July 2016
Hundreds of Minnesota teens confined, abused for no … – Star Tribune
www.startribune.com/confined…teenager…minnesota…/389387061/
Star Tribune
4 days ago – Confined without charges, a teenager’s ordeal reveals strains within … Hundreds of Minnesota teens with mental health problems are winding …
Moms emerge as force for change at Minn. state mental … – Star Tribune
www.startribune.com/mothers…as-a…minnesota…mental…/388084502/
Star Tribune
Jul 24, 2016 – Mothers emerge as a force for change at Minnesota state mental hospital … to advocate for their sons who are psychiatric patients at the hospital Tuesday, July …. Delta cancels hundredsmore flights in wake of Monday outage · Lynx head off … A black teenager encounters racism in the Twin Cities suburbs.
Minnesota’s Back Story; Treating Children’s Mental Health
Today’s Star Tribune article (thank you Chris Serres) exposing the violence done to Minnesota’s youngest citizens while in state care reminded me of my own experiences growing up.
In my middle class 1977 neighborhood, the family next door’s 15 year old grandson became psychotic and behaved dangerously.
Mom and dad tried to find him mental health help to no avail.
The only option that provided treatment for their son was the Juvenile Justice system. The boy’s entrance into the system required he be charged with a crime. Their son killed himself a few years later.
Minnesota At Risk Children’s News June 2016
Child Victims Act expires, but effects remain to be seen
Duluth News Tribune
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court reported that 125 abuse claims were filed … It’s been a little more than a week since the Minnesota Child Victims Act …
Sacred Heart sued in clergy sexual abuse case dating back to 1960s
Grand Forks Herald
Sacred Heart in East Grand Forks is joining a growing list of Minnesota Catholic entities sued for clergy accused of sexual abusing children.
A Minnesota school pulls bait-and-switch while pretending to protect transgender students
Daily Kos
On the surface, Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, has … the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Child Protection League to …
Man, 82, to pay four female family members $150K sexual abuse settlement
Grand Forks Herald
The lawsuit was possible because of the Minnesota Child Victim Act, a 2013 law that temporarily waived the statute of limitations in child sex abuse …
Charges: ND Woman Leaves 2 Kids In Home Without Plumbing
CBS Local
Forty-nine-year-old Antoinette Liggett recently pleaded guilty to a felony child neglect charge. Her sentence includes about four months at a re-entry …
Spike in abuse reports overwhelms Hennepin County child protection system
Gender Pay Gap & How it Relates to Child Well – Being (see where Minneapolis ranks)
I was raised by a single mom who made a fraction of the salary that men in her office earned. It was harder in other ways for her also as overt sexism was not just tolerated, it was the rule.
It hurts me to see that today my home town is the second poorest in the nation in this study;
http://www.businessinsider.com/gender-pay-gap-in-us-cities-2016-6
Minnesota’s Mental Health Crisis (spot on reporting by our Star Tribune – Many Thanks)
Today’s service providers are rarely capable of adequately dealing with the level of dysfunction encountered by a large and growing number of people.
They will fail to achieve the results they strive for until we the voters demand the core changes that will reverse these painful trends. These failures drive up burnout and good workers leaving the field for lack of success and very high stress (and lack of understanding appreciation from the rest of us).
Reflect on this;
The “colossal failure” of Child Protective Services” Governor Dayton’s words upon the death of 4 year old Eric Dean after 15 largely ignored reports of child abuse
MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz’ statement s that “90% of the youth in Juvenile Justice have come through Child Protection” and“ the difference between that poor child and a felon is about 8 years” are as true today as they were a few years ago when she said them. My spin on the Chief Justice’ words are that, the difference between that poor child and a preteen mother with no parenting skills, a drug problem and a violent boyfriend, is about 8 years.
2/3 of the youth in the Juvenile Justice System have diagnosable mental health issues & half of them have multiple, chronic and serious problems.
1/3 of the children in Child Protective Services are proscribed Prozac or other psychotropic medications.
20,000 one and two year olds were proscribed psychotropic medications in this nation in 2014 (Johnson & Johnson paid 4 billion dollars in fines for illegally selling these drugs to pediatricians for use on children and there are 5000 cases awaiting trial).
MN Sheriff’s had to threaten a law suit to get the state to move on providing timely mental health services for the people in their jail cells.
Minnesota Child Protection News April & May 2016
Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson teams with Salvation Army in relief efforts for flood-ravaged …
FOXSports.com
… and the town also wrapped its collective arms around him when he missed most of the 2014 season while dealing with child abuse charges.
Claims of child maltreatment, meager staff training and inadequate programs at Mesabi Academy
Minnesota Public Radio News
Only one would take him: Mesabi Academy in Buhl, on Minnesota’s Iron … It also houses vulnerable children in need of protection from parents or …
In Minnesota, 100s Take Opportunity to Sue Over Sex Abuse
ABC News
It’s been nearly three years since Minnesota opened a path for lawsuits by victims of long-ago childhood sexual abuse. In that time, more than 800 …
Another St. John’s Priest Accused Of Abuse
Interviewing Abused Children in Front of Their Alleged Perpetrators Is Wrong (thank you Rich Gehrman & Safe Passage for Children)
Rich Gehrman told the Hennepin County Child Protection Oversight Committee that most of its time has been talking about change but not making changes happen. He also understands the impossible situation an abused child is in when asked questions about acts committed upon them by the person in the chair next to them. For anyone not as strong as the person who committed the act, it is almost impossible to tell the truth or even any part of the truth.
The good news from this Committee today is that finally, after all these years, abused children will receive services on weekends. God knows, abuse never takes a break on weekends.
Changing Laws (thank you Rich Gehrman and Safe Passage for Children)
his Channel 5 Televised news report by Rich Gehrman helps us better understand the issues involved in the lives of state ward children;
A Deeper Look At The Look-Back Law | KSTP TV – Minneapolis and …
kstp.com/news/look-back-law-kendrea-johnson…/4133548/
The Importance of Performance Measures (from Safe Passage for Children)
From Safe Passage for Children today; We often emphasize the importance of measuring outcomes for children. But performance measures are important too. They tell us current information about program operations. The metrics currently on the Department of Human Services’ Dashboard Report don’t cover enough parts of the system to give a well-rounded picture. However…
Reducing Child Fatalities (from Safe Passage for Children)
This article by Safe Passage for Children of MN notes the Federal Child Fatalities Commission and clearly articulates the procedures and data gathering necessary for reducing the death and trauma suffered by abused children. One more important thing to support for the at risk children in your state. All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children.
Reducing Child Fatalities
Posted on April 6, 2016 by SPadmin
Safe Passage LogoThe Federal Child Fatalities Commission (see summary, full report) notes that 50% of children killed by their parents or caregivers are infants, so are frequently unknown to child protection.
But usually someone knew the child was in danger and could have taken action.
This is why the Commission proposed $500 million in funding for multidisciplinary pilot projects, which would integrate operations and data sharing between child protection and other agencies – including First Responders, law enforcement, hospitals, pediatric clinics, mental health providers, and domestic abuse programs.
This is the kind of in-the-weeds overhaul of procedures, training, and IT systems that no one thinks they have time for, and which is notoriously hard to fund. Nevertheless we must find ways to do this work if we are serious about reducing child fatalities.
Minnesota Child Protection News For March 2016
March 20, 2016. Princeton, MN.
Michael S. Gunderson sentenced for two counts of felony child neglect after his two sons (aged 2 and 3) were hospitalized for severe malnutrition.
http://www.startribune.com/jail-for-dad-who-left-alone-his-starving-2-and-3-year-old-boys-in-filthy-home/372830791/
March 12, 2016. Red Wing, MN.
Sammy Antonio White sentenced to 13 years in prison for physical and sexual child abuse spanning two years.
http://www.republican-eagle.com/news/crime-and-courts/3985166-red-wing-man-gets-13-years-abuse-case
Recent MN Child Abuse In The News (would daycare or crisis nurseries have prevented these sad stories?)
1.16.16 Minneapolis, Reggie Delaine Harper pleads guilty to intentional murder of 23 month old infant son because the baby was crying (Reggie had been reported at least 3 times for prior child abuse).
1.8.16 Minneapolis Father arrested in assault of 21 month old Rae’Ana Hall
1.6.16 Ramsey County, Austiin Gustafson pleads guilty to killing 3 month old
1.5.16 Minneapolis, 22 month old Rae’Ana Hall in critical condition with life threatening injuries (broken ribs, fractured pelvis and head injuries apparentlyh the cause of a strong force) while in the care of her father.
1.5.16 MN Vikings Adrian Peterson reflects on violent death of his 2 year old son, beating his boy and violence in his own life. USA Today
1.4.16 St Cloud 22 month old Billy Rebel Chapman Died of multiple blunt-force injuries & being investigated as a homicide. Star Tribune
12.30.15 Blooming Prairie MN Cory Stucky Charged in alcohol related manslaughter death of 8 week old son Myles Stucky.
Important Information About Child Protection in MN (from Safe Passage For Children)
Although counties disagree, the Department wants an outside expert to review screening practices. This is because, contrary to new guidelines, counties are still responding to half as many maltreatment reports as an average state, and the percentage of cases getting an investigation rather than a less rigorous assessment has barely changed
Recent MN Child Protecton Stories
.8.16 Minneapolis Father arrested in assault of 21 month old Rae’Ana Hall
1.6.16 Ramsey County, Austiin Gustafson pleads guilty to killing 3 month old
1.5.16 Minneapolis, 22 month old Rae’Ana Hall in critical condition with life threatening injuries (broken ribs, fractured pelvis and head injuries apparentlyh the cause of a strong force) while in the care of her father.
1.5.16 MN Vikings Adrian Peterson reflects on violent death of his 2 year old son, beating his boy and violence in his own life. USA Today
1.4.16 St Cloud 22 month old Billy Rebel Chapman Died of multiple blunt-force injuries & being investigated as a homicide. Star Tribune
12.30.15 Blooming Prairie MN Cory Stucky Charged in alcohol related manslaughter death of 8 week old son Myles Stucky. Read more here
Brandon Stahl Sets A Precedent For Excellence In Reporting (share this with your local newspaper – it could be repeatable & help children)
The issues of child abuse and child protection services are complicated and not well understood by the general public, state legislators, or even the people delivering the services. In the almost twenty years I’ve spent as a volunteer in the system (CASA guardian ad-Litem), I’ve not witnessed a reporter going as deep into the heart of a child protection story until reading Brandon Stahl’s series in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
When a baby is found in a dumpster or some other horrific suffering of a four year old makes the paper, an article of outrage leaves the reader hating and blaming a person or institutional failure. Because it takes a sustained and painful effort to take a deeper look into the depth and scope of the nightmarish conditions that preceded the great sadness of a child’s suffering and death at the hands of a caregiver, the reporting almost always stops right here.
Thirty years ago in White Bear Lake MN (near my home), Lois Jergens went on to adopt five more children after murdering 4 year old Dennis Jergens. None of the approximately fifty children I lobbied to be removed from their homes because of torture, sex abuse, or neglect were ever known to anyone outside the child protection system. The absence of information about abused and neglected children is directly related to our high crime rates, full prisons, troubled schools, and unsafe neighborhoods. We would all benefit by knowing the trauma of ground truth – then we could face it and deal with it. It would be better for us and better for children.
Today, Brandon Stahl is peeling back the layers of this complicated institution of child protection. So few people know anything substantive about it and even the people running it can be so wrong so often (as in passing laws about not using past history of abuse in current investigations or family assessments instead of child protection in high risk cases).
In our interview with Brandon Stahl, he was clear about just how hard it is to pry information out of institutions that either have done a very bad job of gathering and keeping it, or simply don’t want it known. He spoke of the substantial financial investment his newspaper had to make in order to get the basic information about the murder of four year old Eric Dean by his step-mother after fifteen reports of child abuse by mandated reporters.
Minnesota Still Screening Out Twice the National Average of Child Abuse Reports (thank you Safe Passage for Children)
Even after Governor Dayton’s “Colossal Failure” remarks about ignored reports of child abuse that lead to 4 year old Eric Dean’s tortured murder, a Casey Foundation report outlining the importance of changing DHS intake protocol for child abuse cases & the agreed upon recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force on child protection – Minnesota is still screening out twice the number of child abuse cases seen in the rest of the county.
It is also unconscionable that today 100 current child protection case children are without guardian ad-Litems in the courts (check out the guardian ad-Litem program) we need volunteers – know anyone?
The CASA program received no consideration in the reports or recommendations. It’s hard enough for a child to go through child protection with a guardian ad-Litem speaking for them. To not have that volunteer voice makes the experience more isolating is doubly painful and just wrong.
Brandon Stahl’s dogged reporting at the Star Tribune brought our attention to the painful and dangerous lives abused children lead and how badly they need our help.
If Minnesota Governor Dayton’s, the Casey Foundation’s (MN Child Endangerment Model) & the Task Force changes do not come now with this attention, in a few years the changes will be largely forgotten.
Will the four MN counties that were screening out 90% of child abuse cases when Eric Dean died be screening out 92% and the over use of the assessment tool (where the child’s well being is most often not referred to) revert to being as common as it was?
Brandon Stahl’s investigating and Safe Passage’s volunteers are changing lives
Brandon Stahl’s reporting (September 2014) on the tortured death of 4 year old Eric Dean and his powerful Star Tribune articles about tortured children & the “catastrophic failure” of child protection in Minnesota (Governor Dayton’s words), shine light into the invisible world of child abuse that is so hard to talk about and so…
Minnetonka Pedestrian Safety at Plymouth Road near Byerly’s
I have lived in this neighborhood for many years and travel Plymouth Road by Byerly’s and the Mall every day – often three trips a day.
Thank You Prairie Care & Washburn Center For Children’s Mental Health (the uphill battle in addressing children’s mental health in Minnesota)
Prairie Care’s new 50 bed hospital for Children’s mental health is a tiny step in providing badly needed services for the traumatized children passing through Minnesota institutions.
HCMC alone sees 800 to 1000 emergency psychiatric visits each month and many of them are traumatized children. I’m guessing that an equal number of terrifically disturbed youth get no help at all in our state because there are no children’s mental health hospitals where they live.
The disparity between available beds and needy children will remain huge with this addition but it’s a nice thought that it signals a trend towards valuing the well being of the youngest and most vulnerable among us.
Would six year old foster child Kendrea Johnson have hung herself last year by her jump rope if child protection services had identified her level of trauma and provided access to the most current pediatric mental health care? As it was, her social worker did not know she was seeing a therapist and the police and medical examiner proclaimed that six year old children were incapable of suicide (little do they know).
Would Jeff Weise have killed all those people and himself at Red Lake a few years ago if someone had read his blog or heard his cries for help and brought him to Prairie Care, Washburn Center or other advanced treatment facilities? His mother told him she “wished he’d never been born” and his homicidal/suicidal blog writings were ample warning that the boy needed help. After the tragedy, Red Lake built a mental health facility in town.
Michael Swanson’s mom tried desperately for years to find help for her terribly disturbed son prior to his killing of Sheila Myers & Vicky Bowman-Hall – two random and innocent Iowa grocery clerks.
In my experience as a volunteer guardian ad-Litem, I had many personal, painful encounters with suicidal very young children. My first visit to a four year old state ward girl was at the suicide ward of Fairview hospital. A reason for my becoming a guardian ad-Litem was the tragedy a dear friend lived after adopting a homicidal state ward boy.
Minnesota’s Child Protection Problem (“the deeper you get into it, the worse it is” Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat)
Thank you Hennepin County Board for unanimously approving the Governor’s Task Force recommendations for improving Child Protection Services in MN.
Thank you Governor Dayton for your “Colossal Failure” statement about the death of Eric Dean (it launched the important changes we see today), kudos to the Governor’s Task Force for the hard work you have done in bringing more transparency, accountability, and sanity to a system that has been responsible for its own share of child abuse.
Brandon Stahl and the Star Tribune deserve huge credit for a full year of prying open a closed system to get to the sad facts that lead to the repeated abuse and tragic deaths of so many poor and defenseless children in (or should have been in) County Child Protection.
KARA’s hour long video interview of Brandon Stahl gives a pretty good picture of just how insular and uncooperative the system can be to prying eyes (and how much worse it was for Eric Dean than his newspaper articles indicated).
Blaming juvenile justice employees & social workers, educators, health workers, adoptive & foster parents or other worker bees connected to child protection is counter productive and wrong.
Living with and working with abused children with serious behavior issues that are often unpredictable and violent requires more help and training than this community is providing. Psychotropic medications have become a go to answer for a very high percentage of very young children in Child Protection. A Hennepin County Judge shared a very extensive list of children that passed through her courtroom that were required to take these drugs over a year’s time – some as young as 6.
Minnesota’s Child Endangerment Model (from the Casey Report briefing for Hennepin County commissioners today)
I was moved today when Steve Olson (from Knowledge Management) delivered the Casey Foundations 8 month report and recommendations for Hennepin County child protection at the County Commissioners briefing at the courthouse (listen to it here)
Steve made multiple references to Hennepin County’s “child endangerment” model and how it differs from a “child protection” model. He presented data demonstrating our negative outcome across a broad range of criteria and strikingly, how the County ignores child neglect (unlike the rest of the nation).
I understand the commissioners frustration over how much money (120 million dollars was stated) is spent on CP and how bad the results are. This is a complex set of issues that need thinking at a higher level.
With little measurability, less collaboration, almost no transparency there is only a vague idea of where to put resources and what’s really not working.
Bad results are about all that can happen the way things are today.
Mr Olson spoke of a perceived fear and lack of trust (distrust of peers and staff) within child protection reminding me of the high turnover in this industry in general and just how bad morale and turnover are on both the east and west coasts are.
Defining success and how we measure child safety and killing the current County child endangerment model was a top recommendation.
More community based solutions, involving community stakeholders and redefining what we want for outcomes all make perfect sense to me.
I also resonated with how social workers are also traumatized by their work and by the system and how this undermines the well trained, experienced and committed workers that we need so badly. It’s hard work and we should be striving to make things work better.
It was good to hear it spoken of that allot of the problem is that people don’t talk about the issues due to fear of litigation (and that much of this is overblown). The heart of the matter is that we don’t talk about it and very few people have a clear perspective of the issues.
Now, if policy makers would just get their brain around how important crisis nurseries, quality daycare and other early childhood programs are, we might just begin to break the cycle of abused children becoming problem youth with no parenting skills, trauma based behavioral problems often made worse with drug and alcohol addictions and three or four of their own very young children that will soon be allot like them in so many ways.
“Police & Sheriffs More Concerned About People’s Mental Health Than Advocates Are” (thank you Senator Barb Goodwin)
I’m always pleased to find outspoken observers in the mental health discussion. Today’s Star Tribune article begins to articulate the gaping hole in our communities (and the nation’s) approach to mental health. Much like child suicide and child sex abuse, we have avoided the mental health topic leading to the worst case of overbuilt prisons, unsafe…
Minnesota’s Chance To Invest In Children & Families (from Governor Mark Dayton’s office)
Free, Full-Day PreK for Every Four-Year-Old – The Governor’s budget would invest $343 million to provide every four-year-old (47,000 kids) access to free, full-day pre-kindergarten learning opportunities statewide.
More Funding for Every School – The Governor’s budget would invest in K-12 schools statewide, increasing the per-pupil funding formula to $5,948 by 2017, and putting additional funding into the special education formula. These new resources would give local school districts the flexibility to meet the needs of their students and classrooms – from lowering class sizes, hiring new counselors, investing in technology, or providing other need programs and services.
Tackling the Achievement Gap – The Governor’s proposal would invest in a multi-layered approach to narrow the state’s achievement gap. It would eliminate the current Head Start waiting list, provide support to help all students read well, target educational support to parents of at-risk children ages 0-8, and more.
Healthy Students – The Governor’s budget would provide free breakfasts for pre-K-3 students, fund in-school programs to improve student behavior, and support parents of at-risk children.
Investing in Higher Education – The Governor’s budget would invest $288 million to freeze tuition at the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), expand the State Grant Program, return the University of Minnesota Medical School to national prominence, and make other needed improvements to higher education.
Important Points By Brandon Stahl (Star Tribune) Today On Pope County
The following quotes from Brandon Stahl’s reporting today in the Star Tribune indicate the depth and scope of child protection troubles in MN. That Governor Dayton used “Colossal Failure” language and created a task force to investigate the sad tortured death of 4 year old Eric Dean is to be commended. Awful things happening to…
Maplewood Toddler Molested & Murdered (7th MN child death since Eric Dean’s)
Now that attention has been focused on the tragic lives lead by abused and neglected children by the Star Tribune & Brandon Stahl, it appears that there are significantly more homicidal/suicidal child deaths in our community than we have been used to seeing in the newspaper.
Unless there are reporters watching for these sad tales, it seems that we just did not know about them. Children deserve better. Watch our videos and spread the word;
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News From Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota & The Child Protection Task Force
Follow Governor Dayton’s Budget and Child Protection Task Force News at Safe Passage for Children of MN links below;
Performance Mode
Work Group Meetings Update
Governor Dayton’s Child Protection Budget
Report on Governor’s Task Force and Work Group Meetings (Jan 14)
While I’m optimistic that these concerned people are working on improving services and strategies for abused and neglected children of Minnesota, it is painful to read the continuing sad news being reported about overwhelmed social workers, class action lawsuits, inadequate safeguards, and growing caseloads. It frightens me to think about how much (or how little) can be changed by one task force in one year within a system that handles sixty thousand children annually on a limited budget and imperfect systems. What happens next year?
If we valued children or even just understood the economic impact of under-served abused and neglected children passing through our schools, communities, courts, and in the end, juvenile and criminal justice systems, things would be different. Basic math proves the extraordinary costs to communities of failed schools and children unable to graduate on a trajectory to dysfunctional lifestyles and another generation of troubled families with more abuse and neglect.
Early childhood programs are a great investment in our communities and our children. Both the kids and our communities deserve better. Support the CASA guardian ad-Litems in your community & give children a voice.