Anna’s Story (Transgender Youth Interview & Statistics)
Statistics and effects of anti-LGBTQ+ policies on Youth in the United States today
Transgender Child Interview Anna, IN HER WORDS:
Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters (KARA podcast)
Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters (KARA podcast)…professionals being punished, losing their jobs, and facing lawsuits for fulfilling their duties
Children Are Failing In CPS: This is Why and How To Fix It
America’s child protection system is failing the very children it was built to save. Instead of preventing abuse, neglect, and family destruction, CPS has become part of the machinery that fills prisons, shatters families, destabilizes classrooms, and overwhelms our health‑care system with preventable trauma, mental illness, violence and addiction. Wrapped in layers of conflicting privacy rules and starved of honest data, child protection agencies hide more than they reveal—leaving lawmakers to make life‑and‑death decisions in the dark, social workers crushed under impossible caseloads, and at‑risk children returned to dangerous homes or lost in a foster care maze that rarely heals the damage already done.
How One Letter Saved a Child (KARA Podcast)
Josh and Maya share a powerful story of a young boy on the brink of being locked up, not because he was dangerous, but because the system lacked transparency
How Alcohol, Drugs, and Poverty Drive Child Abuse: From Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to Criminal Neglect
Parental alcohol and drug abuse, especially in the context of poverty, is one of the strongest drivers of child abuse and neglect. From fetal alcohol spectrum disorders that injure children before birth to criminalized meth labs and chronic neglect, substance use reshapes a child’s brain, home, and future. This post explains how addiction, poverty, and policy collide to harm children — and why real solutions must treat substance use as both a child protection and public health crisis.
“Safety” at Home, Rape in Secret: The Long Shadow of Caregiver Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse of a child is rarely a single “incident” or the act of a stranger in the dark; for many children, it is years of rape by the caregivers who are supposed to protect them. Most child sex abuse occurs in the home. This CASA Guardian ad Litem has experience two four-year-olds coming into…
America’s Child Abuse Emergency: 546,000 Victims, 2,000 Deaths, and a System That Chooses This
Child abuse in the United States is not rare or random — it is the predictable outcome of policy choices. In 2023, about 546,000 children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect and an estimated 2,000 were killed, roughly five children every day. Most are hurt by their own parents, often after prior contact with Child Protective Services. These numbers vary wildly by state, proving that our systems can choose to protect children — or not.
What School Counselors Can Do: Protect, Heal, and Empower Children
School counselors are often the only adults who truly see what traumatized students are living through. This article explains how trauma informed school counseling can spot abuse and adversity early, lead school wide change, coordinate crisis response, connect families to community support, and sustain counselors doing this work. With real world stories and a curated resource list, it’s a practical guide for counselors supporting students impacted by trauma and adverse childhood experiences.
Silent Crisis – Child Protection & Systemic Reform KARA Podcast
systemic issues within Child Protective Services (CPS) that have led to the tragic deaths of children, even after CPS involvement
Part 3: Scaling the “Minnesota Model” for Maximum ROI Impact
Market-based scholarship programs like Minnesota’s Early Learning Scholarships (MELS) prove these returns are scalable. MELS provides vouchers to low-income parents, empowering them to choose high-quality programs. Result: an 18% inflation-adjusted public ROI—higher than the S&P 500’s historical average111210. The keys to replicating this success are: Targeting at-risk children: Returns exceed $17 per dollar in high-poverty neighborhoods7. Parent empowerment:…
All About Adverse Childhood Experiences: Trauma, Testing, And Resilience (podcast)
Kids at Risk Action, hosts Alex and Jordan explore the profound impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how childhood trauma can affect individuals throughout their lives, much like PTSD in veterans.
Part 4 of 5: Why Early Childhood Investment Outperforms Remedial Spending
Compared to other government expenditures, early childhood programs are uniquely cost-effective. K–12 education spends ~$15,000/student annually with diminishing returns; prison systems cost $40,000/inmate yearly with high recidivism. Meanwhile, early childhood interventions like Head Start save $4.8B–$16.1B per
Tip of the Mental Health Iceberg (podcast)
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.
Foster Child Self-Harm & Suicide June 2025
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 self-harm, especially among young girls and LGBTQ+ youth, have surged, with emergency room visits for self-injury rising dramatically since 2020
What Teachers Can Do: Trauma‑Informed Classrooms and Child Protection
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.
Very Young Children, Suicide, and Abuse: What We, CPS, and Lawmakers Must Do
Very young children are showing up in emergency rooms after suicide attempts and self‑harm, often with histories of abuse, neglect, and other trauma. When CPS and lawmakers lack transparent, child‑outcome data and trauma‑focused resources, these children slip through the cracks until it is too late.
In Custody, In Crisis (podcast episode #1)
dive into the “ground truth” of the foster care system — exposing the often-unseen hardships children face even after being placed in protective care. Through heartbreaking stories like Alex’s and alarming statistics on abuse
Recruiting Child Soldiers (yes, we do)
This article from 2013 is still true today with no signs of changing. It needs to be shared with your states lawmakers: The United States is the only nation that has not signed the United Nation’s International Rights Of the Child Treaty of the 1980’s. A primary reason we refuse to sign the treaty is…
Part 2: The Science Behind Early Childhood Returns (ROI)
The extraordinary ROI of early childhood programs stems from neurobiological and economic synergy. During ages 0–5, the brain forms 1 million neural connections per second, creating foundational skills that dictate lifelong learning, health, and behavior56. Programs like Child-Parent Centers leverage this plasticity: at-risk children receiving enriched preschool and parent mentoring achieved $10.83 in societal benefits per dollar spent by age…
KARA’s Plea For Children (a call to action)
There is no shortage of well-meaning volunteers and workers dedicated to improving the lives of the children they are serving as teachers, Guardians ad Litem, social & healthcare workers, law enforcement and adoptive/foster parents.
Invisible Cost Child Abuse ACEs Healthcare Impact
This post addresses the healthcare burden children with high ACEs scores have on our communities and nation. What’s not obvious to many is that at risk children become at risk youth and at risk adults. 9-year 80% prison recidivism has been with us for over 20 years. This single statistic shines a light on the cascading and forever financial and social costs to our communities from one other American institution that is easily understood. The health care financial and social costs are more complex and harder to understand. The Cape Breton University study below brings clarity to this complex issue.
Deep Dive Into Northeastern University Child Welfare Crisis Research
This deep dive expands on KARA’s child welfare crisis post by walking through five Northeastern University capstone projects. Together, they use national data, infant mortality models, county level forecasting, and poverty analysis to show where children are most at risk—and how KARA AND YOU can use this research to drive policy change.
Part 5 of 5: Crime Dollar ROI From Early Childhood Programs
ROI Early Learning programs returns include reduced crime for at-risk children. The evidence is robust across decades of research, program evaluations, and cost-benefit analyses.
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.
State of Foster Care In America
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.
Family First & Child Neglect Studies and Reporting
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.
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2. How Colorado Hid Child Abuse Behind FAR Policy Changes (thank you Marie Cohen & Child Welfare Monitor)
Colorado claims a 40 percent drop in child abuse and neglect, but state data tell a different story. Hotline reports are up, while fewer cases are screened in, more are diverted to Family Assessment Response (FAR), instead of investigating the child. This looks less like safer children and more like a system that changed how it counts—and hides—childhood trauma and its victims.
“Kids Are Slowly Being Neglected To Death” – Hennepin County Judge Jane Ranum (Thank You from the children in my caseload)
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are not just difficult memories—they’re powerful risk factors that shape how a child’s brain and body develop across a lifetime. In this Kids at Risk Action podcast, hosts Alex and Jordan explore how abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and other ACEs can lead to PTSD like symptoms, chronic stress, and higher risks of mental illness, addiction, and early death. They connect these experiences to systemic gaps in child welfare, schools, and health care, where children too often receive help only after they are in crisis instead of when early warning signs appear. The episode calls for trauma informed care, ACEs screening, and policy changes that fund prevention and resilience building, urging listeners to advocate for better support and a more compassionate, proactive approach to child welfare.
The Foster Care Data We Don’t Track – And How This Hurts Children
Most of what we know about foster care comes from very thin data: how many children are in care, how many enter or exit each year. That’s not enough to guide policy or spending. This post explains which foster care outcomes Minnesota and other states still don’t track—years stuck in care, abuse in placement, endless moves, school disruption, medication without therapy, and what happens after youth age out—and why demanding honest, de‑identified data is one of the most powerful things you can do for abused and neglected children in your community.
Adverse Childhood Experiences: Trauma, Testing, And Resilience (KARA podcast)
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are not just bad memories—they are powerful risk factors that change how a child’s brain and body develop. In this Kids at Risk Action podcast episode, hosts Alex and Jordan explore how ACEs like abuse, neglect, and domestic violence can lead to PTSD like symptoms, chronic stress, and higher risks of mental illness, addiction, and early death. They connect the dots between ACEs and the systems that are supposed to help: child protection, schools, health care, and juvenile justice. Too often, children only get attention after they are failing, acting out, or in crisis, rather than receiving trauma informed support early. This episode calls for ACEs screening, early intervention, and policies that fund prevention, resilience building, and compassionate care—so children are not punished for symptoms of trauma but helped to heal and thrive.
Children Are Under Attack: How Federal Funding Cuts Are Dismantling Kids’ Lifelines
Across the country, children’s lifelines are being quietly dismantled. Federal budget cuts and Project 2025–aligned proposals are targeting Medicaid and CHIP, SNAP and school meals, Head Start, child care, disability supports, civil rights protections, and even child abuse prevention and CASA programs. These changes will deepen child poverty and hunger, push more families into crisis, and “decimate the human services field,” according to the Child Welfare League of America. This post pulls together sources on what’s being cut, who is most at risk—especially immigrant, disabled, and LGBTQ+ children—and how you can call your elected officials and demand that child serving programs be protected, not eliminated.
Child Abuse & Prosecution in Texas: Kids, Courts, and a Broken System
Child abuse and prosecution in Texas tell a complex story that goes far beyond headline grabbing stings. Operation Soteria Shield rescued more than 100 children and led to over 200 arrests in a major FBI led crackdown on online child exploitation, while new state laws now require Texas schools to report educator misconduct and abuse more rigorously. At the same time, federal investigators have found unconstitutional conditions across Texas juvenile justice facilities, including sexual abuse, excessive force, and prolonged isolation, and judges have called the state’s use of psychotropic medications on foster youth “appalling,” with many children prescribed multiple powerful drugs without adequate oversight. Rising youth violence, racial disparities in child welfare and school discipline, and a documented child to prison pipeline mean that prosecution alone cannot keep children safe. This KARA report brings together data and sources on child abuse cases, foster care failures, juvenile justice, mental health, and recent legal reforms in Texas—and calls for trauma informed services, diversion programs, and stronger accountability to truly protect vulnerable children instead of merely reacting after the harm is done.
School Performance, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow & What To Do
• “Since 2020, national and state test data show steep declines in foundational reading and math skills that are not bouncing back on their own. If current trends hold, by 2034 a majority of U.S. students will need remedial support, deepening poverty, crime, and inequality across whole communities. This post pulls together NAEP, ACT, SAT, and state level projections—and outlines what leaders, advocates, and communities can do right now to change the trajectory.”
Sometimes People Get Shot
• “From Cedarbluff, Mississippi, to parties in Houston and homes in Indiana, early 2026 brought mass shootings that briefly made headlines and then faded. This essay connects those tragedies to a deeper crisis: how our systems ignore childhood trauma, underfund mental health, and invest billions in punishment instead of care—creating adults who are dangerous because we failed them as children.”
What Foster Parents Can Do: Healing, Advocating, and Transforming Lives – 3
Foster parenting is about much more than providing a bed. This guide shows caregivers how to insist on full trauma histories, document key events, advocate against medication only approaches, partner with schools and agencies, and use their lived experience to reform systems and transform children’s lives.
Isabella’s Story
Isabella was taken into foster care when her birth home was raided by authorities for possession of drugs. She was found locked in a room by herself. She was silent – never spoke. Isabella had never been outside until she was placed into foster care at 7.
Numbers Too Big To Believe (the cost of untreated childhood trauma)
…the economic impact of untreated child abuse. The mental health issues and behavior problems of high ACEs children drive much of the violence, desperation, and dysfunction afflicting so many American citizens
A New Kind of Child Neglect
“As child protection rules are rolled back, a new kind of child neglect threatens millions of at‑risk children. Read what these changes mean and how to respond.”
Advocating for Child Protection in Everyday Life
Advocating for child protection doesn’t have to mean big campaigns or formal roles. This post shares simple, creative ways to weave child protection into everyday life—through conversations, community art, book discussions, resource sharing, and small “micro advocacy” projects. It includes a step by step starter plan, practical action ideas, and tips for finding trustworthy child safety resources so advocacy feels human, local, and sustainable.
Federal Chafee Changes vs. Minnesota Reality: Are Foster Youth Getting What They Need?
For years, young people aging out of foster care have told us the same story: they are expected to become independent adults overnight, often without stable housing, reliable income, or consistent adult support. Minnesota has made some important strides—extended foster care, Northstar payments, education vouchers, and youth advocacy organizations—but the lived reality for too many youth is still homelessness, interrupted education, legal and financial barriers, and parenting without support.
Family First & Child Neglect Studies and Reporting 2
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!
Where to Find the Best Child Abuse Data and Help for At Risk Kids
Stop hunting in the dark. Explore the best national child abuse data sources plus frontline resources for CASAs, foster parents, educators, and policymakers.
Cost Neutral Child Protection: The Deadly Lesson of Gabriel Fernandez
When paramedics arrived, eight-year old Gabriel Fernandez was not conscious. His skull was cracked. Three ribs were broken. Bruises and burns covered his body. Two teeth were knocked out of his mouth. X-rays would later show that the third-grader had BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin. Gabriel’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, 29, and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre, 32, told the paramedics that Gabriel’s injuries were self-induced. Later Aguirre said that he delivered ten or so blows to Gabriel’s stomach for lying and “being dirty.”
Before Gabriel’s death, his mother was the target of six investigations of child abuse. One of Gabriel’s teachers reported the boy coming to school battered. One of Gabriel’s therapists reported that Gabriel said that he was forced to perform oral sex on a family member. Gabriel told a teacher he’d been beat with a belt buckle until he bled and his mother shot him with a BB gun. Gabriel wrote a suicide note, found by his teacher.
According to documents obtained by the LA Times and a recent wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gabriel’s grandparents, Gabriel was never interviewed privately by a social worker about his abuse. Fernandez and Aguirre have been charged with first degree murder of a child. The two have yet to enter their pleas. Two months after Gabriel’s death, four DCFS employees related to his case were fired.
Ethan’s Story: How Foster Care Failed a Traumatized Child
Ethan’s story follows one boy taken from his parents into foster care, abused in placement, struggling with guilt and suicidality, and now facing adulthood alone. His journey exposes how often our foster care system fails traumatized children—and why changing life for foster youth will take all of us.
Child Abuse and the Domino Effect: Why Lawmakers Need Real Data
When lawmakers finally see the human and financial numbers behind child abuse and neglect, our politics can treat it as the national emergency it is—not a niche social‑services problem. Over a lifetime, the “domino effect” of abused and neglected children touches every system we claim to care about: schools, crime, taxes, public health, and public safety
Tracking Foster Youth Into Adulthood: What Leading States Already Know
To understand how Child Protection Works (and doesn’t work) tracking CPS/foster youth into adulthood by linking child welfare to education, work, housing, and justice data needs to happen across America. These examples show that it can be done:
Best and Worst Hospitals For U.S. Children (Beckers Hospital Review)
Which states give kids the best chance at a healthy life? This review ranks all 50 states and D.C. on children’s healthcare, nutrition, and oral health—and the gaps are stark.
What Social Workers Can Do: Reclaiming Hope and Safety for At‑Risk Children
Child welfare social workers stand where children’s trauma meets family hardship and broken systems. This trauma‑informed guide shows how social workers can find invisible kids, demand real accountability, build strong teams, use mandated reporting with courage, support caregivers, protect themselves from burnout, and turn casework into lasting system reform.
One Safe Adult, One Stable Place: The Hidden Power of Stability for Children
Children carrying high Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) live in constant survival mode. Stable homes, consistent caregiving, and trauma-informed schools can lower toxic stress, repair trust, and rebuild hope. This article explains why stability is a core intervention—and how adults and communities can help at-risk youth heal and thrive.
National Volunteer Week: Why CASA/GAL Volunteers Matter for At‑Risk Kids in Minnesota
During National Volunteer Week, we’re shining a light on CASA and Guardian ad Litem volunteers in Minnesota—the trained community members who stand beside abused and neglected children in court, give them a consistent adult voice, and help judges make better decisions about safety, healing, and permanency.