This from Idaho today. The tip the iceberg reported on by Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota recently. Add to this the Federal Government’s “Bonfire of Deregulation” millions of abused and neglected children will be underserved and many more of them die of trauma and abuse in 2026.
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.
Abused and neglected children don’t have a voice in the politics and policies that rule their lives. They are at the mercy of our politicians and institutions that serve them.
Over 48 years, CASA/GAL (Guardian ad Litem) programs have grown into a national network of more than 900 organizations with 80,000–100,000 guardian ad litem volunteers serving close to a quarter‑million abused and neglected children each year, according to National CASA/GAL program surveys and the association’s own history. In every state but North Dakota, these volunteers are often the only adults in the courtroom whose sole job is to stand for a child’s best interests—and they do it with intentionally tiny caseloads so each child gets more time, more attention, and more consistency than overloaded systems can usually provide
This post gets at the meaning of President Trump’s Presidential Order bringing change to America’s Child Protection System. If you support the work KARA is doing to improve the lives of abused and neglected children and at-risk families, read to the bottom and send this link to your State Representative (find them in the link below).
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Become an advocate for abused and neglected children and send your favorite posts to your State Representative. Find them here. They make the policies that rule the lives of At-Risk children.
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…
National CASA Federal Funding Terminated
Yanelin Montalvo-Valdez (yesterday Star Tribune) personifies the pain and punishment heaped upon the 50 innocent children I advocated for as a CASA Guardian ad Litem volunteer
Spotify Episode # 30 Click Here For the Audio: What it’s like Being a CASA Child Advocate Summary: This is a short description of one Community CASA Guardian ad Litem’s experience being a child advocate in the Child Protection System.
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
free and discounted resources for foster and adopted children and families
In fiscal year 2022, of the 7.8 million children reported to Child Protection Services (CPS), approximately 3,096,101 children were the subject of a child welfare agency respons
Abolishing CPS Kills Children & Ruins Fosters
Child Protective Services (CPS) can’t keep children safe (or alive) in opposition to State and Federal law.
Any conversation about Child Protective Services needs to include a deep dive into racial disparities, religious and parental rights, and common misconceptions about CPS and child abuse.
The public knows almost nothing about the depth and scope of child abuse in their community
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Read more below to follow the conversation
about the absence of transparency in
Child Protective Services
How Child Abuse Impacts Your Community
How Child Abuse Impacts Your Community
Without help, most badly traumatized/abused children become troubled youth leading lifetimes as dysfunctional adults.
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.
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…
WI Child Abuse Reporting April 1- May 9 2024
MN Child Abuse Reporting April 1 – May 9 2024 | INVISIBLE CHILDREN
This message from Safe Passage for Children of MN will make a difference in the lives of abused and neglected children. Please reach out to your State Rep Today (address finder in their email below).
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,…
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…
Celebrating Minnesota’s CASA Guardian Ad Litem Progress
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,…
America’s Crazy World of Child Protection (find your state here)
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.
A Storm Is Brewing (4m) Will CASA GAL program end because of misinformation?
Let’s Go KARA (3m) Supporting Child Friendly Initiatives
Don Shelby on Child Protection (30 seconds)
While the article from the Child Welfare Monitor by Judith Schagrin
refers to Child Protection conditions in Maryland,
it is clear the crisis exists in every state.
We are fighting to keep the community volunteer CASA
Guardian ad Litems in the Child Protection System.
We need your written public comments here.
SAYING GOODBYE TO 1000’S OF VOLUNTEER CHILD ADVOCATES & Community Involvement & Trust In One More Community Institution. Since 1981, thousands of community volunteers have spent thousands of hours working to better the lives of Minnesota’s at-risk children. End this program, they will disappear and no more will follow.
This will result in weakened community awareness, less community involvement and an incalculable loss of…
SAYING GOODBYE TO 1000’S OF VOLUNTEER CHILD ADVOCATES & Community Involvement & Trust In One More Community Institution. Since 1981, thousands of community volunteers have spent thousands of hours working to better the lives of Minnesota’s at-risk children. End this program, they will disappear and no more will follow.
This will result in weakened community awareness, less community involvement and an incalculable loss of…
The American Medical community has 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,” said AAP President Lee Savio Beers, MD, …
There is a real lack of data and transparency in CPS which makes it hard to know outcomes short of child death.
72% of of the 88 child maltreatment deaths studied (complete study below) were known to CPS. We do know that there were many reports of life changing violence, neglect and abuse but few follow ups.
During the lockdown, abused children were literally trapped at home with their abusers. This multiplied the stress on Child Protection Services as an institution and on the social workers doing their best in an impossible situation.
Their Stories (children in need of protection)
a cruel but accurate point. Our community has a passion for safeguarding adult rights of guns and abortion.
Safe Passage for Children investigation of child death in Minnesota
CONTACT: Rich Gehrman, Executive Director, Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota (651) 303-3209; gehrm001@umn.edu Report documents multiple systemic failures in cases Of Minnesota children killed due to maltreatment 8 YEAR OLD AUTUMN HALLOW’S MURDER (KSTP video) Minnesota Child Fatalities from Maltreatment 2014 – 2022 Executive Summary From the report; This study of children who died in…
Minnesota’s Child Protective Services (CPS) received 85,000 child abuse calls in 2019 (about 1/3 of the calls were investigated).
Report documents system failures in cases of Minnesota Children Killed due to Maltreatment short (KSTP video)
This Annie E. Casey Foundation survey of Black youth in February 2021 demonstrates a rising trend of Black youth incarceration Post COVID.
Black youth in juvenile detention on Feb. 1, 2021, reached a pandemic high, while that of white youth was the second lowest recorded in more than a year.