COVIDs Impact on CPS, CASA volunteers, & Guardian ad Litem Staff
COVIDs Impact on CPS, CASA volunteers, & Guardian ad Litem Staff
A CPS Reality Check (good for admin – bad for children)
CPS reality check in the current political battle for community CASA guardian ad Litems in MN. To put it bluntly, what’s good for the administrators often may be bad for the children.
Thank You Ann Ahlstrom (MN Guardian Ad Litem Board Chair)
From Ann Ahlstrom (bold emphasis from KARA)
August 19, 2024
Greetings Minnesota Volunteer Guardians ad Litem:
Self-Destructive Habits of Institutions
Let’s imagine a government that controls (1) automobile safety standards, (2) the state inspection for compliance with automobile safety standards (3) the automobile repair industry, all within the same department, and all done in official secrecy so as to protect the privacy of would-be drivers.
And let’s also suppose that the people who drive automobiles are, 98% of them, poor and very young people, who have no effective political voice.
Who Will Speak For Abused & Neglected Children? video
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)
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.
CASA of Rock County’s Break The Cycle Luncheon
CASA of Rock County’s Break The Cycle Luncheon
Celebrating Minnesota’s CASA Guardian Ad Litem Progress
Celebrating Minnesota’s CASA Guardian Ad Litem Progress
New Linked In Group For Volunteer CASAs & All Guardian ad Litem (interactive)
KARA’s New Linked In Group Guardian ad Litems Exchanging Learning & Ideas is gathering and sharing information from the 950 CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in the U.S. and similar child advocacy models around the world. Please share this with your child advocacy friends wherever they may be: Search for: Guardian ad Litems sharing conditions,…
Were Governor Walz State Board Members Misled About Volunteers (and what it could mean)?
There is a political battle being waged over the elimination of qualified community volunteers in Child Protective Services. There are too many pieces of this puzzle to include in this article, but one piece must be addressed to determine if wrongdoing has happened in the drive to eliminate the Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers. KARA has sent two requests to Governor Walz Guardian ad Litem State Board members over the past few months requesting a conversation about their role in making this critical decision.
Highlights on Family Assessment and Child Death from Star Tribune Child Abuse Reporting Part I
These highlights on Family Assessment and Child Death from recent Star Tribune Child Abuse reporting (1, 2, 3) are the tip of the iceberg. Read to the end to get KARA’s historical perspective of how Child Protective Services (CPS) has evolved over the years and its current iteration.
CASA MN Newsletter (Guardian ad Litem News & Updates)
CASA MN Newsletter (Guardian ad Litem News & Updates)
Have Governor Walz State Board members been mislead?
Dear Reader,Allowing the State board to eliminate 10,000 future volunteers (over the next 40 years) at a time when we are reporting on children murdered by their parents may be an unfixable mistake costing even more children their lives.
Rebuttals to the State MAD report from several top child advocates here;
MN Children, Institutional Regression and Brain Surgery
When we say it’s not brain surgery it’s because a task is easy – it doesn’t demand much training or experience. There are times the phrase is meaningful and times it is painfully inappropriate. This article in the Star Tribune explains that corrections officers, human services technicians and staff in state veterans homes will not…
CASA MN Rebuttal To MAD Guardian ad Litem Report
Chair Parkin and MN GAL Board members:
Considering all the challenges facing the Minnesota Guardian ad Litem program, it is devastating to our state’s most vulnerable children that so much effort has been misdirected here.
Rich Gehrman Rebuttal of MAD Volunteer Guardian ad Litem Report
The analysis by MAD is not, in my view, sufficiently compelling in some important respects to support the board in managing this risk. While I understand from a previous board meeting I attended as well as a legislative hearing on the topic that the board has been guided in this deliberation by staff, this decision is yours alone, and you alone will be accountable for what happens in the future as a result.
Save MN CASA Community Volunteers With Your Public Comment Today! (takes just a minute)
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 the CASA Guardian ad Litem Volunteer Program
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 the CASA Guardian ad Litem Volunteer Program
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…
Child Protection Stories Wanted
KARA is working to make lawmakers and policy makers see the value of community volunteer CASA guardian ad litems in Child Protective Services.
To do this, we are seeking stories from 18 & up folks that have come through child protection with the help of a volunteer CASA guardian ad litem.
You may remain anonymous.
Please contact me directly – [email protected] with STORY in the subject line.
Why Things Get Worse
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.
Metrics of Minnesota’s Child Protection (what does your state measure?)
Recent Star Tribune articles about juvenile justice and explosive growth of crime in our community miss the heart of the matter. We keep putting fires out that could have been prevented. The car jackings, transit crimes and other juvenile violence making life miserable for so many of us didn’t begin when these children became juveniles. It started with traumas suffered in the home mostly caused by parents that suffered the same violence and abuse as children.
Don Samuels’ Story (from KARA 2014 archives)
As part of KARA’s TPT documentary project I interviewed Minneapolis City Councilman / Mayoral candidate Don Samuels recently. He described his experiences as a volunteer CASA guardian ad-Litem, North Side resident, and city councilman that were relevant to child well-being and child protection.
Measuring What’s Important
What is transparent and measured can be identified and improved. What is not transparent and measured remains unknown and can fester.
In business, Cost Benefit Analysis focuses on ROI (return on investment). ROI is based on “assets”, “net income” & “profitability”. That’s what business is about (money). Corporations have extremely detailed and accurate methods of measuring their “money”…
If You Knew (what would you do?)
If you knew that 10,000 Minnesota’s CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers provided civic engagement, first person narratives, reporting, institutional transparency and many thousands of advocacy hours for babies, children & youth over the last 40 years in Minnesota’s Child Protective Services would you;
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Professionalism – Part 5)
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Professionalism – Part 5)
Volunteers lack “professionalism” is a primary argument management is using to eliminate the community CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer guardian ad Litem program in Minnesota.
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Guardian ad litem program in MN Today – PART 4)
MN Senior Judge Lyonel Norris has stated that, “…an all employee model can create an institutionalizing effect upon a child”. I would add “an even greater” institutionalizing effect upon a child”.
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Guardian ad litem program in MN Today) (PART ONE)
There may be no single right answer
to the problems of Child Protection in Minnesota –
but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
Kamari Gholston’s Death & Child Protection in MN
Star Tribune’s Investigative journalist Paul Walsh coverage of toddler Kamari Gholston’s death today shines a light on the importance of public understanding and support for Child Protective Services in our state.
Kamari’s death resembles Eric Dean’s case of 2014. Except Kamari…