If You Knew (what would you do?)
If you knew that the vast majority of youth in Juvenile Justice came through Child Protective Services, would you;
MN Child Abuse News Week of 11.30.22
37% of children overall and 44% of Black children are reported to child protection services in America by the time they turn 18. (American Journal of Public Health 1.17)
Let’s Stop Counties Stealing Money From Foster Children
Repurposing Federal Foster Care dollars have become a “revenue stream” for counties because taking foster child money goes “unnoticed” (from the article). In a perfect world, a County person would raise hell about repurposing foster child dollars to adults (but they don’t because they could lose their job). There is little reporting of and no transparency in the Child Protection System.
Al McFarlane Conversation With Mike Tikkanen and Oliver Williams
The Conversation, with Al McFarlane, DR Oliver Williams and Mike Tikkanen exploring issues facing at risk youth in our community today (1 hour with video).
Childhood Trauma + Historical Trauma = Generational Trauma
Terrible trauma (like generations of slavery) and the behaviors and conflicts it creates need to be identified and discussed if they are to be fixed. Do we want higher graduation rates and lower crime and recidivism rates for our at risk youth and families?
Charlamagne Tha God has Launched a Mental Wealth Alliance Foundation to establish fundamental and far-reaching generational support for Black Mental Health.
Share this widely.
TRAUMA EMPOWERMENT (what I’ve learned)
Trauma empowerment comes from identifying and understanding what has happened. As a CASA guardian ad litem, I’ve come to know many abused children. I was the second person John ever told of the things that were done to him when he was a boy – he died last year at 80. John lived for 30…
Give To the Max Day for KARA
Give To The Max Day Helps KARA Build our Financial Literacy Program!
KARA Current Initiatives
KARA Current Initiatives
Tennessee’s Child Marriage Bill & Taliban Doctrine
Massachusetts has the lowest minimum marriage age with parental consent of 14 years old for boys and 12 years old for girls. Afghan parents sell their 7 year-old daughters into arranged marriages & the Taliban has for years practiced child sex abuse.
Tennessee may soon have child brides in common with the Taliban and Afghan parents.
Growing Up Foster
Growing Up Foster, ‘The foster care system is broken’
There are an estimated 12,000 foster children in Minnesota, more than 8,000 of whom live in foster homes,
Child Protection Statistics and Carjackings
Child Protection Statistics and Carjackings;To solve carjackings and 83% and 90% recidivism rates, we need to track the successes and failures of children in State care if we are to improve their lives and strategies in place today.
Is This About Child Protection or Something Else?
It has been stated by program management that CASA volunteer time spent with abused and neglected children is of no value. Ask that question of any child removed from the only home they have ever known now passing through the cold scarey institution of judges, courts, foster and group homes where you don’t know anyone and new adult faces come and go after short periods.
Plenty of data Stories and literature provide proof
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.
What 1.3 Million Dollars Could Provide At Risk Children (Arianna-Hunziker Settlement)
Arianna Hunziker 1.3 million dollar settlement. Blaming child protection workers solves nothing. It’s counter productive – people in these fields are asked to do more than they ever can do. It’s very hard work with too much sadness and failure.
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 2)
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.
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
Support / Invite a KARA Initiative To Your Campus or Community
Support – invite a KARA initiative to your campus or community! Financial Literacy For At Risk Youth 18 & Up – Invisible Children Campus Conversation –
Portages Skill Building
COVID & Child Abuse in Minnesota
The Covid-19 pandemic is keeping children locked in toxic homes in Minnesota -Too many fostered youth are aging out of care – We need more forever families for our fostered youth today.
COVID-19 Impact on Child Welfare in Colorado
Calls to Colorado’s child abuse hotline fell during coronavirus, but harm to kids likely didn’t – COVID-19 is Stressing Colorado’s Child Welfare System -A growing number of Colorado children have lost a caregiver due to COVID
April is Financial Literacy Month (Fostered/Adopted Youth Invited)
Financial Literacy and Grant Program: The KARA financial literacy program is a place to learn, discuss and ask questions, find meaningful guidance and help teenagers and young adults start their financial journey off on the right path. Join our monthly peer group discussions about personal financial issues and real-world financial tools, seed funding, and problem-solving for each participant.
Politics & Children – A Zero Sum Game
A recent MN Governor ended subsidized daycare in the state – the waiting list went from 34 families to 7000.
At the time, two percent of MN children were enrolled in high quality early childhood education programs- the national average was 25% and MN had the lowest rate among the 38 states that offer the programs.
Cutting the pie smaller for children is destructive, leads to failing students and schools, troubled communities, and the highest crime rates in the industrialized world.
Virtual Child Advocacy Week in MN (Making a difference quickly & effectively)
Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota wants you to join them in making laws that keep at risk youth safe. Their approach is a quick call to your State Legislator. Helpers from Safe Passage make this easy for those who have not done it before. I really does make a difference. Click Here to learn how to help!
Free Financial Literacy Program for MN’s Fostered & Adopted Youth
Too Many Youth aging out of foster care don’t have the skills to make it in our community. 80% of them go onto lead dysfunctional lives.
To fix this, KARA is launching a FINANCIAL LITERACY PEER GROUP program that will give at risk youth the tools, training, and opportunities they need to succeed.
CHILD WELLBEING NEWS FEB 11-18 2022
(State By State + International) KARA’s Free Friday Morning Real Story E Updates KARA SOCIAL MEDIA KARA Signature Video (4 minute) Child Welfare In the News is a collection of child abuse/wellbeing news by the CHILD WELFARE INFORMATION GATEWAY. KARA has compiled these stories for the week of Feb 11-18 2022.
Child Protection or Child Endangerment?
Child Protection or Child Endangerment? This article from Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota mirrors my experience as a CASA volunteer guardian ad litem. They are investigating 80 child murders by caregivers in MN since 2015.
Making Child Protection Work (it takes a village)
The CASA volunteer guardian ad litem program provides a voice for a frightened child in the child protection system. Children removed from their homes become Wards of the State. Through the eyes of a child being in child protection is like being a cog in the wheel of a big machine. Delivered from one provider to another, many foster children them have multiple foster homes because of unaddressed (under-addressed) mental health and behavior problems.
Discover The Guardian Ad-Litem Program For Abused & Neglected Children
Discovering the CASA volunteer guardian ad-Litem program can make your community a happier and safer place for abused and neglected children.
Valuing Children & Public Health (school shootings)
More than 285,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine -America has had 57 times as many school shootings as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom all combined.
Child Sex Abuse and Trafficking Statistics and Stories
Black girls are 49% of trafficking victims even though they only make up for 19% of
Sex Trafficking & LGBTQ Children & Youth
LGBTQ+ youth and young adults are at high risk of being trapped into modern day slavery. Sex Traffickers target vulnerable youth who lack support, financial resources, or those who have experienced extreme abuse in the past.
BY ANY MEASURE
COVID is punishing AT RISK CHILDREN at a rate and severity never seen before. How can we help them? Tracking and reporting issues of violence, trauma, neglect and abuse of children is not transparent or robust – it never has been. Few people are aware of the terrific impact trauma has on children and how…
Financial Literacy – The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Discover KARA’s FREE Financial Literacy Program Here
I tried to kill myself in the third grade
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association have declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Covid Related Youth Mental Health Crisis
national emergency of child and adolescent mental health crisis triggered by isolation, uncertainty and grief during COVID.
Why We Hate Lawsuits (Eric Dean’s grandmother sues county & social workers for his death)
Recent KARE11 reporting brings full circle the events, sadness as MN Supreme Court ruling
allows Child Protective Services to be held responsible for Eric Dean’s death.
Minnesota Child Abuse + Child Protection (fall 2021)
These articles about child abuse and child protection
have been gathered in Minnesota over the last 60 days
The School Safety Net
COVID restrictions have locked many more students into toxic homes and made it much harder for teachers to have the relationships necessary to have meaningful conversations and provide help to end the abuse.For many children being able to attend school physically is their only reprieve from an abusive home life and only chance to confide in an adult that can provide a path to safety.
CDC Charts Mental Health & Child Suicide Pre COVID
COVID is Hammering Children’s Mental Health
These charts show steadily rising trends over the ten year period before COVID. The data pointing to youth planning suicide in the past year is very serious (2019).
Recent Child Self-Harm & Suicide (state reporting summer 2021)
Recent Child Self-Harm & Suicide (state reporting summer 2021)
Domestic Violence Report August 2021
For abused children, there have been no classrooms to escape to and many mandated reporters have been unable to visit children to hear their stories and see their bruises.
This must feel like a war to children living in toxic homes.
Domestic Violence Resource Guide (National & International – share this widely)
The United Nation’s-Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that being confined with abusive partners during the pandemic has led to a “horrifying global surge in domestic abuse”. This well organized domestic violence resource guide with hotlines and practical advice …
Don’t Blame The Mandated Reporter (why child abuse reporting is sporadic)
Mandated Reporters genuinely fear for their safety and reputation and regularly fail to report (or, “see”) horrific child abuse to avoid potential damage to themselves.
Supporting Parents of Disabled Children (guest post)
Disabled children are 3 to 10 times more likely to be abused than children without disabilities.
Child Welfare Information (find your state here)
These recent articles reflect the stories of America’s at risk children and youth.
If we don’t know the issues, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.
If we don’t see a problem there is no need for a solution.
Their stories are real.
Find their story in your state.
COVID Complicates the Mental Health of Traumatized Children
The severity of the mental health issues hammering traumatized children suffering from the abuse, neglect and traumas of an entire year of COVID lockdown without respite will become apparent to all of us soon.
Struggles for Foster Care Children in Education
America has long failed to understand and address the underlying issues that drive behaviors of traumatized children. Many end up suspended, expelled or in juvenile justice. Teen and preteen pregnancies are significantly more common among them than with their peers also.
Best & Worst States For America’s Children
Where does your state rank in protecting children & what can you do to make improvements. These statistics tell the stories of our best and worst states around the nation
Budget Surplus Fund For Children (a Christmas Miracle)
Peter Hutchinson’s recent Star Tribune article points to how the current MN budget surplus could fully fund programs that would make children healthier, better educated and (ALL OF US) safer.
Goodbye Joe McCarthy – Founding KARA Board Member & Best Friend
Yesterday, KARA’s best friend and founding board member Joe McCarthy passed away after a long illness.
We will miss him terribly. Joe had a big heart and remarkable mind. He was sharp as a tack with an interest in everything and a stunning memory.
20+ years ago, Joe encouraged and then guided me through the writing of the INVISIBLE CHILDREN book and founding of our nonprofit Kids At Risk Action.
Our small board spent many hours sorting through issues and ideas for making life better for abused and neglected children. We worked together to create our first board meetings and involve more people in the endeavor we are so passionately engaged in today.