Author Archive for Mike Tikkanen

International Women’s Day March 7

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on March 9, 2010
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
. 0 Comments

In 2005, when I wrote the book Invisible Children in MN there were less than 900 cases of child rape reported in the state I live in (MN). If that were true, I personally knew of about 50 cases, and there were about five hundred guardian ad-Litems besides myself in the state. I know that there were many more cases of child rape in this state that year.

I have attended several law school symposiums that articulated the complexities of prosecuting child rape and come to understand how far away from solving these problems our nations judicial system really is. In one of my GAL cases, a 40 year old man had terribly molested a child over a four year period and was not made a party to the case. He was still in the home accused of molesting another (three year old) child almost ten years later.

The following article from UNICEF in the Huffington Post focuses on adolescent girls in third world nations, but I would point out that child rape in my caseload has been significantly younger than ten years of age. Continue reading ‘International Women’s Day March 7′

Abusing Children At Home & In School – The Life Of An Abused Child

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on March 7, 2010
in Crime and Courts, Health and Mental Health, Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

Most House Republicans Vote To Allow Solitary Confinement & Restraint Devices in Schools.

The vast majority of the children we will be tying up & confining come from very troubled homes. Or, as former MN Supreme court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated, about 90% of the youth in juvenile justice have come through child protection services.

Before a child can become removed from a home through child protection services, they have lived for a long time in an abusive or neglectful home and have been tortured as defined by the World Health Organization.

It’s not the happy children that we will be restraining - it’s the three million children that are reported to child protection in America each year.

In my experience, the WHO’s definition of torture fits the life experience of a child that has been removed from an abusive home; “extended exposure to violence and deprivation” has been their life. The U.S. has no other child protection policy than the IMMINENT HARM DOCTRINE.

The link between an abused child’s past tortured life and future troubled life is clear to most of us that have lived with or worked with these damaged children long enough. It causes me great pain to see my guardian ad-Litem kids handled like mad animals (tasered, confined, beat up by under-trained staff in under-resourced detention centers) Continue reading ‘Abusing Children At Home & In School – The Life Of An Abused Child’

Ireland Implements guardian ad-Litem Program

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on March 5, 2010
in International Child Abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA) and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

Monday’s Irish Times announced that Ireland would be

Implementing best practice on the right of children to be heard http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0301/1224265369793.html

A child’s right to be heard is the essence of the guardian ad-Litem program. Think about it. Voiceless, helpless children enduring unspeakable horrors, sometimes for many years with no one to turn to for help.

The World Health Organization defines Torture as extended exposure to violence and deprivation. That is how I see child abuse.

In my experience as a guardian ad-Litem, a child often doesn’t even know that these terrible adult behaviors are wrong or they they have not done something to cause them.

Unspeakable crimes are committed against children but its not a crime in most third world nations, and it is rarely discovered if child protection services are under-trained or under resourced in industrialized nations.


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Continue reading ‘Ireland Implements guardian ad-Litem Program’

Acting Like A Responsible Adult Part II

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on March 5, 2010
in Public Policy
. 0 Comments

In the 1950’s I remember the public outrage when TV and newspapers uncovered senior citizens eating dog food out of cans and living under bridges. It was a a warm hearted, hot blooded citizen outcry that supported more social security for the aged, more health care, and more safety. Because of that outcry, politicians saw to it that support at many levels was increased to seniors.

As a volunteer guardian ad-Litem working with abused and neglected children in my county, I have watched services for at risk children disappear and the horrible results that follow. It is becoming unbearable at this time of economic unrest.

Seniors of the 1950’s were well served by the public support they received when people stood up for them at the time.

Where is that support for the millions of children reported to child protection services in this nation each year and why is it that 90% of the youth in juvenile justice have passed through child protection systems and are headed for criminal justice & U.S. preteen pregnancy and STD rates are the highest in the world?

I remember a nation that stood by its weakest and most vulnerable citizens. Where did they go?

A Very Critical Look At Foster Care

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 28, 2010
in Invisible Children and Public Policy
. 5 Comments

The following synopsis of under-resourced foster care systems is taken from the superior reporting on the Grandparents Blog; SUNDAY,

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:How Widespread a Problem?

A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:
How Widespread a Problem?
http://unhappygrammy-grandparentsblog.blogspot.com/

A New York University Survey determined that over 28% of the children in foster care had been abused while in the system. The cases noted were frightening. Louisiana a study indicated that 21% of abuse and neglect cases involved foster homes. Hundreds of Louisiana foster children were shipped to Texas.

Stephen Berzon of the Children’s Defense Fund explained the shocking findings of the court before a Congressional subcommitte, saying: “children were physically abused, handcuffed, beaten, chained, and tied up, kept in cages, and overdrugged with psychotropic medication for institutional convenience.”

The rest of this report is terrifying. Many states have decades long histories of ignoring the physical violence and overt sexual abuse of very young children. This report names names, dates, and places.

California paid $18 million to children that were abused while in its custody. This is a frightening story.

I agree with Children’s Rights Project attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry: “There are a lot of injuries, a lot of abuse. The most significant thing is the psychological death of so many of these kids. Kids are being destroyed every day, destroyed by a government-funded system set out to help them.”

Each state must look hard at the outcomes it wants to achieve. Recent studies show that 80% of children aging out of foster care are leading dysfunctional lives

There is an institutional violence done to children when the system is too busy, too under-trained, or under-resourced to include family members.
Continue reading ‘A Very Critical Look At Foster Care’

Acting Like A Responsible Adult

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 26, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 3 Comments

Every state has it’s loud and mean “I got mine” Tea Party contingency, but it is prudent to look deeper into who has voted us to where we are today.
America’s aging population is retreating into retirement with its pensions and savings and leaving young families with failing schools, health systems, and communities.

The lack of financial or public support for day care, early childhood programs, schools & health care is being compounded by the increased political footballing of five year olds.

At Risk Children have been sold out to the pharmaceutical firms of our very young children as guinea pigs for Prozac, Ritalin, and other psychotropic medications (Ritalin was banned in Sweden in 1968 due to the increase in suicides).

Educators are expected to deal with the mental health issues of thousands of abused and neglected children in their classrooms each year & then denigrated by political figures in election years.

At the same time, media & politicians are blaming the people working in the field instead of taking a constructive approach to understanding the issues and creating public policies that address the problems.

Building prisons has not worked (500M budget in MN this year), nor has under-serving abused and neglected children (double digit prison growth 4 of last 5 years).

There is nothing responsible or adult-like in accusing bad teachers for failed schools, or for blaming social workers when a baby is found in a dumpster. That is like blaming the police for the criminal in the squad car.

It is to our own best interest to approach these issues in a responsible fashion and make the investment in determining what needs to be done and then doing it.

We will continue to degrade our cities and spend far more money maintaining prisons, fighting crime, and paying for damage and insurance than we would if children received the attention they need to succeed in school and go on to lead productive lives.
The following are a few examples of the how various states are dealing with the current financial crisis and how it is impacting their public safety and children;
Continue reading ‘Acting Like A Responsible Adult’

Ruben Rosario on Victor Vieth’s Dream of Ending Child Abuse

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 24, 2010
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
. 0 Comments

I am taken by the hard stories and painful facts in Ruben Rosario’s article on Victor Vieth’s dream of ending child abuse in today’s St Paul Pioneer Press

http://www.twincities.com/ci_14437150

As a guardian ad-Litem, I know that most child abuse cases are not reported. Recently an acquaintance of mine admitted to witnessing the prostitution of a very young girl and not reporting it. He had remorse and said that he had felt confused and endangered at the time.

I personally experienced a case with 45 police calls to an abusive home before the girls were removed from the home (where child abuse had been occurring and prostitutes had been arrested). The seven year old had been the victim of extended sexual abuse (I assumed prostituted).

“As a nation, we have done more to address child abuse in the past 30 years than occurred in the first 200 years of our history,” Vieth writes in an academic paper that has been well-received in the child-protection and justice fields but is virtually unknown in mainstream circles. “Unfortunately, the obstacles that remain are nothing less than mountains.”

One of them is the sad reality that many children suspected of being abused are not reported to the child-protection system.

Vieth cites a 2000 study that found that 65 percent of social workers, 53 percent of physicians and 58 percent of physician assistants did not report all cases of suspected abuse.

Most telling are two hypothetical cases involving teachers — not only mandated reporters, but also possibly the one trusted adult a child comes into daily contact with the most outside the home. Of 197 teachers who took part in the test, only 26 percent said they would contact authorities if a child told them that a relative was touching their genitals. Only 11 percent would do so in the second test, which involves a child accusing another teacher of touching their private parts.

Vieth also notes that even when cases are reported, most are never investigated. A government-commissioned national report this year on abused and neglected children found that most cases of maltreated children “do not get CPS (child-protection services) investigation.”

Continue reading ‘Ruben Rosario on Victor Vieth’s Dream of Ending Child Abuse’

Books Not Yet Written

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 23, 2010
in Guardian ad-Litem and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

A Few years ago Judge Heidi Schellhas gave me a printout of the psychotropic medications the very young children in her child protection courtroom were proscribed. The impact of seven year olds on Prozac, Ritalin and other powerful medications is still with me.

How profound the impact sexual abuse, violence, and neglect has on a child (and the community that he/she will live in)

Without the right kind of care, violence and neglect hurts a child forever. The hole in their life is gigantic and small efforts don’t mend this serious damage.

What does it say about a community that leaves children in toxic homes because it does not have the foresight, concern, or resources to protect its youngest and most vulnerable citizens?

Keep in mind that Hennepin County used to be one of the nations most progressive child protection counties.

As a guardian ad-Litem there were many children in my case load that had been through three, four, and five years of the worst kinds of tortured abuse. One boy had spent much of his life tied to a bed, starved, and sexually abused (from four to seven).

He has AIDS today (about 14 years later) and not had anything like a real life. I would call it a tortured life of awful choices and no real joy.

Continue reading ‘Books Not Yet Written’

Children’s Health Trends

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 22, 2010
in Health and Mental Health and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

Dr. Bruce Perry gives credible argument that 25% of Americans will be special needs people in few generations if we do not act forcefully to mend our approach to the mental health needs of abused and neglected children http://www.childtrauma.org/CTAMATERIALS/vortex_interd.asp.

Add to that the serious growing issues of diabetes that conservatively predicts that fifty percent of American’s children will be obese within three years, & that three times as many American children are proscribed psychotropic medications as are European children, is a strong indication that our public policies are not child friendly.

We are all too familiar with the sad fact that the U.S. tries 150,000 juveniles as adults each year, and that most juvenile justice cases have been child protection cases, paints an even darker picture for poor inner city children.

New York Times article on Rising Rates of Chronic Health Problems for Children;
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/research/23child.html
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A Modest Proposal, or If Children Could Riot

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 21, 2010
in Guardian ad-Litem, Health and Mental Health, Politics and Funding, Public Policy and education
. 1 Comment

300 years ago an Irish Minister wrote a highly acclaimed critical satire (”A Modest Proposal” - in its entirety below) in protest of the cruel public policies imposed on poor families that were destroying the lives of Irish children.

Public policy at the time treated the Irish more like animals than people and their children were doomed to living lives of crime, prostitution, and destitution.

Jonathon Swift’s satirical theme was that Irish children would be better off dead than raised in such horrible and inescapable circumstances.

As a long time guardian ad-Litem, I have come to understand Swift’s rage at the cruelties a community can pile on to poor children.

The idea that America’s poor working families don’t deserve education, health care, & safe homes for their children in the richest nation in the world is a cruel and unsupportable position.

The other industrialized nations have figured out that caring for their youngest citizens guarantees healthy adults and productive communities. We now don’t rank anywhere near the top in the majority of quality of life indices among the 24 industrialized nations.

America can’t quit building prisons and filling them with juveniles and preteen moms. We continue to quit subsidizing daycare, early childhood programs, healthcare for the poor, & education funding, while at the same time listening more and more to the mean spirited philosophies of radio and TV hosts that blame the nations ills on people that have (and always will have) the least.

The economic arguments of caring for children are all in favor of creating productive citizens by early intervention and early childhood development. It actually costs a great deal more to continue to punish the weakest and most vulnerable among us.

Are we a community without compassion?

KARA is seeking a 21st Century Modest Proposal. If you are a writer and given to challenges, please read Swift’s “Proposal” below, and write your own as you see it applying to American children & include it as a comment, or send it to Info@invisiblechildren.org
Continue reading ‘A Modest Proposal, or If Children Could Riot’

Day Care In America, NY v MN

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 19, 2010
in Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

One of my last guardian ad-Litem acts was to be part of the court proceedings to remove children from the home of a man who could not afford daycare (his wife was a crack addict).

Minnesota’s Governor had killed programs that made day care affordable for low wage earners on the pretense that the state would be fiscally better off without them.

Without subsidized daycare, this hard working man’s children would have been taken from their family, placed in foster/adoptive homes, costing the state many times as much money as daycare would have.

Add to that the disruption in the lives of these already at risk children and their likely damaged performance in school plus the all too common behavioral problems that result from this kind of chaos all add up to what we are trying to distance ourselves as a nation; more juvenile prison fodder, more preteen moms, and more dysfunctional adults.

As our former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated, “the difference between that poor child and a felon is about eight years”.

This Governor believes his decisions to be grounded in fiscally sound policy.

I argue that this policy is wasteful and immoral.

We are destroying families and costing the community both in the short term and in the long term, far more money than subsidizing of day care for low wage earners.

Presently, day care workers are paid at the same rate food service workers are in the U.S. (the lowest paid workers in the nation). This is an indication of how the nation values its young (and we still can’t afford daycare).

New York Times Article;

New York City Seeks to Close 15 Day Care Centers in Budget Cut

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Continue reading ‘Day Care In America, NY v MN’

Someplace Where We Can Be A Family

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 19, 2010
in Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

The “burden of eviction is Heavier on Black Women, Research in Milwaukee Shows” reads the New York Times today, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/19evict.html

U of Wisconsin research shows that poor minority women are almost twice as likely to face eviction as minority men (1 of 14 vs. 1 of 25). Irresponsible behavior by live-in fathers and boyfriends and reporting domestic violence to the police often trigger evictions.

The disruption and trauma of eviction & broken homes, forces children out of schools, ruins credit ratings, creates homelessness, increased drug & alcohol abuse, violence and child abuse.

It also puts a burden on schools, increases crime, and preteen pregnancies. The cycle continues.

The costs to our community are made clear by the recent ACE study that proved that almost 70% of the serious and violent crime committed by juveniles in Ramsey County was committed by children living in 2 to 4% of Ramsey County families.

http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

Continue reading ‘Someplace Where We Can Be A Family’

Civil Justice, Mental Health, Children, Education, & Politics

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 17, 2010
in Health and Mental Health, Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

Last night I attended the Patrick Henry High School Community Forum on the impact that children’s mental health has on the entire education and juvenile justice systems held by Representatives Mindy Greiling and the Civil Justice Committee Chair Joe Mullery.

Smart people from mental health and education spoke on stigma, truancy, intervention & juvenile justice. A very smart person from the community stepped forward and spoke about mental health as perceived from within the community.

By the end of the evening it was made clear that the 47,000 arrested juvenile arrests in MN last year were related to high school dropout rates and the safety of city streets. No reference was made to the A.C.E. study of two years ago indicating that over 70 percent of all violent and serious crime in Ramsey County was committed by youth from 3% of the families within the county.

Thank you to all of the committed individuals that work in education, social services, mental health and justice trying to make these institutions responsive to the massive needs within our communities.

Please appreciate the frustration from those of us who know that preteen moms and juvenile felons deserve better from our policy makers than the hard politics that have continued to underfund mental health and young families at the expense of prisons, punishment, and jails.

I am pleased that we are having public forums on the topic for more than a few reasons;

As a community, the topic has been uncomfortable and avoided for too long. Last nights discussion on “mental health” and how to be mentally “healthy” was positive and meaningful and a model for other forums and future discussions.

As a guardian ad-Litem, I came to know many traumatized children that had no access to adequate mental health services and watching them grow into dysfunctional adults has been painful. Continue reading ‘Civil Justice, Mental Health, Children, Education, & Politics’

Health & Human Services In Minnesota (Largest Share of Budget Cuts)

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 16, 2010
in Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 2 Comments

The largest share of the No Tax approach to balancing Minnesota’s budget will fall on the sick, mentally ill, and disabled in the Governor’s new proposal.

Mr Pawlenty has already slashed programs for healthcare and daycare for the poor and focused his his attention on building prisons and increasing incarceration to control the effects of poverty in Minnesota. The state has reached half a billion in prison expense for the last fiscal year and five years of double digit prison population growth.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated that the “difference between that poor child, and a felon, is about eight years”.

Minneapolis arrested 44% of its adult Black Men in 2001 under the supervision of the Governor’s appointed Public Safety Director Rich Stanek, who was forced to resign after the racial slurs he commonly used were printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“Children that are victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the state of Minnesota” was Tim Pawlenty’s statement to Andy Dawkins and David Strand when they asked if he would support programs for abused and neglected children.

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Continue reading ‘Health & Human Services In Minnesota (Largest Share of Budget Cuts)’

Kansas Losing Health Care For 40,000 Children

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 15, 2010
in Health and Mental Health, Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 0 Comments

Another state is putting the burden of health costs back onto families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

Kansas budget cuts and layoffs have created a backlog that appears to be growing dramatically.

Budget cuts hurting state child health program

By Marshanna Hester http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/feb/01/budget-cuts-hurting-state-child-health-program/
Continue reading ‘Kansas Losing Health Care For 40,000 Children’

Blaming Social Workers When Children Die

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 14, 2010
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
. 3 Comments

LA County is refusing to release information about the deaths of the most recent deaths of 12 children that have passed through child protection, claiming that the agency has been denigrated unfairly by the media coverage of these deaths. The public will not long stand for this.

White hot issues like this are easily decided and blame will be quickly affixed to the social worker that should have known, filed more accurate and timely reports, and not made mistakes.

Hard to fight that logic.

A sorrowful underlying truth in defense of these humble, well meaning, and underpaid people is that on top of the tremendous strain of large & difficult case loads, they are under-trained and under-supported for the work they do (and yes, I really do mean this – the social workers I’ve met have all wanted to make a difference in the lives of the disenfranchised – and without sufficient help, they cannot do their work effectively).

We as a community have become quick to throw rocks and blame people, while not taking time to look for the core problems, think critically, and work meaningfully to fix them (like we do so very well in industry).

Continue reading ‘Blaming Social Workers When Children Die’

CASA Comments On This May Not Be The Case

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 14, 2010
in Invisible Children and Politics and Funding
. 0 Comments

My February 4th post was in response to the federal study showing a substantial decline in child abuse. Here are comments and follow up from CASA guardian ad-Litem web conversations; Continue reading ‘CASA Comments On This May Not Be The Case’

The Impact Of Tampering With Georgia’s Student’s Test Results

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 12, 2010
in Public Policy, The States and education
. 0 Comments

Georgia’s hiding of hard truths is a terrifying trend in our nation. Here’s why;

When the truth is not reported, the critical problem is not perceived and no steps are taken to correct the underlying core issues. Things can only get worse until the system is destroyed.

Operating on false information forces people to make choices based on lies, causing more terrible results and disruption and eventual failure in what was a functioning system (education, social work, courts, or any other institution).

What would have been accomplished had these people succeeded in hiding the failure rate of Georgia’s students?

The next generation of students would be lacking in knowledge and critical thinking skills (just like the adults responsible in the tampering, but a hair less intelligent). Would they continue the convention of hiding critical information from the community?

When would the system implode?

Let this be an example of why systems need to be transparent.

Bad results are good BECAUSE we see them and can do something about them.

Not teaching 21st century American children how to learn, read, and compete in school is a disaster at many levels. Not supporting educators, parents, children, and public policy in this endeavor has cost us greatly as a nation. http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2009/03/02/kara-action-group-manifesto-for-early-childhood-education/

Continue reading ‘The Impact Of Tampering With Georgia’s Student’s Test Results’

Juvenile Injustice – Mental Health

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 11, 2010
in Health and Mental Health, Public Policy and The States
. 5 Comments

Today’s NY Times article on the lack of oversight in New York’s mental health facilities for youth mirrors the rest of the nation.

2 Important truths; most of the youth in the juvenile justice system have come through child protection services, & a large percentage of these youth suffer from mental health issues.

Children don’t become involved in child protection systems unless they have suffered extended exposure to violence and deprivation in their birth homes.

The World Health Organizations definition of Torture is; Extended Exposure to Violence and Deprivation – Trauma.

New York is now spending about $250,000 per year / per youth in their juvenile justice system.

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2009/12/14/new-york-meet-missouri/

In my experience as a guardian ad-Litem in MN I have watched really terrible things happen to very troubled children under the direction of people and programs that were supposed to be “helping” the child.

One young boy walked home many miles without a coat, on a sub zero MN night (with no home to go to) from a juvenile facility after being severely abused.

While it would be easy to blame the people in the institutions, it is really the fault of poor public policy, resulting from lack of understanding of underlying issues.

Mental health is all about functioning within our communities. Bear that in mind as you read the New York Times article and the following KARA pieces.

My note on the following; The amount of psychotropic medications being proscribed to this population is enormous in relation to the the therapy that is needed but not available.

Continue reading ‘Juvenile Injustice – Mental Health’

More Volunteers Needed For Children In Court System

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 9, 2010
in Guardian ad-Litem and Invisible Children
. 0 Comments

Abused and Neglected children have suffered from extended exposure to violence and deprivation before they are removed from their homes and placed in child protective services.

Children need and deserve a voice in the system that rules their lives. Their only chance of having that voice is if there is a guardian ad-Litem speaking for them in child protection.

There are CASA (guardian ad-Litem) offices near you. If you have a friend that would like to be a volunteer voice & help a child send this to them;

http://www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5301295/k.BE9A/Home.htm

This article out of Florida captures my sentiment well;

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/feb/03/more-volunteers-needed-children-court-system/

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Continue reading ‘More Volunteers Needed For Children In Court System’

Keeping At-Risk Students In High School

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 9, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and education
. 1 Comment

The good news; A recent report from the non profit Jobs For The Future found that high schools with early college programs that have been open for more than four years are graduating 92% of their students with 40% of students earning at least a full year of college credits.

The bad news; As a nation, we know that high school dropouts have a far greater chance of preteen pregnancy, years of costly incarceration and leading dysfunctional lives that they pass on to their children.

Today, many states are increasing their percentage of spending on juvenile justice and criminal justice while maintaining or reducing spending on education. New York and California have been spending about $250,000 per year per juvenile in their juvenile justice systems. MN has reached the half a billion dollar mark for maintaining its prison system this year after five years of double digit growth.

The potential for finding new money for progressive new programs (no matter how successful) in this climate is slim.

What can we do?

Does any one here have a story of a successful approach within their own community?

Please share.

Read NY Times article;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/education/08school.html

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Continue reading ‘Keeping At-Risk Students In High School’

ChildHelp.org

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 8, 2010
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
. 0 Comments

This organization is has many resources and will be of great value for parents, kids, and communities in working to end child abuse.

Five time Nobel Peace Prize nominees Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson founded ChildHelp to raise awareness and funds to end child abuse. From their website;

National Child Abuse Statistics;

Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations.

http://www.childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics
 Continue reading ‘ChildHelp.org’

A Million Haitian Orphans

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 7, 2010
in Health and Mental Health and International Child Abuse
. 0 Comments

According to World News 380,000 Haitian children were made homeless when their orphanages were destroyed in the earthquake.

Before the earthquake, UNICEF estimates that tens of thousands of Haitian children were being sold as servants to rich Haitians each year.

Developing nations are often unable to provide even the most basic safety for their nations children (child endangerment, slavery, basic care) through the proper writing and passing of laws and standards that all sensible people could agree on. Enforcement is another issue entirely.

Continue reading ‘A Million Haitian Orphans’

California’s Child Protection Problems Grow

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 6, 2010
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 1 Comment

According to the 2006 California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care, the state has more than 75,000 children in foster care, almost 80% removed for neglect, 45% have been in foster care for over two years, 17% for more than three years.

African American and American Indian children are disproportionately represented in the system as well as in their probability of leading dysfunctional lives as they age out of foster care.

These recent news posts will bring you up to date on the difficulties being faced by the people of California (and other states) in dealing with the policies and politics of abused and neglected children Continue reading ‘California’s Child Protection Problems Grow’

Australia Begins National Child Care Standards

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 5, 2010
in International Child Abuse
. 0 Comments

Perhaps the test of how a nation treats its youngest citizens will determine how nations are are viewed in the twenty first century.

After an apparently preventable death of a 12 year old girl in Australia, public outrage over lack of standards for child care prompted legislation at a federal level that has now come to pass.

When I spoke at the UN in 2008, a woman from Uganda said to me that there were not even words to describe the child abuse that took place in her country, and no programs to help abused children (at the end of the UN talk, you can hear her statement) http://www.invisiblechildren.org/home/ click on the link at the bottom of the page).

That puts definition to being a third world nation.Link to Australian eGov article; http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/32942 Continue reading ‘Australia Begins National Child Care Standards’

This May Not Be The Case

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 4, 2010
in Public Policy and The States
. 0 Comments

A new federal study will soon be getting rave reviews and making us feel like the nation has made great progress in ending child abuse.

From where I stand, the reported decrease in incidents of serious child abuse tells only part of the story, and is certainly not a cause for celebration.

If anything, this years financial chaos and increase to poverty is having a multiplier effect on families experiencing abuse and violence.

While strides were made during the years measured, there are serious problems in accepting the results as “mission accomplished”.

Continue reading ‘This May Not Be The Case’

Be A Part of Reforming America’s Child Protection System

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 3, 2010
in Invisible Children and Links To Helpful Orgs
. 0 Comments

Child Welfare League of America is devoted entirely to the well-being of America’s vulnerable children.

Listen, Talk, Learn;

Their program broadcasts on the Internet every Wednesday, 2:00-2:30 pm ET. The call-in number is 347/326-9411. Visit www.blogtalkradio.com/CWLA-Radio.

On the Line with CWLA is a thought-provoking, interactive, live Internet radio program focusing on subjects, stories, and strategies of special interest to child welfare policymakers, providers, and practitioners. The program, devoted solely to discussions about the welfare of America’s vulnerable children, features a forum where numerous points of view and voices of experience within the child welfare universe can be heard.

The live program, hosted by CWLA Vice President for Policy and Public Affairs Linda Spears, is a production of CWLA that will provide a platform for CWLA member organizations, their staffs, its partners, and concerned citizens in the national community to share ideas and thoughts about critical issues that affect child welfare agencies, vulnerable children and teens, and their families.

The weekly subject-oriented, solutions-driven program broadcasts online at www.blogtalkradio.com/CWLA-Radio, Wednesdays, 2:00-2:30 pm ET and feature indepth, timely discussions with leading child welfare experts, agents, and advocates; leadership and representatives from CWLA’s member agencies; and local and national political figures working to improve child welfare and give a voice to child welfare professionals, providers, and practitioners nationwide.

On the Line with CWLA is a production of the CWLA, Arlington Virginia

Cutting Early Childhood Programs Is Expensive and Ruins Lives

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 2, 2010
in Health and Mental Health and Politics and Funding
. 5 Comments

After 12 years of guardian ad-Litem work I am convinced that early childhood programs make a great difference in the lives of at risk children. Children receiving the help they need to make it in school more often go on to graduate and on to become contributing members of our communities.

To not support children that are unable to read or function well in the classroom is to insure continued failing schools and more and bigger prisons.

America is already the largest criminal nation in the world in per capita and in gross prison numbers – and that is expensive in financial and quality of life measurements.

The following This PEW issue brief goes on to explain in detail why we should continue early childhood programs in tough economic times.

Use this information to help your local programs keep their funding in these hard times. Cutting Early Childhood Programs Worsens Fiscal Problems http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=56880

Contact: Rolanda B. Rascoe, 202.540.6413 Continue reading ‘Cutting Early Childhood Programs Is Expensive and Ruins Lives’

20% of Western Australia Child Abuse is Sex Abuse

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on February 1, 2010
in International Child Abuse and Invisible Children
. 0 Comments

As a long time guardian ad-Litem, it always appeared that sex abuse was minimized or under-reported in the child abuse cases I worked on. Uncomfortable to to talk about and often difficult to prove.

The impact of sex abuse on children lasts for ever as is well documented by the medical community www.avahealth.org (watch the videos on this site, the The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) to Adult Health Status at the bottom of the home page is terrific).

This article about sex abuse of children in Australia’s child protection system makes me wonder if their reporting is just more honest than ours, or if they really do see more of it.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/wa-has-worst-rate-of-child-abuse-report/story-e6frg13u-1225822209261 Continue reading ‘20% of Western Australia Child Abuse is Sex Abuse’

Bringing Attention to Child Abuse Deaths

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 31, 2010
in Politics and Funding and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

EveryChild Matters is campaigning to bring attention to lack of attention and public policy for abused and neglected children.

http://www.everychildmatters.org/National/News/Do-10440-child-abuse-deaths-deserve-a-Congressional-hearing.html

As part of a campaign to stop child abuse and neglect deaths, The Every Child Matters Education Fund and its partners—the National Association of Social Workers, the National Children’s Alliance, and the National District Attorneys Association—are running ads that urge Congress to address the fatalities that claim the lives of innocent children every day. Specifically, the ads ask Congress to hold hearings and provide emergency funds to stop state cuts in child protective services. Continue reading ‘Bringing Attention to Child Abuse Deaths’

Voices For Children Foundation Announces Their 2010 Be A Voice Feel the Magic Gala with Special Cirque Du Soleil Performers

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 29, 2010
in Guardian ad-Litem, Invisible Children, Links To Helpful Orgs and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

This very determined organization ensures that every abused, abandoned, and neglected child in their county has a court appointed guardian Ad Litem to represent their best interests.

Every county in every state needs to know about the guardian Ad Litem program and how it helps at risk children through the difficult system of child protection services.

It is to all our benefit when children thrive in our communities. Children can only thrive if they are given a fair chance to thrive.

Without court appointed guardians, abused and neglected children are voiceless in our communities. For the CASA guardian ad litem program in your state, http://www.nationalcasa.org/, for Florida; www.casa-stpete.org/, for CASA Minnesota http://www.casamn.org/

Continue reading ‘Voices For Children Foundation Announces Their 2010 Be A Voice Feel the Magic Gala with Special Cirque Du Soleil Performers’

How Americans Respond To Child Abuse

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 28, 2010
in Invisible Children, Kids At Risk Action (KARA) and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

This organization Childabuse.com goes a long way in measuring the attitudes and understanding this nation has towards child abuse and why public policy has lagged so far behind the reality. The more we know, the better our policies and programs;

Fifty percent of Americans do nothing when they witness abuse

New Study by Prevent Child Abuse America Reveals Alarming Trends in How Americans Respond to Child Abuse

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Three in ten Americans have witnessed an adult physically abuse a child and two in three Americans have seen an adult emotionally abuse a child (see table 1). Yet nearly half of these Americans failed to respond to the incident, according to a study released today by Prevent Child Abuse America, formerly the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse. Continue reading ‘How Americans Respond To Child Abuse’

Georgia Child Protection: Too Many Children Too Few Resources

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 27, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 1 Comment

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

New York-based Children’s Rights claims that Georgia is failing abused and neglected children. The Department of Human Services has been under a consent decree since 2005 that came out of a class action lawsuit in 2002 claiming the division was mismanaged and overburdened.

I find it hard to accept that abused and neglected children in our advanced nation, find it so hard to receive adequate help to get a fair start in life.

With budget cuts throughout the nation, states that were already underfunding, under-supporting & doing poorly for children in child protection service before this economic collapse are beginning to see these unhappy results. Growing caseloads in juvenile and criminal courts, more preteen pregnancies, and unhappier communities. Continue reading ‘Georgia Child Protection: Too Many Children Too Few Resources’

Spending On Children

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 26, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 0 Comments

This Jan 18 NY Times article points out just how much more we spend on the elderly than on children (2.2% vs 5.3% of GDP) & how important early childhood education is for developing children. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/remembering-the-little-people-accounting-for-kids/

The author, Nancy Folbre points out that , full-time, year-round child care for young children costs more than public university tuition in 44 states.

As a guardian ad-Litem, I’ve been chartered to removed children from a home where the father could not afford day care and the waiting list for subsidized day care was so long he could not hope to be awarded a subsidy.

Continue reading ‘Spending On Children’

Connect for Kids Child Advocacy 360

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 26, 2010
in Invisible Children
. 0 Comments

This Connect For Kids website has terrific coverage of children’s issues. Here are a few of their current stories;

http://www.connectforkids.org/newsletters/update

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/10/community_schools.html

Friends of Texas vs Friends of Children

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 25, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 0 Comments

These Friends of Texas Linked In discussions explain how children have become America’s new political football. If states can refuse government help failing schools with no political backlash, the dream for educated youth and an informed democratic society dies with the schools. This discussion needs more attention. Pass it onto your friends and coworkers. http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/01/25/friends-of-texas-vs-friends-of-children/

“What we do to our children, they will do to our society” Pliny the Elder 2500 years ago.

Continue reading ‘Friends of Texas vs Friends of Children’

Crimes Against Children Study New Hampshire University:

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 24, 2010
in Crime and Courts and Invisible Children
. 0 Comments

In a study of Crimes Against Children, the University of New Hampshire found that the majority (60.6%) of children had experienced at least 1 direct or witnessed victimization in the previous year.

Almost half (46.3%) had experienced a physical assault in the study year, 1 in 4 (24.6%) had experienced a property offense, 1 in 10 (10.2%) had experienced a form of child maltreatment, 6.1% had experienced a sexual victimization, and more than 1 in 4 (25.3%) had been a witness to violence or experienced another form of indirect victimization in the year, including 9.8% who had witnessed an intrafamily assault.

One in 10 (10.2%) had experienced a victimization-related injury. More than one third (38.7%) had been exposed to 2 or more direct victimizations, 10.9% had 5 or more, and 2.4% had 10 or more during the study year.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/124/5/1411 Continue reading ‘Crimes Against Children Study New Hampshire University:’

A Program Worth Repeating

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 23, 2010
in Invisible Children and The States
. 0 Comments

Every state releases youth that are troubled and without the skills or resources to cope in the community. Nationally, up to 80% of the 15,000 youth aging out of foster care each year are leading dysfunctional lives.

Few states think through the consequences when youth do not meld into the community to become healthy and productive citizens. Here’s one great example, this program Katz said is successful: 61 percent of the women have high school diplomas or GEDs, 97 percent are enrolled in school and 60 percent have found part-time work or are in school full-time.; http://www.miamiherald.com/492/story/1398131.htmlMiami-Dade nonprofit offers affordable housing to women aging out of foster care.

BY JONATHAN DAVILA

JDAVILA@MIAMIHERALD.COM
In Miami-Dade County, more than 130 girls become too old for foster-care eligibility every year, according to a study by Our Kids, a Florida-based nonprofit.

They’re given a monthly stipend of about $1,135 by the county and are required to attend school to keep receiving it.

“I was living paycheck to paycheck. It was kind of crazy,” said Rachel Johnson, a 25-year-old former foster child who aged out of the system at 18.

Continue reading ‘A Program Worth Repeating’

The Evidence Is In

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 23, 2010
in Health and Mental Health
. 0 Comments

Watch the video clips from the Academy on Violence & Abuse http://avahealth.org/and order their free full presentations (when you join their organization). The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to Adult Health Status piece by Dr Felitti is extremely powerful http://gallery.mac.com/avahealth#100000

The years of hard research this organization has done to quantify the impact of abuse on children as they become adults is as incontrovertible as it is moving.

This information shared with the public and policy makers can help abused and neglected children received more and better care and lead more productive lives.

Support them
info@avahealth.org

Academy on Violence and Abuse
14850 Scenic Heights Road, Suite 135A
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Phone: (952) 974-3270
Fax: (952) 974-3291

National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 22, 2010
in Crime and Courts, Links To Helpful Orgs and Public Policy
. 0 Comments

In my own experience as a guardian ad-Litem, it is better to heal the family when possible, but I have seen cases where adults have had license to abuse children year after year without penalty. This organization provides training for the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children; http://www.ndaa.org/

In 1985, the National District Attorneys Association established the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse as a program of the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI). Aimed at responding to an increasing volume of reported child abuse, the National Center provides training, technical assistance and publications to prosecutors, investigators and allied criminal justice professionals on all aspects of criminal child abuse and exploitation. Continue reading ‘National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse’

Texas Blog Sequel

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 20, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 4 Comments

Because last weeks Texas/Alaska Politics Trash Children blog generated so much controversy on the social networking sites that hosted it, providing more information about Texas and its ranking among the states in how it treats children is in order. Factually, Texans can’t make the argument that they spend too much money on children by these numbers.

April 2008, Every Child Matters, Geography Matters

Child Well-Being Indicators

Infant Mortality 20th
Child Death (1-14) 29th
Teen Deaths (15-19) 14th
Births to Teen Moms 50th
Late/No Prenatal Care 33rd
Child Poverty 44th
Uninsured Children 50th
Juvenile Incarceration 34th
Child Abuse Deaths 45th
Child Welfare Expenditures 42nd
Total Tax burden* 41st
Overall Rank** 46th

Continue reading ‘Texas Blog Sequel’

Michigan: 16% Confirmed Increase in Child Abuse & Neglect Cases

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 19, 2010
in Politics and Funding, Public Policy and The States
. 0 Comments

Few would argue that helping at risk children saves communities, taxpayers, and the child. Reading this article from the Detroit news indicates that some policy makers still don’t understand the relationship between healthy children and productive adults (or unhealthy children, preteen mothers and adolescent felons).

Last Updated: January 12. 2010 12:47PM
Child poverty, neglect on rise in Michigan
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Childhood poverty, neglect and abuse continue to rise in Michigan, troubling signs that children continue to bear the brunt of the state’s economic woes, according to a report released today.

Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100112/METRO/1120362/1409/METRO/Child-poverty–neglect-on-rise-in-Michigan#ixzz0d4mLZOj4 Continue reading ‘Michigan: 16% Confirmed Increase in Child Abuse & Neglect Cases’

Texas & Alaska Politics Trash Children Openly

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 14, 2010
in Public Policy and The States
. 3 Comments

Today’s newspapers have printed the story of how Alaska and Texas are refusing federal funding for schools (up to seven hundred million dollars for Texas) because governors want to make a political statement against the Obama administration.

Texas has suffered the lowest graduation rates in the nation with the worst racial disparities.

To so pointlessly and blatantly refuse money for strapped schools when the Houston superintendent writes “I have 100,000 kids in Houston who don’t read at grade level” is putting another generation of Texas children at risk.

Texas had taken $250,000 from the Gates Foundation to complete the grant application and had a good chance of at being awarded funding.

The risk of youth not being able to read by the third grade going on to lead dysfunctional lives is well documented. .

Children depend on the government for their education. This government is investing its capital in politics rather than children.

Texas is laying off teachers, cutting useful programs and closing schools.

Texas has also suffered from one of the highest rates of crime and incarceration in the nation. It is well established that educated children have a far better chance of becoming productive citizens and the people of Texas would all benefit from that.

Governor Perry, these are your state’s children.

Please reconsider this counterproductive and political decision.

Continue reading ‘Texas & Alaska Politics Trash Children Openly’

Child Well Being Network (a model)

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 13, 2010
in Public Policy
. 0 Comments

I’m hoping that the Child Well Being Network gets great support and becomes a big deal in the state of MN.

More than 5,000 Minnesota children were abused and neglected in 2008. Over a thousand are currently under state guardianship, living in foster care permanently or awaiting adoptive homes (DHS 2008). Up to 600 youth age out of foster care every year.

Nationally, recent studies have shown that up to 80% of youth aging out of foster care are leading dysfunctional lives.

The Child Wellbeing Network has come together to declare that Minnesota needs a refreshed vision of child welfare. Policies and practices should reflect our values and highest hopes for children throughout our state.

Every state needs a Child Wellbeing Network, every person needs to understand that healthy children become healthy citizens & healthy citizens build healthy communities that are safe and pleasant to live in.

It is better for the child, it is better for the state, it is better for the community to take care of children.

Financial and Family Stress Linked to Child Maltreatment in Rural Areas

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on January 11, 2010
in Health and Mental Health and Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
. 0 Comments

This in depth report from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire makes it painfully clear that poverty and mental health issues are often at the heart of child abuse.

Durham, NH–According to a new brief by Carsey Institute director of research on vulnerable families Marybeth J. Mattingly and research assistant professor of sociology Wendy A. Walsh, rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) are more likely than those reported in urban areas to experience high family stress and financial difficulties. Rural children referred to CPS are also more likely than urban children to live in a single parent home.

Based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this brief shows that across place, nearly 40 percent of children who are reported to CPS live in poverty, and roughly half have a caregiver with mental health issues. Continue reading ‘Financial and Family Stress Linked to Child Maltreatment in Rural Areas’

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