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Nov262017

Speaker Mike Tikkanen

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, KARA News and Events

guardian ad-Litem, founding board member of CASAMN, Founding member of the Friends of Children Foundation (now CASA CARES), and founder of the 501c3 nonprofit KARA, Kids At Risk Action. Mike has a mission to speak for abused and neglected children about what impacts their lives and their profound impact on our communities and institutions.

How does generational child abuse impact schools, teachers, public health and public safety?

Could a few policy changes in your community improve graduation rates, reduce crime and make neighborhoods safer?

A clear view of the economic impact of child abuse will change many minds.

By generating conversation around the issue and exposing facts that have for too long been left unspoken, Mike brings attention to solutions that will reverse the direction of current problematic trends that are overwhelming our communities and institutions today.

Breaking this cycle of child abuse and the resulting quality of life issues permeating our neighborhoods and institutions is Mike Tikkanen’s mission.

Presentations are designed to address issues specific to your community & provide insights and answers for improved outcomes for children and families where you live.

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Jun52007

Speak Up For Children

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths

More importantly, supporting day care for disadvantaged children is the right thing to do for all Minnesota’s kids.

In a public meeting at Hamline, Rolnick lamented that this ‘no brainer’ idea is overshadowed at the Capitol by wasteful sports stadiums (and cries for lower taxes*).

More of us need to raise our voices for children if there is going to be a change in public policy toward the weakest and most vulnerable among us (children have no voice but ours in this political system).
* authors words

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Oct192019

Speak For An Abused Child in Court (short video) WE NEED YOU!

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection

Volunteer: Be the voice for a child that doesn’t have one! (Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area OPPORTUNITIES)

One hundred and seventy five Hennepin County children are without a guardian ad litem today – WE NEED VOLUNTEERS.

Do you know any? Send this to a friend and share it with your social media.

With the response to recent reporting of child abuse and child death in MN, a corresponding increase of child abuse cases are entering the system & means that volunteers are badly needed.

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Dec132020

SPEAK FOR A CHILD (be a voice for a child)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection

Learn about the CASA guardian ad-Litem program and how your can make life better for abused and neglected children – Today, there are 500 abused and neglected children in Ramsey & Hennepin County child protective services without a guardian ad-Litem. Being a State Ward child is painful. Being a voice for that child is rewarding and makes a difference in the life of that child.

All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children; learn more here;

CASA MINNESOTA

CASA NATIONAL

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Jun232011

Sometimes People Get Shot

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Gun Violence and Control

Blaming severely disturbed people for their crimes is nonsense and solves nothing (it’s counter productive-no steps are taken to solve the problem if that’s all we do).

It would be much more useful to get to know a family that has tried to find help for a very troubled child. As a volunteer County guardian ad-Litem, I came to know many very troubled youth and their parents and other caregivers.

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Mar22017

Social Work (from the smartest person in the room – Dee Wilson from the Casey Foundation)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Reporting and News - MN Specific

I had the honor of sitting next to Dee Wilson when he delivered the Casey Family Assessment of Hennepin County’s Child welfare system to the Hennepin County Commissioners (Minnesota’s Child Endangerment Model). Dee drew attention to damage being done by the toxic atmosphere in the Child & Family Services system, the inability of St Joseph’s home for children to manage the level of trauma their young clients were living with and pointed out the red herring that HIPPA laws have created by forbidding almost any public discussion of the conditions within the homes of abused children and the institutions of child protection. I resonated with how social workers are traumatized by their work and how community based solutions involving stakeholders and redefining what we want for outcomes.

All a part of why turnover is high in social work and terrible policies doom children and families to more cyclical trauma and failure.state child welfare systems

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When reading Dee’s recapping of County screened out rates remember that when 4 year old Eric Dean died after 15 reports of child abuse by mandated reporters, there were 4 MN counties that screened out 90% of all child abuse calls.

Dee keeps a blog and wrote something recently that every social worker needs to read. He is the smartest person in the room on the topic.

All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children

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Apr262014

Snapshot On Florida’s Child Protection System (or what’s not working)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Reporting and News - US Based

In the wake of a bloody year for Florida youngsters, lawmakers have pledged to repair the state’s frayed safety net for abused and neglected children.

But as the state’s annual legislative session winds toward the final gavel, many children’s advocates say legislative leaders have failed to match their words with action and fear some proposals may create new problems.

Gov. Rick Scott has proposed spending $39 million to hire 400 “boots on the ground,” or child abuse investigators who will respond to hotline reports and identify at-risk kids. But investigators typically work with a family for 60 days or less, and then families in need of follow-up help are sent to privately run local agencies.

Those agencies, the governor says, don’t need new money. The agencies counter that if the governor’s plan goes through, their already-backlogged caseloads will swell and families will compete for the services they need to keep children safe. They are asking for $25.4 million more.

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