Current Kids At Risk News | INVISIBLE CHILDREN

Nov212020

COVID & Child Suicide November 2020

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, COVID 19 and its ImpactsBy Mike Tikkanen November 21, 2020

KARA (Kids At Risk Action) tracks current news about at risk children bringing transparency and attention to our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. The COVID pandemic has interrupted most major media reporting of child abuse issues.

KARA’s reporting is only sampling of what should be reported – the great majority of child trauma & abuse is never known. Major media and institutional reporting on children’s issues are much lower due to the COVID pandemic.

ALL ADULTS ARE THE PROTECTORS OF ALL CHILDREN

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Nov202020

Lawsuits and the Death of Two Year Old Arianna Hunziker

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and DeathsBy Mike Tikkanen November 20, 2020

Arianna was wrapped in sheets, left alone in a closed room and slowly starved to death. Foster parents Sherrie and Bryce Dirk will go to prison for murdering Arianna. This solves nothing.

There is something terribly disturbing about a State sanctioned foster family starving a 3 year old State Ward child to death that needs to see the light of day.

Arianna must not have had a County social worker (today’s Star Tribune article …

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Nov192020

Schools Closed – What We Need to Know

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, COVID 19 and its ImpactsBy Mike Tikkanen November 19, 2020

Poor districts are suffering more domestic violence & substance abuse from from front line worker stress, poverty and job loss making online learning that much harder for children.

Many poor families are crowded into small spaces, lacking necessary internet access and hardware for adequate online learning.

This NY Times article barely acknowledges the social and economic costs of abused and neglected children locked into toxic homes during COVID. Abused children have no teacher or other mandated reporter to recognize and respond to their traumas. There is no comparison to having a trusted teacher to privately speak to in school and a video chat with the abuser in the room or nearby.

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Nov32020

Goodbye Joe McCarthy – Founding KARA Board Member & Best Friend

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, KARA News and EventsBy Mike Tikkanen November 3, 2020

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.

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Nov12020

Winning the War Against At Risk Children (& saving our city)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, COVID 19 and its ImpactsBy Mike Tikkanen November 1, 2020

and 63 recent car-jackings (over the last 39 days) many include vicious assaults & mostly committed by teens – kids as young as 12, puts the lie to that belief.

For decades, the vast majority of serious and violent crime has been committed by youth and young adults. In these 63 recent car-jackings, women are beaten, one man was shot dead and another dragged as he tried to stop them from stealing his car with his wife and child inside.

During this time of pandemic and civil unrest, it’s apparent that our city is much more dangerous than it was a year ago.

What is less apparent, are the key drivers that have needed our attention for a very long time that (if addressed) could dramatically reduce the anxiety, violence and unrest in our communities.

Before, when schools, health care and public safety seemed to work, we have had little concern with how or why things work and the luxury of not paying attention to the people, programs and policies involved.

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Oct282020

Children, Politics & Voting On Tuesday

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, KARA News and EventsBy Mike Tikkanen October 28, 2020

Americans have always talked big about supporting equality, keeping children safe, supporting schools & better conditions for young families.

Today, our pro-child, pro-family discourse has become so vicious that many Americans rationalize our government taking immigrant babies and children from their mothers and then losing them so that these mothers may never see their children again. Children have become political footballs in immigration, education, health care and law enforcement and this should disturb us.

A great deal of money and political will has gone into denigrating immigrants, public schools, teachers and the front-line workers trying to keep children healthy and safe.

Tuesday’s election is about this.

Which candidates support more access and more resources for education, health and mental health and an end to racial injustice?

“What we do to our children, they will do to society” (Greek philosopher Pliny the Elder 79 AD)

Please vote – the next generation needs you to speak for them.

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Oct252020

Restorative Justice – Veterans & Children (saves money and lives)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and DeathsBy Mike Tikkanen October 25, 2020

Woo Hoo – MN passed a restorative justice act for veterans – diverting at-risk veterans toward probation and social service programs instead of jail time when they commit certain crimes.

Why wouldn’t we?

The World Health Organization defines torture as extended exposure to violence and deprivation. Living in a war zone, bombs going off nearby or a buddy shot dead in front of you changes the brain.

Most of us want soldiers that have experienced traumas in the service of this nation to be treated for their mental health issues and have a path to rebuild their lives as productive citizens.

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Oct232020

New CDC Youth Data – STD’s, Mental Health, Drug Use & Suicide

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Reporting and News - US BasedBy Mike Tikkanen October 23, 2020

This 2020 report examines 24 variables and includes three new health behaviors—recent prescription opioid misuse, STD testing, and HIV testing. It also provides data on the health behaviors and experiences of sexual minority youth from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 cycles of the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), allowing trends to be reported for this population for the first time.

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Oct202020

The Death of Arianna Hunziker & Lawsuits

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and DeathsBy Mike Tikkanen October 20, 2020

Arianna Hunziker was “starved, dehydrated, bound, immobilized and abandoned in a home littered in trash and smelling of of urine”. Foster parents Sherrie and Bryce Dirk went to prison for murdering Arianna. There is something terribly disturbing about a State sanctioned foster family killing a two year old State Ward child that needs to see the light of day.

The lawsuit in today’s paper points out that another MN community is having a hard time with either the resources, training or protocol for keeping at risk children safe. Being a foster child should not be one more horrific encounter with child abuse. It’s plenty hard when your birth parents make your suffering so bad that a judge removes you from their home to place you with a family you have never seen before.

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Oct182020

Child Suicide Reporting (3 weeks ending 10.17.20)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Mental Health + Over MedicationBy Mike Tikkanen October 18, 2020

These articles reflect current trends in child suicide & self-harm in America today. Only a fraction of child/youth suicides are successful. The vast majority of self-inflicted harm remains invisible. Mental health services are badly needed by young people today as the COVID pandemic is locking children into toxic homes with little or no access to the adults that could help them.

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