INVISIBLE CHILDREN » Public Policy

43 Child Deaths Due Policy Violations In Colorado Social Services

Mike Tikkanen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:09:34 +0000

As horrible as the news is, let’s thank Reporter Jordan Steffen of the Denver Post for his diligence in pursuing these sad cases.

As a CASA guardian ad-litem with many years in child protection I’ve met many terribly abused children that have fallen through the cracks of overwhelmed child protection workers (and they never make the papers).

In my world, 99% of the abused and neglected children go unnoticed except to the overworked & under-resourced social workers and under- appreciated adoptive/foster parents.

Part of the problem is that since newspapers have been in decline, the old beat reporters just don’t exist anymore (at least in my community) & the topic is painful.

It hurts to confront the cruel reality that our communities deliberately visit on these children.

To appreciate the meanness of some states I point to (Mitch Daniels) Indiana’s stealing (redirecting) the funding promised to parents that adopted abandoned special needs children (after these children had been adopted) & Minnesota’s fiscally irresponsible de-funding of subsidized daycare which forced the county to place children in foster homes because their father’s job did not pay enough to afford daycare.

It costs way more to place children in foster care than it would have to subsidize his daycare payments.

It cost Hennepin County millions of dollars to pay for the care of the four year old boy the court thought would be better off with his father even though dad had a court order to stay away from young boys because of what he did to them. My client is now is now 23, has AIDS, and has been in over 30 foster homes and he will be a ward of the state until he dies. He was been tied to a bed, starved, beaten, sexually abused and left alone for days at a time from 4 to 7 years of age. That never made the paper. Nor did the four year old girl who I visited in the suicide ward of Fairview hospital (her sister’s story was much worse).

If you read Jordan’s reporting, it will be easy to hate the social workers involved. Please remember that under-training & under-funding combined with giant case loads, makes their task impossible.

Like blaming teachers for failed schools or cops for full prisons, it’s the wrong place to focus.

We did this; our state legislators, governors, and the mean spirited political hate fest that rallies around fear and war at the direct cost to American children.

When a baby is found in a dumpster, the mother has horrible mental health issues & needs help, but our communities have accepted that we just don’t support young mom’s or their troubled children.

It’s all wrong and we know it. It is up to us to talk about these issues and bother our media and legislators until positive change happens.

Policy violations in Colorado social-services system found amid deaths of 43 children

POSTED: 01/29/2012 01:00:00 AM MST
UPDATED: 01/29/2012 01:57:06 PM MST

By Jordan Steffen
The Denver Post

(Denver Post file photos)

In the past five years, 43 Colorado children died from abuse or neglect after entering the child welfare program. Every one of those deaths was marked by a policy violation or sparked concern in the way the case was handled by county social workers.

Investigations completed by the Colorado Department of Human Services since 2007 indicate that social workers in 18 counties repeatedly failed to complete basic functions — such as interviews or follow-ups on assessments — in 43 cases where a child later died from abuse or neglect.

In 40 percent of those deaths — 17 children — county social workers failed to start or did not accept an assessment after a referral warranted an

PHOTOS: CALEB PACHECO MEMORIAL

View more images of the makeshift memorial for Caleb Pacheco in Sterling.

investigation for abuse or neglect.The state department opens an investigation whenever a child’s death is a result of abuse or neglect and there was contact with the county child welfare system during the two years before the child’s death, said spokeswoman Liz McDonough.

Before 2011, an investigation was opened if a child entered the system five years before the death.

Human Services’ latest investigation will be into the death of 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco, whose body was found tucked underneath a Sterling mobile home last week. His mother, Juanita Kinzie, 24, is in custody and faces one count of first-degree murder in her son’s death.

In 2011, 21 child-fatality reports were launched in Colorado. Two have been completed. Reports become public after they are finished and if they show policy violations or concerns. The Denver Post obtained all 43 public reports completed in the past five years.

Most of the reports included multiple referrals and assessments.

According to The Post’s findings:

There were 27 instances in which county social workers failed to contact, interview or follow up with victims, caregivers, reporting parties or other adults involved in an referral.

There were 32 instances in which social workers did not document unsafe conditions, prior incidents or other concerns in their assessments.

There were 33 occasions during which assessments were not started in a timely manner, were completed incorrectly or left open beyond the allotted time frame.

In five cases, social workers failed to account for other children or caregivers living in the home, and communication difficulties across county departments and other systems — such as law enforcement — hindered an investigation in five cases.

One of the reports was on 7-year-old Chandler Grafner, who was starved by his foster parents, Jon Phillips and Sarah Berry, in 2007.In December, a federal judge ruled that the Denver social workers who were involved with his case were not immune from a lawsuit filed by the boy’s relatives. Phillips was sentenced to life in Chandler’s death and Berry to 48 years.Caleb’s family members say they last saw the boy in January 2011. During the year he was missing, the boy’s family said they called social services in three counties more than 70 times.

Human Services cannot release details about Caleb’s case or confirm whether his family contacted county departments because the investigation into the boy’s death is ongoing, and a Logan County judge issued a gag order in the case, McDonough said.

Dr. Kim Bundy-Fazioli, an associate professor at Colorado State University’s School of Social Work, said the family’s claims about unanswered calls for help are a concern.

“When families aren’t making progress, there is a lot of chaos, and it can be overwhelming for case workers and service providers,” Bundy-Fazioli said.

“You never know who to interview or who to trust, but it’s not an excuse not to intervene.”

Bundy-Fazioli also was concerned about decreased funding for county programs and increased caseloads for overwhelmed social workers, who often have to make judgment calls on high-priority cases and investigations.

Each of Colorado’s 64 county departments are being asked to do more with less, said Becky Miller Updike, ombudsman with the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection. Often, families in the most dire situations are also more transient, making it harder to track children through school systems and other county departments.

“We have to cut back dollars from our counties every year, causing us to ask them to do more with less,” Miller Updike said.

Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794 orjsteffen@denverpost.com

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Growing Up Inner City

Mike Tikkanen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:36:33 +0000

Luis Rodriguez Always Running La Vida Loca, gets it right about growing up inner city. When he was ten, his best friend died when being chased by police (an accident).

Before he was 18, Luis had seen 25 of his friends killed by violence. From 1990 to 1998 6000 LA youth died in gang related violence.

Rodriguez writes that “Gangs flourish where there’s a lack of recreation, education, or employment”.

Our nation’s continued focus on punishment over accommodation/compassion for children has created the largest prison population in the world (over 2 million-add to that juvenile justice/child protection/probation/parole, and the numbers are staggering).

Criminalizing youth that society spurns & declaring them the enemy brings huge costs and great pain to the community and the families involved.

Minneapolis MN arrested 44% of its adult black men in 2001 (no duplicate arrests – 58% of those men went on to be rearrested for a second crime within two years).

Each large American community has its own truths and statistics relating to youth well-being (or non-well-being).

America leads the industrial world in teen aged STD’s, violent crime, preteen moms, child mortality, child poverty, child abuse deaths, and youth tried as adults (25%).

The police and the courts are not equipped to solve these problems.

It is up to communities to understand the nature and scope of these issues and treat children with sufficient care and resources to end the madness as stated by MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz; “The difference between that poor child and a felon is about eight years”.

Let’s all get behind child friendly programs and politics and end the pipeline to prison & preteen pregnancies that America now promotes.

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

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Universal Rights Of The Child; All Talk No Action

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:44:08 +0000

There are two nations (of the 196 nations in the world) that have not ratified the Universal Rights of the Child. Somalia and America.

Somalia, because it has no functioning government, and the U.S. because we will not stop training child soldiers*.

Americans are proud of and outspoken about spirituality, values, and freedom – making proclamations about human rights, women’s rights, and so on.

My twelve years in County child protection as a volunteer guardian ad-Litem (Court Appointed Special Advocate/CASA) has taught me hard lessons.

Beaten children, sexually abused children, starved and neglected children enter the child protection system every day. Three million children a year are reported to child protection services in America.

Their numbers and stories are staggering. It is so painful and so common.

We do not offer adequate help or protection to children that need it the most.

Worse, we don’t like to talk about it. There is nothing that brings cold hard silence to a conversation than talking about my experiences with child sexual abuse or otherwise traumatized children.

When there is no discussion by those in the know, few people outside the system can understand the issues which means the media and politicians that could draw attention don’t (or they are mixed up in their understanding and speaking which is actually worse).

So nothing changes. In fact, during these lean times, programs for abused and neglected children are disappearing all over our nation and things are getting worse. Our Voices Matter was powerful program that allowed foster and adoptive kids a voice has recently disappeared due to lack of support. Many truly useful organizations are disappearing today because we don’t support children that need help the most.

From the courts, social workers, CASA programs, & health and other resources, to the foster and adoptive parents that work so hard to make life bearable for traumatized youth, child protection systems throughout this country are overwhelmed and unable to provide the services these children need.

Until I became part of the system, I had no idea that that 90% of the youth in juvenile Justice came through child protection, or that over 50% of youth in juvenile justice suffered from mental health issues with fully half that number diagnosed with multiple and severe mental health problems (the same is most likely true of children in child protection).

Without professional help, how do you un-teach drug use or sex habits to a 9 year old that has been forced to practice these things at home?

My first visit to a four year old was at the suicide ward at Fairview hospital. I’ve written about a seven year old foster child that hung himself and left a note (he hated the Prozac). There is nothing like facing a very young self-hating, suicidal child to bring home the cold hard reality that the mental health services, consistent help from the county (her new parent) will not be there. Knowing that her chances of recovering to lead a normal life are very, very, slim. This has made me feel like I’m part of a crime.

As long as we don’t talk about it, no one can know about it. Social workers are trained to not talk about it. These children have NO Voice in the substance and direction of their own lives. They suffer every day all day and we don’t want to hear about it.

Whether you are an abused child, foster/adoptive parent/social or health worker; empower yourself to start this conversation (and tell your friends/family to vote for child friendly initiatives**).

LET’S START TALKING

Support KARA’s efforts; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

*It has been suggested that this is why Minnesotan’s were willing to pay 24 Billion dollars as their share of the Iraq/Afghan war over this two year budget, but unwilling to pay 6 billion dollars for healthcare, childcare, education, & infrastructure over the same period.

**My last official act as an active CASA guardian ad-Litem was to remove four children from a father whose only fault was that he could not afford daycare. The state had defunded subsidized daycare & put the money back into the general fund (just like Indiana did with the money promised to parents that had adopted special needs children this year).

It was the state’s position that it would be cheaper, and the right thing to do, to tear these children from their hard working, honorable father, and put them in foster homes, than to fund subsidized daycare. In what universe could this be true?

If you are a reader of this blog, you know that the Federal Reserve Board studies, www. AVAHealth.org, and overwhelming data over thirty years clearly proves the extraordinary costs of letting children slip through the cracks into crime, prison, and more dysfunctional families. It’s way more efficient to save a child than to help a felon or preteen mom recover from a life of abuse and neglect and the behavior problems that follow.

What good are rights if there is no discussion or enforcement?

Support KARA, listen to or buy the book INVISIBLE CHILDREN, schedule a discussion or keynote speech.

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What Is It We Don’t Understand about fostering conditions almost ensuring criminality

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:40:19 +0000

- which guarantees a public outcry for more police & prisons, acting stupid when our streets turn dangerous, and so surprised when our schools fail because these children are now in their 4^th, 5^th, & 6^th generation of dysfunctional families with terrible behavior problems that make classroom performance almost impossible (think Prozac, Ritalin, Zoloft)?

Attorney, successful businessman, & ACLU president Vance Opperman gave a spirited and informative talk at the Stone Arch DFL meeting in Minneapolis this morning. He is a very smart and insightful fellow with a terrific grasp of so many critical issues, but not this one.

Unfortunately, like 99% of the nation, he has very little comprehension of why America has 25% of the world’s prison population, charges 25% of juvenile justice youth in adult criminal court, and is the world leader with five to ten times the murder and crime rates of any other *industrialized nation (for many years now).

On the plus side, Vance did speak to the African American Men’s Study & the importance of the institutionalized racist fact that 50% of Black Men are either in prison, on the way to prison, or on parole.

But when I asked him a question about how to solve the conundrum of preteen moms and adolescent felons, he said he was not very familiar with the issues.

I had hoped that Senator Amy Klobuchar would back me up. She was in the audience and had worked in juvenile court when I was a guardian ad-Litem and she saw what I saw when she was a public defense lawyer in the court system that is child protection in our community.

Senator Klobuchar was in the Juvenile Court system when MN Supreme Court Chief Justice stated that 90% of the youth in Juvenile justice had come through Child Protective Services & the same time Hennepin County arrested 44% of the adult Black Men (2001, with no duplicate arrests). Google “Rich Stanek Resigns” to find out more about how the appointed Police Commissioner made that happen.

Unfortunately, I did not get to ask the question about preteen mom’s (Industrialized World’s Leader) and STD’s (another World Leading category for America).

If communities were to foster conditions that lead to healthy children; our streets would be safer, more kids would graduate, we’d save money on police, prisons, and insurance. It would also make for a happier and more knowledgeable citizenry, save tax dollars, and it would be the right thing to do.

* there are 24 other industrialized nations with great wealth and advanced infrastructures that the U.S. has compared itself to for many years. Recently, due to America’s poor rankings, some journalists have begun comparing this nation to third world and emerging economies.

Please send me related stories.

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It Costs Way Less To Hire & Train Social Workers;$68 Million Settlement Proposed for 10 Children Fraudulently Adopted and Abused

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:42:35 +0000

How many disabled & abandoned children would lead better lives if just a fraction of this proposed settlement had been spent providing children properly supported social workers & resources instead of charging multi-million dollar penalties to a government entity.

Like the settlement that was paid to the birth parents of the child lost forever (literally “disappeared”) in the Nevada foster care system, or the dozens of brutal deaths children have suffered over the years in this nation where inadequate child protection services exist & social workers are regularly blamed when children are brutalized when in fact they are working in conditions that almost ensure that at risk children will pay the price for a counties / states malfeasance.

It would be far less expensive (see the studies & long term costs) and the right thing to do to see that foster & adoptive parents were well funded, well regulated, and early childhood programs set up to insure that every child had a chance to have a meaningful life in America.

Until then, let’s sue the pants off of states and counties that refuse to care for children.

New York Times Dec 29th article on 68 Million Dollar Settlement Proposal

Please send me related stories.

Support KARA’s effort to improve support for children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

Full New York Times Article below;

¶Lawyers for 10 disabled children who were fraudulently adopted by a Queens woman more than 15 years ago and subjected to years of abuse have proposed a $68 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit filed on their clients’ behalf, according to a confidential court filing.s and headlines.

¶The proposal comes as a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn appears to be trying to mediate a settlement to the suit, filed in 2009, which seeks damages from New York City and three contract adoption agencies that placed the children with the woman, Judith Leekin.

¶The case has been seen as one of the most disturbing child welfare fraud cases in the city in recent years. Ms. Leekin used four aliases to adopt the children, who had physical or developmental disabilities, including autism and retardation, and later moved them to Florida. The children were caged, restrained with plastic ties and handcuffs, beaten with sticks and hangers, and kept out of school, according to court papers. An 11th child disappeared while in Ms. Leekin’s care and is presumed dead.

¶The suit asks that the 10 plaintiffs, now mostly in their 20s, be compensated for their years of suffering as well as for the services and treatment they will need for the rest of their lives.

¶The settlement proposal was cited in a letter from a defense lawyer in the case to the magistrate judge, Marilyn D. Go of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where the lawsuit was brought.

¶The letter was filed publicly in October, but was quickly sealed after the lawyer wrote that it “referred to confidential discussions between the parties.” The New York Times obtained the letter while it was publicly available.

¶Ms. Leekin, 66, was imprisoned after she was convicted of fraud in federal court in Manhattan and of abuse in a state court in Florida. Federal prosecutors have said that as part of her scheme, she collected $1.68 million in subsidies from the city that went to support a lavish lifestyle.

¶When the 10 children were removed from her care in 2007, none had completed elementary school; only three could read and only at a third-grade level; and about half were declared either “totally incapacitated” or “vulnerable adults,” according to a report by a former Columbia University social work professor retained by the plaintiffs to examine the cases.

¶The 10 have since lived in Florida in state programs or on their own, and at least one is homeless, according to court filings.

¶New York City and the three private agencies have denied liability in the case, claiming that Ms. Leekin was a sophisticated serial criminal whose scheme fooled various professionals and, given the capabilities and practices of the time, would not have been foreseen or detected.

¶The agencies are HeartShare Human Services of New York, SCO Family of Services and the now-closed St. Joseph Services for Children and Families.

¶The agencies’ lawyer, Robert S. Delmond, did not respond to messages seeking a comment on Thursday. Lawyers for the city and the plaintiffs declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

¶In the now-sealed letter to Judge Go, Mr. Delmond described the $68 million demand as “a significant sum, which requires much consideration, thought, planning and involvement of corporate officers before they can reach a decision.” The agencies’ insurance carrier was reviewing the matter, he noted, and was “not prepared to make a settlement offer at this time.”

¶He requested more time to allow for further consultations with the insurer and meetings to discuss “possible settlement offers.”

¶It is unclear how the city and the private agencies might apportion any payout if a settlement is reached.

¶Jonathan S. Abady, a lawyer whose firm, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, has handled suits against the city and private agencies in cases involving abused and neglected children, said “there does appear to be a uniform indemnification provision” in the contracts the city has with such agencies.

¶“But the city has the ultimate legal responsibility for the child,” said Mr. Abady, whose firm is not involved in the Leekin suit.

¶In August, Theodore Babbitt, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, asked Judge Go to move the case forward because of the “fragile, unstable and precarious” condition of the plaintiffs. “They are desperate for care that cannot be provided through the Florida state system,” he wrote.

¶He cited three of the male plaintiffs, who ranged in age from 19 to 24: one had been on a round-the-clock suicide watch after multiple attempts to take his own life. Another had fathered children out of wedlock and was homeless. A third had been arrested for domestic violence against his older brother. “He is angry and depressed and bottles it up inside until he violently explodes,” Mr. Babbitt wrote.

¶The court’s docket sheet shows that Judge Go has regularly held confidential phone and court conferences related to settlement issues, sometimes talking with just one side or the other.

¶Her efforts appear to date from July, when she said in open court that she was usually “programmed to be hopelessly optimistic about settlement.”

¶“For some reason,” she added, “I have not pushed the parties much in this case to discuss settlement, but let’s do so now.”

A version of this article appeared in print on December 30, 2011, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Settlement Proposed in Adoption Abuse.

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Fewer Families Adopting In Denver (Agency Closing After 22 Years)

Mike Tikkanen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:04:42 +0000

I expect that the same is true all across America; families are finding it harder to support at risk children on lower incomes; http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19628951

It just seems to me that America’s children should all have a chance to have a childhood.

I find it hard to accept that on top of being abused, having special needs, or neglected, these children are punished again by us as a society. We are too cheap to make a place for them at the table.

Adoptive & foster families need more help than communities are willing to give. Kids continue to suffer in overcrowded court rooms, underfunded child protection systems, & now the families that have historically stepped forward to adopt hard to place children are being overwhelmed.

Vote for child friendly initiative; call a state representative and speak up for a child. Nothing else works (these kids can’t vote).

Denver adoption agency to close after 22 years

POSTED: 12/28/2011 01:00:00 AM MST

By Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post

A Denver-area adoption agency that specializes in placing special-needs children in permanent and foster homes is closing after 22 years, a victim of the bad economy.

Adoption Alliance, which finds families for some of the most difficult-to-place children, said Tuesday that the economy has led to fewer families seeking to adopt, and donations to the nonprofit are down.

Also, regulations passed several years ago have made international adoptions more difficult.

Executive director Tracey Blustein said the agency is working with the state to transition about 200 families to the more than 30 other adoption agencies in the Denver area.

Adoption Alliance’s license expires at the end of January. The 10 workers left at the agency will lose their jobs.

“It’s unfortunately a sign of the times, just like many nonprofits,” Blustein said. “It’s difficult for us to sustain our operations.”

For adoptive parents such as Patty Ramlet, the news comes with much trepidation. The final paperwork hasn’t been completed to keep a 4-year-old named Chance in her family for good. The child has lived with her family for four months.

“My adoption isn’t finalized, as I am sure many others aren’t as well,” Ramlet told 9News. “Maybe the process will be disputed or not go through or have some kinks, and I’ve waited a long time for Chance, so there is some fear there.”

Colorado Department of Human Services spokeswoman Liz McDonough said Adoption Alliance informed the state Dec. 8 that it was closing and surrendering its license.

She said no family will be left hanging through the transition process.

“For us, the most important thing is to work with them and other providers to ensure a smooth transition for their families,” McDonough said.

She said the closing of Adoption Alliance isn’t part of a trend, but the fact that it is a large and established agency is “something to take note of.”

Adoption Alliance has placed 2,500 children into adoption and foster care. More than 90 percent of the children have special needs, whether emotional or mental disabilities, and they also have histories of abuse and neglect, according to the agency’s website.

“We’re very sad,” Blustein said.

Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 orcillescas@denverpost.com

Read more:Denver adoption agency to close after 22 years – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19628951#ixzz1hqzEabvD
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

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30.2 % of America’s Youth Arrested Before Their 23rd Birthday

Mike Tikkanen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:20:46 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/nearly-a-third-of-americans-are-arrested-by-23-study-says.html?_r=1&hpw

Add this to the fact that American youth (as young as 11) are routinely charged as adults (25% nationally) and that cities around the nation arrest extremely high percentages of their minority populations (in 2001 Hennepin County – Minneapolis MN) arrested 44% of it’s adult Black Men – no duplicate arrests/58% of those men were rearrested for a second crime within two years making Minneapolis the Jail & Prison capital of the world.

Many states have funded their prison and jail systems at far greater rates of increase than their schools, daycare, or health systems, any of which could reduce the stresses driving the extreme growth in crime and courts.

A pathological lack of empathy is driving parts of our political body and ensures that generation after generation of dysfunctional families will continue to maintain the statistical truth that the U.S. has five percent of the world’s population and twenty five percent of the world’s prison population. This scorched earth capitalism is now converting jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers to money making operations with the attendant problems of brutal and illegal conditions (that have sent some judges to prison).

Add that to the mental health issues addressed in the thirty years of study conducted by Dr. Bruce Perry & his conclusion that 25% of Americans will be special needs people by the end of this generation, & the Federal Reserve Boards study and argument for investing in children begins to look like a pretty good return on capital (not to mention it’s the right thing to do).

Not addressing these issues can only continue to make our streets dangerous, schools fail, and quality of life a shadow of what it has been.

Support day care, educators, social workers and early child initiatives. Make mental health programs a mainstay of the juvenile justice system. It is a proven improvement over the punishment model.

Please send me related stories.

Many in U.S. Are Arrested by Age 23, Study Finds

By ERICA GOODE

Published: December 19, 2011

¶By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life.

¶The study, the first since the 1960s to look at the arrest histories of a national sample of adolescents and young adults over time, found that 30.2 percent of the 23-year-olds who participated reported having been arrested for an offense other than a minor traffic violation.

¶That figure is significantly higher than the 22 percent found in a 1965 study that examined the same issue using different methods. The increase may be a reflection of the justice system becoming more punitive and more aggressive in its reach during the last half-century, the researchers said. Arrests for drug-related offenses, for example, have become far more common, as have zero-tolerance policies in schools.

¶The study did not look at racial or regional differences, but other research has found higher arrest rates for black men and for youths living in poor urban areas.

¶Criminal justice experts said the 30.2 percent figure was especially notable at a time when employers, aided by the Internet, routinely conduct criminal background checks on job candidates.

¶“This estimate provides a real sense that the proportion of people who have criminal history records is sizable and perhaps much larger than most people would expect,” said Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the State University at Albany and a co-author of the study, which appears in Monday’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.

¶The study analyzed data collected as part of the federal government’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The 7,335 participants were nationally representative and ranged in age from 12 to 16 when they were enrolled in the survey in 1996. The first interviews were conducted in 1997. Follow-up interviews have been carried out annually since then.

¶The researchers found that the probability of a first arrest accelerated in late adolescence and early adulthood — at 18, 15.9 percent of the participants reported having been arrested — and then began to flatten out as the youths entered their 20s.

¶Robert Brame, a professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and the lead author of the study, said he hoped the research would alert physicians to signs that their young patients were at risk.

¶“We know that arrest occurs in a context,” Dr. Brame said. “There are other things going on in people’s lives at the time they get arrested, and those things aren’t necessarily good.”

¶If doctors can intervene, he added, “It can have big implications for what happens to these kids after the arrest, whether they become embedded in the criminal justice system or whether they shrug it off and move on.”

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Blog Talk Radio Interview With Bill Murray; Stop Child Abuse Now

Mike Tikkanen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:31:35 +0000

Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) – 201

A powerful 90 minute conversation addressing the strengths and weaknesses of today’s child protection systems and the civil rights of youth in America today.

Brutal truths and best practices. Click on the link to hear the program.

Your comments are encouraged.

MikeT

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Race To The Bottom

Mike Tikkanen — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:30:25 +0000

From California, as if life for poor children were not difficult enough, State sponsored Indentured Servitude for children:

Lawsuit Seeks to Stop State Welfare Agencies from Illegally Forcing Children to Repay Money Paid to Parents MarketWatch November 23, 2011

In a lawsuit filed today in Alameda County Superior Court, two girls, 14 and 19 years old, are asking the Court to call an immediate halt to California’s illegal practice of forcing children to repay the old welfare debts of their parents or guardians.

Please send me related stories.

… The county was threatening to cut this grant to repay almost $3,000 mistakenly paid to Irene’s mother in 1996-1998. “I don’t understand how the county can come after Irene for a debt that happened when she wasn’t even born,” said Ayers.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lawsuit-seeks-to-stop-state-welfare-agencies-from-illegally-forcing-children-to-repay-money-paid-to-parents-2011-11-23

2) I have spent thousands of hours in the presence of adoptive and foster parents, and only a few minutes of those hours were spent with people that did not need every nickel they had. What kind of legislator would allow adoption child credits to be eliminated? Heartless, Nearsighted, Very Spiritual:

Expiring tax credits add new obstacle to adoptions: Fears of ‘chilling effect’ accompany coming loss of financial help

Argus Leader November 20, 2011

Congress’ financial involvement in encouraging adoptions appears to be nearing an end, a reality that some fear could discourage adoption in this state and country.

Families who adopted a child last year or this year and received more than $13,000 in tax credits because of it — whether they owed federal income tax or not — lose that benefit starting Jan. 1.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111121/NEWS/311210016/Expiring-tax-credits-add-new-obstacle-adoptions

3) Kentucky does not want its citizens to know how many deaths & near deaths child welfare is responsible for:

Lawmakers hope to hold hearing about Kentucky child-death records

Herald-Leader November 17, 2011

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/11/16/1962216/lawmakers-hope-to-hold-hearing.html

KY ranks 41^st in Child Poverty, 44^th in Teen Deaths, & 42 in Child Abuse Deaths in the most recent collected data.

4) Oklahoma; Why it’s not the social workers fault when a baby is found in a dumpster:

Expert challenges claims of progress at Oklahoma Department Of Human Services

News On 6 November 16, 2011

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services says it’s gotten better since a federal lawsuit was filed more than three years ago. But its own expert disagrees.

http://www.newson6.com/story/16060540/expert-challenges-claims-of-progress-at-oklahoma-dhs

5) Pennsylvania (and Every Other State could) discover/s child sex abuse the most under-reported crime in the state. As a long time guardian ad-Litem, I witnessed the most tragic cases of child sex abuse. Many cases had years long adult on 4, 5, and 7 year old victims, most of which never were openly reported, none of which ever brought the perpetrator in front of a judge for the crimes committed. When I wrote the book INVISIBLE CHILDREN in 2005, there were 897 cases of child sex abuse reported in MN (I was one of 500 guardians, and I knew of 50 cases):

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review November 18, 2011

Anne Bale, spokeswoman for the Department of Welfare, said on Thursday that the statewide child abuse reporting hot line logged 4,832 calls from Nov. 7-11 — the week after former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing boys for a decade. That’s more than twice the number of calls the hot line receives during an average five-day period, she said.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_767938.html

6) Arizona flinches again at high profile child welfare deaths:

Arizona Republic November 17, 2011

This is the third effort in the past eight years at some kind of child-welfare overhaul, each spurred by a spate of high-profile child deaths, including several that have been the subject of prior CPS reports.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/11/16/20111116arizona-child-welfare-task-force-cps-past-failures.html

Arizona ranks 46^th in births to teen moms, 40^th in Late/No Prenatal care, 36^th in Child Poverty, 38^th in Teen Deaths & 39^th in Child Abuse Deaths.

7) How much money does New Hampshire save when more children are abused? How much safer are your communities with more abused and neglected children being ignored? How much better do schools perform with at risk children filling your classrooms (many of them on psychotropic medications and street drugs)? The citizens will soon find out when services are cut to child protection agencies & service providers. Think Short Term.

NH: Rethinking prevention of child abuse and neglect ; Funding cuts put children & our future at risk

Concord Monitor (New Hampshire) November 24, 2011

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/294383/rethinking-prevention-of-child-abuse-and-neglect

Illinois Catholics deny abused children foster / adoptive homes based on sexual orientation of parents:

Chicago Tribune November 16, 2011

All religious agencies that declined to accommodate Illinois’ civil union law and refused to license same-sex couples as prospective foster parents no longer provide publicly funded foster care. A day after Catholic Charities across Illinois ended its historic partnership with the state, Evangelical Child and Family Agency in Wheaton confirmed that the state did not renew its foster care contract.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-evangelical-foster-care-gone-20111116,0,159896.story

My experience as a guardian ad-Litem taught me the terrific patience and sensitivity gay and lesbian couples bring to fostering and adopting.

People unfamiliar with the behavioral issues so often brought into the home by foster/adoptive children will find it hard to appreciate the skills it takes to parent and provide a safe home. It seems wrong to me on several levels that a religious organization, would deny children that have suffered so much from having a family life, especially within a family that knows first-hand rejection, suffering, and the disconnect that comes from not being an accepted part of the family or society.

Religion should help and comfort people, not reject and punish. We have plenty of that without religion.

From time to time KARA reports and comments on the state of child welfare and non-welfare in different states.

These reports are gleaned from newspapers around the nation with much credit being given to the Child Welfare Information Gateway Library.

Send me your newsworthy stories

RACE TO THE BOTTOM

Below are state Child Well-Being Rankings by Every Child Matters/Geography Matters:

Ranking 50^th in births to teen moms and uninsured children: Texas (also 45^th in child abuse deaths)

Ranking 50^th in child welfare expenditures: South Carolina (also 48^th in child mortality)

Ranking 50^th in child poverty: Mississippi (also 49^th in infant mortality, births to teen moms, and overall ranking)

Ranking 50^th in child mortality: Louisiana (and 50^th in overall ranking)

Ranking 50^th in total tax burden of children well-being Oklahoma (also 48^th in child abuse deaths)

Ranking 50^th in teen deaths: Alaska (also 49^th in child deaths)

Ranking 50^th in child deaths: South Dakota (also 49^th in juvenile incarceration)

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Penn State, Child Abuse, You and Me.

Mike Tikkanen — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:41:04 +0000

In 2005, there were 897 cases of child sex abuse reported in the state of MN. I knew this because I was a volunteer guardian ad-Litem in MN & writing a book about it, INVISIBLE CHILDREN.

I was only one of five hundred MN guardians IN 2005, and knew this number to be just a fraction of the true number as I personally counted fifty sexually abused children in my caseload & the court system I was working in at the time.

Here’s what I’ve learned about child sex abuse in Minnesota & how it applies to child sex abuse at Penn State.

1) No One Wants To Talk About It. Even trained social workers are uncomfortable with this topic and reporting it can mean the fall-out impacting them – it’s easier to let it go. I have witnessed non-reporting & under-reporting by people working in the field of policing, education, child protection & a friend who admitted years after the fact that he lived near a five year old girl that was being prostituted. I tell the story in my book of a seven year old girl that was prostituted and not taken out of the home during 48 police calls to her home.

2) No One Understands. Very few people understand the lifelong impact the rape of a child has on that child and the adult that child becomes. Suicides and dysfunctional lifelong lifestyles are common to untreated child rape victims. I have visited 4 year old’s in suicide wards & written about a 7 year old who hung himself and left a note.

3) This May Surprise You; Our courts are almost incapable of dealing with child rape. Children make a less than useless witnesses in their own defense. Brain development of a child guarantees that a good defense attorney will “confuse the witness” which destroys the case. I have attended conferences at both William Mitchell law school & Hamline University on this topic and listened to judges & prosecuting attorneys (the child’s defender) also admit to confusing the witness in these cases. *In none of the child rape cases in my caseload (about 25) were the molesters ever brought to trial (because the child is not a useful witness – no witness, no case). If it is not seen and reported (it did not happen—see the problem?)

I predict that many of Jerry Sandusky’s sodomized victims will not come forward because of the serious stigma attached to rape and sex abuse in this nation.

A friend bought me lunch when I wrote INVISIBLE CHILDREN and told me why he had never talked about and would never report his being molested by a priest when he was a young boy. He also told me what it was like to discover at age 45 the impact of that rape and how it had wrecked two marriages and three business partnerships before he realized his need for help. He began therapy at 45 & now 70, still seeing the same therapist.

Americans don’t like to talk about sex in even a healthy manner & will further punish people that come forward to talk about it. Boys almost never do, and only a small percentage of women do. The stigma is real & we fear becoming part of a messy deal. Then there’s the history of blaming the victim (even when she’s seven years old) makes reporting so much harder than it should be – see Penn State.

Children don’t have much of a chance in America.

Molesters like Sandusky destroy the lives of hundreds of children over their lifetime. The child remains severely damaged year after year until help comes from somewhere (usually nowhere). I’ve said about several of the sex abuse children in my caseload that this child has never had a nice day in her life.

Anxiety, terror, Prozac & Ritalin are predictable parts of the life of an abused child. They feel dirty and often blame themselves for the crime. Not being able to function normally in school makes life miserable and too often criminal or sexually active & a preteen mother or father. Just how does one un-teach sexual behavior to a nine year old without professional help?

Predicting the impact in human life years for each Sandusky type abuser, using my 70 year old friend as an example, if only 33 of my friends years are considered (from age 12 to 45), multiplied by just 100 victims (not a high estimate in a case like Sandusky’s) = 3300 years of damage & pain that is rarely reported and even more rarely treated.

In my 12 active years as a guardian ad-Litem, there was almost no effective therapy for the sexually abused children I worked with.

One sad family of four very young and sexually abused children, each had to be placed in separate foster homes because when they were together, the children would sexualize their behavior & at the time, nothing could be done about that. These children were terribly abused in their birth homes & again by a court system that offered them a fig leaf. The molester was left in the home and continued his evil behaviors. The pain these children suffered was immense; the molester once kicked the seven year old so hard she went into convulsions.

How many children had been victimized by Sandusky before 1998 when he was first questioned by police for molesting a boy in a shower? How many children did he molest from 1998 to today?

Child sex abuse in our communities is a huge problem that affects many of the three million children reported to child protection services in America each year. Cases like Sandusky are rarely identified and even more rarely reported.

Millions of children are impacted for life and this will continue until you and I began to better understand its impact and find our voice for reporting and helping children recover.

*I’ve had extensive arguments with a judge & my supervisor about a singular violent and extended rape of young children in a family and the cruelty of leaving this molester in the home (8 years later he was still practicing his criminal behaviors on a four year old boy).

**National Center For Victims Of Crime www.ncvc.org

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California Police Hate Kids T Shirt Campaign; You Raise Em, We Cage Em

Mike Tikkanen — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:43:06 +0000

This California police T shirt campaign is an example of the poisonous atmosphere American children are being raised in.

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/03/twin-rivers-police-association-stops-selling-t-shirt.html

I’ve written on the police tasering ten and twelve year olds, the growing movement to try very young children as adults, and the chronic over representation of African Americans in jails & prisons everywhere.

In my experience as a guardian ad-Litem, all children want to be “normal” and lead nice lives, but too many of them are born into toxic homes and their communities are quick to punish and incarcerate instead of nurture & enhance their lives.

How can America’s youth ever hope to lead normal lives when so many of them have serious criminal records & drug problems (legal and illegal) by the time they are eighteen?

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A Call To Action; The System Will Succeed When The Public & Private Sectors Work Together

Mike Tikkanen — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:56:48 +0000

(thank you anonymous Indiana Child Advocate)

This Indychannel.com news article points to Federal statistics showing that Indiana has one of the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the nation.

“Some child advocates said they’ve seen some progress recently, but others said they are gravely concerned about recent abuse and neglect deaths and what they consider backsliding services”.

It was clear after talking with adoptive and foster families at their annual conference that Indiana’s failure to protect it’s children is due to the politicizing of children’s issues and not the hard work being done by foster & adoptive parents, educators, & social workers that are trying to provide homes, education, and services.

We all know that healthy children become healthy adults & contributing members of our community & that unhealthy children become preteen mothers & juvenile felons that cost our cities and states a fortune over a lifetime.

Wake up Indiana politicians. Your citizens depend on you to understand basic humanity and economics.

Citizens, wake up your politicians (the children can’t do it without your help).

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate

More Indiana Children Die From Abuse, Neglect, Report Says

Child Advocates Chide Backslide In Children’s Services

POSTED: 10:24 am EDT October 31, 2011

UPDATED: 6:46 pm EDT November 1, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS — Federal statistics show that Indiana has one of the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the nation, though Department of Child Services officials claim their statistics show progress.

Recent cases of child abuse deaths are indicative of how some Indiana children fall through the cracks, and federal reports obtained by Call 6 Investigator Joanna Massee are counter to DCS claims that the child welfare system is improving.

Some child advocates said they’ve seen some progress recently, but others said they are gravely concerned about recent abuse and neglect deaths and what they consider backsliding services.

Deaths Of Children Spur Concern

The cases of Devin Parsons and Christian Choate highlight what many consider to be the failings of DCS.

Greensburg police found Parsons, 12, fatally beaten in June. His mother, Tasha Parsons, and her boyfriend, Waldo Jones, were subsequently charged with murder.

Randy Parsons, Devin’s great-uncle, said he wasn’t aware of the extent of abuse that police said went on in the boy’s home.

“You just never expect anything like that,” Parsons said, adding that he didn’t realize a DCS employee visited the boy’s home days before his death. “I think the job wasn’t finished.”

Christian Choate, 13, also had a long history with DCS before his death earlier this year. According to the agency’s records, Christian lived in a cage and received regular beatings during the last months of his life.

In May, investigators pulled Christian’s body from a shallow grave in Gary. His father, Riley Choate, and his stepmother, Kimberly Kubina, were charged with murder.

Records obtained by the Call 6 Investigators showed that the families of both children had a long history with DCS.

DCS Director James Payne said he thinks his agency is better at protecting children than ever before, and he cautioned against using child fatalities as a measuring stick.

“First of all, nobody in the system looks at fatalities as a measure of whether or not the system itself is doing a good job in helping protect children,” Payne said. “Often the fatalities occur without any contact before. Often they happen in circumstances that were unpredictable.”

Child Welfare Tracking Systems Inconsistent

Nationwide, child safety workers criticized an inconsistent tracking system for child deaths.

Because federal and state reports cover different time periods, the numbers don’t match, and that means the number of deaths can look like it’s going up in one report and down in another.

For example, the most recent Child Maltreatment Report released by the Department of Health and Human Services showed an increase in the number of child deaths from 2008 to 2009. The federal government counted 34 deaths in 2008 and 50 deaths in 2009. The federal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

The state’s most recent Child Abuse and Neglect Report of Child Fatalities showed a decrease in the number of child deaths from 2008 to 2009. The state government counted 46 deaths in 2008 and 38 deaths in 2009. The state year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Payne said a better way to evaluate the system is to look at statistics, such as fewer children being placed in residential treatment.

“The system is much better now,” Payne said.

DCS is focused on helping children thrive in the home because taking them out is very traumatic, Payne said.

But the cases that involved Devin and Christian indicate that leaving abused and neglected children in a home can also be devastating.

Child Advocates’ Opinion Mixed

Privately, leading child advocates and service providers told Massee they disagree with Payne’s claims that the system is improving. Publicly, they choose their words carefully if they say anything at all, fearing retaliation.

Massee asked Payne if the culture at DCS discourages criticism within the agency.

“I suspect there is at some level,” but not at the executive level, Payne responded.

David Sklar, who leads the Children’s Coalition of Indiana, an organization that works to support and lobby for children and families, said child advocates and service providers fear retaliation for voicing concerns about DCS.

“They’re afraid to advocate for those clients because they’re afraid that the state might look somewhere else to provide those contracts,” Sklar said.

Sklar added that advocates are also concerned that the state is spending fewer dollars on therapeutic services that help address and prevent child abuse and neglect.

“We are starting to see a backslide,” he said.

Last year, DCS gave back nearly $104 million to the state general fund, money that could have been used for children. Payne said the agency did not need the cash.

When Massee asked Payne about these spending decisions, he granted RTV6 unusual access to the agency, adamant that his system is working.

During a roundtable discussion with DCS employees, Massee asked case workers about the difficulties they face on the job.

Supervisor Melissa Clark said she has seen positive changes during her 17 years with DCS, but she also said the work comes with challenges.

“It can be a life and death decision that we’re making,” Clark said. “We do see some turnover. It is a stressful job. It’s emotional. We deal with the crying child that’s being removed from their parent.”

Denise Brightman said she has spent 21 years working with families and worries about making a mistake “every day.”

While workers such as Brightman and Clark can only control the cases assigned to them, State Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, said he is concerned with decisions being made at the top.

Crawford criticized the state’s decision to spend less on services for abused and neglected children in need.

“There are too many child advocates from around the state of Indiana who are crying foul,” Crawford said.

Child advocates said the unspent funds could be used for services such as counseling for young abuse victims, clothing and food for foster kids and toward other services for families, such as those in which Christian and Devin once belonged.

Speaking privately, one leading child advocate told Massee, “This needs to be a call to action. The system will succeed when the private sector and public sector work together.”

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Occupy Wall Street For America’s Children

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:57:42 +0000

As states struggle, children’s issues are being politicized & our youngest citizens are being left out of the discussion in growing numbers.

Children have no lobby, no voice, & can’t fight back when a MN Governor* states that “children that are victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the State Of Minnesota”.

There’s nothing a five year old can say to the governor of Indiana about the elimination of the state’s newborn screening fund (paid for by birth fees collected from parents), or the retroactive termination of adoption subsidies to the five hundred families that adopted special need children based on the promise that they would have assistance for their special needs children.

I doubt that a nine year old could clearly explain the problem facing California foster children because 1,000 state-licensed facilities match sex offenders’ addresses;

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/us/california-sex-offenders/

Will Nebraska’s five or ten year old old foster children be allowed to speak to the governor or at the state house about the total collapse of the states’s Privatized Child & Family Services, or what it is like to be abandoned by your birth family and the county in the same year?

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=21588&pageID=3

More & more states are finding it useful to abdicate their responsibility to children & blame cost savings, immigrants, alcohol, or any number of flimsy excuses for why the government should not intervene.

The other industrialized nations are far more child friendly and a significant number of American states now compare unfavorably with third world nations.

Please share your ideas with KARA, Kids At Risk Action for making a louder, clearer voice for America’s children. Pass this on to your friends & people you think should be more aware. Submit your comments about what works and doesn’t work in your community.

*Tim Pawlenty

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate

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Nebraska’s Privatized Child & Family Welfare Collapse

Mike Tikkanen — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:37:27 +0000

This is a truly sad commentary on the condition of child care in Nebraska;http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=21588&pageID=3

A few years ago, one of my guardian ad-Litem cases walked about thirty miles on a ten degree night when he was sent outside wearing only jeans and a T shirt at a privatized juvenile detention center.

That he did not die or suffer permanent physical damage was a miracle.

Last year, a Pennsylvania judge was incarcerated for sending youth to prison for profit (he behaved as a commissioned salesman – selling innocent youth into jail).

The following article brings to light the commonality of for profit youth prisons and I think the abundance of meanness and poor management that combine to further damage the lives of America’s youth.

Reading the Class Action lawsuit that this report is based on is moving, and deserves to be made known to a larger public audience. That this nation supports the intensity of abuse to youth that it does explains the crime rates, prison rates (13 million prison and jail releases last year) and failing schools.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.bettermsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Walnut-Grove-Complaint1.pdf

Federal Lawsuit Seeks to End Years of Physical, Sexual Abuse of Teenage Inmates

Please send me related stories.

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate

State’s child, family welfare reforms collapse
by George Lauby (North Platte Bulletin) – 10/1/2011

Gov. Dave Heineman

First, three top private companies backed out of their deals to provide child and family welfare services in Nebraska.

Second, the Nebraska State Auditor found severe financial problems with the two-year-old “privatized” program.

Third, the man at the top resigned.

That was how a sweeping state welfare reform collapsed in just two years.

Director Todd Reckling announced his resignation one week after a state audit of the program’s finances reported serious problems.

Reckling, 44, said he is resigning for health reasons effective Oct. 14. Already thin, he had been losing weight, coworkers told an Omaha news reporter.

Reckling was in charge of Nebraska’s controversial child welfare privatization, which put the child welfare system in the hands of five privately-owned “lead” agencies.

The system-wide reform was aimed at decreasing the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’s hand, while allowing the department to retain oversight.

The idea was capitalism and competition, with government supervision, would drive costs down while ensuring the quality of care stayed high.

It never worked in most of Nebraska.

Early on, trouble appeared. Only one company applied to lead the programs in central and western Nebraska, so there was no competition.

Small-scale group homes for vulnerable children were closed in western and central Nebraska, such as the Alliance Boys Ranch, North Platte’s Boy’s and Girl’s Home and two Salvation Army group homes.

When the North Platte group homes closed, employees told the Bulletin that the program was taking a giant step backward — eliminating existing programs and moving already alienated children to new and strange places.

Officials, including Reckling, were reassuring. When the Salvation Army homes closed, officials said children would be cared for in an expanded Boys and Girls Home in North Platte, or in Cedars Home near Broken Bow.

But those homes closed too.

In contrast to small group homes, the Nebraska division of children and family services is a large unit — employing more than 1,800 people.

It is the largest of six state health and human services divisions, including not only child welfare and juvenile services, but also adult protective services, economic assistance/welfare programs, the refugee program and child support enforcement activities.

As the privatization got underway, Reckling signed contracts with five large companies in 2009 to oversee those programs. The state program came to be called “Families Matter.”

The program suffered an astonishing drop out rate at the top level. By October 2010, three of the five lead companies had withdrawn, including the agency handling all of central and western Nebraska, the Boys and Girls Home.

Prompted by complaints, Nebraska State Auditors investigated the Families Matter program during the summer, and released their findings Sept. 7.

They found the costs of the program had gone up 27 percent in two years, with millions of dollars improperly accounted. At the same time, the top agencies said they didn’t have enough money to operate.

The audit made headlines all over the state. Democrats pointed blame at Gov. Dave Heineman, who made no comment for several days. But eight days after the audit was released, Reckling announced his resignation and Heineman spoke.

Heineman said the state will continue trying to privatize Nebraska’s child welfare system, but must do better.

“I want to help our children and families, but this reform effort has not been easy to implement,” he said in a news conference. “We can and we must do better.”

“I believe in accountability, so I’m not going to make excuses for what has occurred. I expect better results and I expect them soon,” he said.

Heineman expressed special disappointment with Boys and Girls Home of Sioux City, Iowa, which failed to pay subcontractors after it dropped out of the program last October.

Boys and Girls Home was in charge of central and western Nebraska, including North Platte.

Heineman said BGH’s failure to pay its bills was “irresponsible and very disappointing.”

And he compared the failure to a bad performance on the football field.

“I think we have the right idea, but we’ve got to execute it better,” Heineman said. “It’s like a football team. If you don’t execute the play, you don’t score a touchdown. Well, we’ve lost a lot of yards here lately because we’re not executing as well as we should have. But I still believe we can make this work.”

When the BGH pulled out, local providers scrambled to come up with alternatives. The North Platte School District created an educational program for students in grades 6-12 during the school year, hiring a teacher and an aide and setting up a classroom at the high school.

The county sheriff made plans to transport kids across the state to the nearest place, in Columbus.

In June, Family Skill Building Services re-opened one of the Salvation Army homes that had been closed during the reshuffling and now operates the Nebraska Youth Center, a home for about a dozen boys on the north side of town.

Not in these parts

Sen. Tom Hansen of North Platte said privatization shouldn’t be tried again now in central and western Nebraska, and never have been tried throughout the state in the first place.

“It probably should have been done on a smaller level (in southeastern Nebraska). Out here, we don’t have a lot of providers,” Hansen said. “Out here, Boys and Girls Home was the only bidder for lead agency. Looking back, that was a clue that we had a problem.”

Profiteering

It seems logical that the Boys and Girls Home building on 2300 E. Second might reopen for vulnerable children under better management, but the price of the empty building is too high, Hansen said. The Boys and Girls Home, Inc. inherited the building, and is now asking $1 million for it, even though its taxable value is about $400,000.

Among the financial scandals, as private agencies failed to deliver and collapsed, foster parents were not paid or were underpaid, especially those with children with special needs, Hansen said.

Foster parents dropped out in droves. For example, the number of foster homes in Dawson County dwindled from 45 to 11, according to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.

“There are lots of upset foster parents,” Hansen said. “These are wards of the state. The state needs to take responsibility.”

State auditors also found that some subcontractors – smaller companies with workers on the front lines – hired workers with no experience or education and paid them around $10 an hour.

However, the subcontractors turned around and billed the state $47 an hour for the work.

Staggering along

How it is all reformed will “depend on what the governor wants to do,” Hansen said, but he and some other senators think the HHS child and family division should be separated from the overall HHS department, so authorities can keep better watch.

Auditors complained of their struggle to get facts and figures from HHS, even though state law explicitly requires state departments to open their books for a public audit.

Hansen has often experienced the same problems — it is difficult for legislators to study the HHS operation, even a legislator such as Hansen on the health and human services or appropriations committees, which have the duty to oversee the HHS.

Hansen said breaking up the Health and Human Services department would make it more transparent.

“As legislators, we don’t think we’re being very accountable,” he said.

Local critics

Counselors, clients, parents and foster parents have long expressed dissatisfaction with HHS services.

Ongoing dissatisfaction led them to go to lengths to arrange a meeting in early August with Todd Reckling and other state officials.

Lisa Zlomke of North Platte’s Aurora Counseling and Jenny Olson of Liberty House in North Platte attended. The meeting was arranged by Melanie Williams-Smotherman, the owner of Family Advocacy Movement, headquartered in Lincoln.

The meeting lasted three-and-a-half hours, and “we had the ability to share examples of specific cases to illustrate points and to show three short videos during that time, including two regarding the harmful practice of drugging foster care children – which is becoming quite routine,” Williams-Smotherman said afterwards.

At the meeting, Williams-Smotherman said the number of Nebraska children taken from parents and put into the foster care and group home system is too high.

Most of those cases do not involve abuse, she said, but rather alleged neglect, she said.

Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va. also says that too many children are taken from too many homes in the state.

According to the organization’s numbers, Nebraska removed 3,373 children from their natural homes last year. That’s nearly 7.5 of every 1,000 children, based on 2009 population numbers.

The national average is 3.4 per 1,000.

The only state that rates higher than Nebraska, according to Wexler, is West Virginia with a rate of 7.7.

Zlomke and Olson also said that HHS officials in the North Platte region do not contract services with private companies such as theirs.

Zlomke and Olson allege that Region II officials keep welfare recipients – particularly those with mental and behavioral disabilities — in a tight circle of select caregivers who really don’t have any competition, don’t do a good job, but are well paid.

This report was first published in the Sept. 21 print issue of the North Platte Bulletin.

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Save Cristian Fernanedez 12 Years Old Sign the MoveOn Petition

Mike Tikkanen — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:05:36 +0000

Christian is a 12 year old survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and he watched his stepfather commit suicide to avoid being charged with abusing him and a very tragic story.

Christian is being charged as an adult with first degree murder & his hearing is coming up in just a few days.

He is a boy that has been living an awful life & deserves to be treated as a child not a hardened criminal.

Sign the petition;

http://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=GJYIyADOMy_iDDPglQkDX

Read the story;Tell Florida State’s Attorney Angela Corey not to try a 12-year-old as an adult.

Cristian Fernandez is only 12 years old. And if Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has her way, he’ll never leave jail again.

Cristian hasn’t had an easy life. He’s the same age now as his mother was when he was born. He’s a survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In 2010, Cristian watched his stepfather commit suicide to avoid being charged with abusing Cristian.

Last January, Cristian was wrestling with his 2-year-old brother, David, and accidentally broke David’s leg. Despite this, their mother left Cristian with his brother again in March. While the two boys were alone, Cristian allegedly pushed his brother against a bookcase, and David sustained a head injury. After their mother returned home, she waited six hours before taking David to the hospital. David eventually died.

Now Cristian is being charged with first degree murder — as an adult. He’s the youngest person in the history of his Florida county to receive this charge, and his next hearing is coming up in a just a few days.

Melissa Higgins works with kids who get caught up in the criminal justice system in her home state of New Hampshire. When she read about Cristian’s case, she was appalled — so she started a petition on Change.org asking Florida State’s Attorney Angela Corey to try Cristian as a child. Please sign Melissa’s petition today before Cristian’s next hearing on October 5.

As part of his prosecution, Cristian has been examined by two different forensic psychiatrists — each of whom concluded that he was “emotionally underdeveloped but essentially reformable despite a tough life.”

Cristian has already been through more than most of us can imagine — and now the rest of his life is in the hands of a Florida prosecutor who wants to make sure Cristian never leaves jail.

The purpose of the juvenile justice system is to reform kids who haven’t gotten a fair shake. If Cristian is sent to adult prison, it will be more than a tragedy for him — it will also be a signal to other prosecutors that kids’ lives are acceptable collateral in the quest to be seen as “tough on crime.”

Cristian’s next hearing is coming up quickly on October 5. State’s Attorney Angela Corey needs to know that her actions are being watched — please sign the petition asking her not to try Cristian as an adult:

http://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult

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Supporting Children, Supporting Caregivers;

Mike Tikkanen — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:50:41 +0000

EMAIL KARA

Message Dear Mike, I’m writing to you in hope that you would be able to help or answer some questions.

My brother Matt has been in prison for the last 5 years. His wife is now in Anoka County jail.

She has been in and out of jail for the last 5 years. They have 2 children ages 4 and 7 who are currently living with us.

I have cared for the boys on and off for the last 5 years. The longest period of time they lived with us was in 2008 and it was for 6 months.

Mom has been in and out of jail, more times than I can keep track. I’ve tried to get social service involved because she is a drug user and doing real harm to her children.

While she is in jail the boys do not officially have a legal guardian.

The 7 year old lives with us during the school year and he is a very bright little boy.

My husband and I have tried to do the “right” thing and care for the little boys.

We have 4 biological children and at times it is very difficult to manage our household.

Just recently mom went back to jail and I wanted to become a foster care parent to our nephews.

I was seeking financial assistance in order to pay for pre-school/daycare for the boys.

I had hoped for some financial help with daycare for the boys but, there is a 2 + year waiting list.

Which brings me to today.

In order for me receive foster care assistance I have to call the police and to have the boys put into child protective services.

This sounds scary and drastic when I just need a little financial assistance to help our family afford daycare for our nephews.

Is it possible that the only way we can have help with day care is to put the boys into a police car and make them live in a group home or with a strange family?

This does not seem right.

Any advice you could give would greatly be appreciated. Sincerely, H T

Dear H,
You and your nephews are the reason invisiblechildren.org exists.

It is because the only people that know about how this system works seems to be the people caught inside of it.

There are no easy answers I’m afraid. Budgets are tight and our last Governor cut things back so badly that I was charged with taking children away from a father who could not afford day care (when I was an active guardian ad-litem).

It could be that a signed note recommending you as foster parents from your sister in law (and brother?) might be helpful in getting some help from the system, but I can’t be too optimist

Nationally, there are about seven million grandparents and other relatives caring for children in the U.S. with very little assistance from any government body.

In the words of Tim Pawlenty, “children that are victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the state of Minnesota”.

http://www.mkca.org/ MN kinship org might have some ideas for you as they work with grandparents and other family members

another wonderful local organization is MN Adoptive Resources; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnesota-Adoption-Resource-Network-Adoptees-Have-Answers/309580442719

Please call your state representative (and the Governors office) and send them the email (or this link) that you sent to me and talk about this to your friends and neighbors.

There are far too few resources available for children’s needs. If you don’t call, things will stay this way.

Thank you for your commitment to children.

My very best wishes,

MikeT

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1/3 of Georgia Foster Children On Psychotropic Medication

Mike Tikkanen — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:44:24 +0000

A MN juvenile court judge shared the medication histories of all the very young children that passed through her courtroom over a years time. It was staggering.

The investigation in Georgia I estimate to indicate low to average use of mind altering medications for children in child protection systems.

These drugs are used to subdue children. More often than not the necessary therapies are non existent and the children suffer because of it.

I have personally experienced the fully formed thoughts of suicide delivered by psychotropic medications when I was forced to take Topamax for migraine headache.

I have visited four year olds in suicide wards, and been asked by children in my caseload to please not make them take these drugs & I have written about the 7 year old foster boy that explained why Prozac drove him to hang himself (and leave a note saying so).

There is a growing body of evidence that therapy is critical in the event children are forced to take psychotropics.

Atlanta Journal Constitution article on the overuse of psychotropic medications on foster children;

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/georgia-launching-review-of-921678.html

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By April Hunt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia taxpayers stand to save millions — and help foster children in the process — under a new review being developed for the medications given to kids in care.

A national foundation focused on child welfare is footing at least $75,000 of the bill to figure out the best way to conduct an independent clinic exam of children taking mind-altering drugs.

Better oversight of antidepressants, mood stabilizers and other psychotropic medications given to foster children is expected to reduce their usage — and their hefty price tag.

“You are going to save money, and you’re going to provide good medical care,” said Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur.

The state spends $7.87 million a year on psychotropic medications, according to Medicaid records. More than a third of foster children are prescribed the drugs, compared with about 4 percent of the general youth population.

Oliver first tried to tackle the problem with a bill this past legislative session. Republicans and Democrats lauded the idea but raised questions about how to pay for setting up a program.

House Bill 23 was put on hold, open for review next year, once it became clear that Casey Family Programs would step forward with money to develop the pilot program.

The foundation is also providing staff to work with state mental health experts and child advocates to figure out what should flag a review, such as children on multiple medications that do the same thing or children too young to be on certain drugs.

“All too often medications can be the first and only solution, and that in and of itself isn’t a solution,” said Page Walley, a clinical psychologist who heads Casey’s strategic consulting arm. “Georgia is really taking the lead on this and could create a system that can be repeated across the nation.”

Those working on the system are expected to develop a draft plan by late summer. The team includes Human Services Commissioner Clyde Reese, Melissa Carter of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University, and Michelle Barclay with the state Supreme Court.

Gov. Nathan Deal, himself a former juvenile court judge, also has met with the team and expressed an interest in the issue.

“The governor looks forward to seeing how [this] unfolds,” Deal spokeswoman Stephanie Mayfield said.

That level of attention alone could lead to changes. Georgia has so far avoided a high-profile death like that of a 7-year-old foster boy who killed himself in Florida while taking three powerful psychotropic medications. None of the drugs Gabriel Myers was on had had been approved for use in children.

Still, a 2010 investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed several companies operating foster care homes in the state had repeatedly used psychotropic medications to “subdue” children.

“If anything, we’ve now got people talking about how a child ends up on a third medication or what it means to be on multiple drugs,” Barclay said. “It’s a starting point. We’re going to experiment and see how far it goes.”

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How Bad Is It?

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:46:01 +0000

Matthew Degner, 14, Found Dead In Squalid Chicago Home Among 200 Animals

During a presentation to 50 social workers I commented on how long children were enduring horrible abuse before being investigated & anything could be done to remove the children from the abuse.

People commented that it was even worse than I had described it. One social worker stated that there was such a high bar set for responding that by the time she and her colleagues were granted permission to investigate, most children have spent two to three years in terrifically abusive homes and were damaged for life.

Her advice to us was to report animal abuse because animal abuse gets investigated & when it is investigated, those people see things that can trigger a social worker saving a child.

This seemed pathetic to me at the time, but now I tell people how important it is.

We are now suffering through the worst abandonment of civic responsibility to American children in my lifetime. The child that died in the Chicago home above, is another powerful example of a hardening of our hearts and disregard for the weakest and most vulnerable among us.

Service providers are so over worked and under resourced that only the worst of the worst cases are being investigated. About one in three reports is investigated today where I live in Hennepin County MN.

When the 18 month old baby drowned in the Minneapolis bathtub after 14 police calls to the home, Star Tribune reporters called me to gather information on how this tragedy can happen. My related case had 49 calls to the home before the children were removed (a prostituted seven year old and her five year old sister).

Normally when a baby drowns or is found in a dumpster, social workers are blamed, much like teachers are blamed for failing students, or the police are blamed for “not caring enough” about my accident or rape.

The next time one of your friends complains about the indifferent police, problems in the courts, schools or social services, remind them that we the service providers are working harder than ever, with fewer resources, more children, and a growing feeling of abandonment.

The caseloads are so high, the morale is so low, and the failure to fund new programs and make small cost effective improvements because of budget restraints ensures that our failures and unhappiness can only grow until the demand for attention, understanding, and change is heard.

We are in this terrible place where children drown in bathtubs and die in cages for the same reason the 35W bridge collapsed and killed and injured 160 people. We think we’re saving money.

The economic reality is that maintenance of children and bridges pays. When we don’t spend the small money to save children, bridges, and our communities, we have to pay the big money instead.

Instead of saving the 5 million dollars to replace the gussets on the 35W bridge, we spent almost a Billion dollars to rebuild it (not counting the human suffering).

Instead of saving the relatively small amounts of money to make life bearable for abused and neglected children, we pay millions over their lifetime for chronic illness, the burden on schools, social workers, crime, preteen pregnancy, & prisons (not including the human suffering).

Convince yourself, your family, and your friends that not voting, or not voting for the party that supports programs that improve the lives of children is ruining young lives and destroying our community.

Don’t be confused by the fear mongering and political rhetoric. Every vote counts. Pass this article onto someone you think needs to see it.

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Huffington Post

The mother of a 14-year-old boy who died Thursday is under investigation after police found more than 200 animals in their squalid suburban Chicago home.

Neighbors of the Berwyn, Illinois family told NBC Chicago 14-year-old Matthew Degner’s lifeless body was dragged outside by family members Thursday, who presumably hoped that authorities would not look inside the home. Police did, however, and were horrified by what they found.

“Our animal control officers who have been in some pretty horrific and disgusting environments said this home was easily the worst they’ve been in,’’ sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Degner was pronounced dead at MacNeal Hospital Thursday afternoon. An autopsy showed that he died from bronchopneumonia.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took custody of three of the boy’s siblings, ages 12 to 17, according to the Chicago Tribune. A fourth sibling, who is 18, was hospitalized.

Officials told NBC that all of the children were suffering from flu-like symptoms recently.

From the Tribune:

Officials said it was unclear whether the animals or living conditions were responsible for the children’s illnesses. A spokeswoman for the Cook County Department of Public Health said the agency’s communicable disease unit had not been asked to respond as part of the investigation.

Neighbors told NBC that the children appeared malnourished and never attended school. DCFS told the Tribune they were kept in isolation, and rarely left the home they shared with their mother and grandmother.

“Social isolation is one of the most powerful risk factors for serious harm to children,” DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe told the Tribune. “If we as a community never knock on that door that no one ever seems to open, we may never know how bad it is or how we can help.”

Birds were flying freely in the home and dozens of cats were sick, hungry and surrounded by feces. Animal Control also found dogs, rabbits, squirrels, one raccoon, two monkeys and two kinkajous, according to NBC. The Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge helped remove the animals, bringing 196 of them to their southwest suburban shelter. Anyone wishing to help with the rescued animals can visit AnimalWelfareLeague.com or call (708) 636-8586.

No charges had been filed against the boy’s mother as of Saturday morning

Video

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Reading & Math Proficiency Or Else…

Mike Tikkanen — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:51:02 +0000

The U.S. has been sliding for years from a leadership role in education & other quality of life indices to falling off the charts behind almost all other industrialized nations. Today we compare ourselves to the “emerging” nations so that we can be 32nd out of 64 instead of 32nd out of 24 industrialized nations.

Failing to educate generations of American children will have long ranging economic consequences and further reduce the quality of life we have come to take for granted.

The Federal Reserve board studies of a few years ago should be studied closely when bickering over where to spend precious tax dollars. There is no question that investing in children pays great dividends by building a bright and capable citizenry and avoiding the preteen pregnancies and juvenile felonies America’s children are getting so well known for.

Instead of pouring money into prisons and the judicial system & preparing children for dysfunctional adult lives, early childhood education prepares children for a successful future in school and in life.

It’s a great investment.

As Pliny the elder stated 2500 years ago, “what we do to our children, they will do to society”.

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Huffington Post online article, Joy Resmovits;

U.S. students rank poorly in proficiency on both domestic and international math exams, a problem that could cost the country $75 trillion over 80 years, according to a new study.

U.S. students fall behind 31 countries in math proficiency and behind 16 countries in reading proficiency, according to the report released Wednesday, titled “Globally Challenged: Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?”

The relatively low performance should sound a warning, said study author, Paul Peterson, a Harvard government professor who directs the school’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and edits the journal Education Next.

“If we’re going to grow at the rate that we hope to grow at to address the many issues that exist in our society, we need to have a powerful educational system that is producing a highly proficient workforce,” Peterson said.

He pointed to President Obama’s recognition of this fact: “We need to out-innovate, out educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” Obama has said.

The report looked the performance of students who graduated high school in 2011 on two tests: the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the exam administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the 2007 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), a national exam considered the gold standard in testing.

The analysis focused on mathematics, Peterson said, because “math skills are the most significant for economic growth.”

Instead of simply ranking the countries by mean PISA scores, the report was able to compare countries by the percentage of students deemed proficient by NAEP’s standards.

The report hypothesized that since 32 percent of American students performed at the “proficient” level on NAEP’s math exam, the same would hold true for PISA. So the authors calculated the score on PISA that would determine proficiency by NAEP standards and then calculated the percentage of students in each tested country that performed at or above that level.

Korea, Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands all performed at a rate higher than 50 percent proficient by NAEP standards. The U.S., with its 32 percent proficiency rate, ended up ranking 32nd out of the 65 tested countries.

Of all 50 U.S. states, only Massachusetts had half or more of its students performing at or above the NAEP proficiency mark. Mississippi ranked lowest.

“If all the students in the United States were educated” at the same level as Massachusetts’ students, Peterson noted, “this would not be such a problem.”

Analyses of PISA scores show that white and economically privileged students in the U.S. outperform all other groups internationally — a fact that is often used to claim that the consequences poverty and diversity are keeping many American students behind, and dragging down the country’s composite scores. But Peterson said that while controlling for these factors boosts the U.S.’s relative standing, it still doesn’t put the country’s students close to the top.

For example, Peterson pointed to the difference in performance between the U.S. and Canada, which had 49 percent of its students test proficient in math. “It’s a dramatic difference … for two countries that appear to be at the same level of economic development,” Peterson said.

When the report looked at the performance of white U.S. students in isolation, it found 42 percent them proficient — still 25 percentage points lower than the proportion of all students in Finland and Korea deemed proficient.

Selecting for only the percentage of proficient U.S. students who came from households where at least one parent held a Bachelor’s degree would have boosted the country’s ranking to 16th place.

“There’s a serious problem here, and it’s not just [because of] some families [with] parents that aren’t that well educated; it’s not just that we have a minority population,” Peterson said. “There’s a much more general problem than that.”

The purpose of the report, Peterson said, is to raise the alarm on the U.S.’s educational standing.

“It’s unfair to our own students not to give them the skills required to compete in our modern society,” he said.

The report concluded the U.S. could increase GDP growth per capita by enhancing its students’ math skills. According to the report, over an 80-year period, gains from increasing the percentage of proficient students to Canadian or Korean levels could yield $75 trillion:

Increasing the percentage of proficient students to the levels attained in Canada and Korea would increase the annual U.S. growth rate by 0.9 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points, respectively. Since long-term average annual growth rates hover between 2 and 3 percentage points, that increment would lift growth rates by between 30 and 50 percent.

“Those who say that student math performance does not matter are clearly wrong,” the report concludes.

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From Pillar To Post, The Life Of A Foster Child

Mike Tikkanen — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:39:50 +0000

12 years as an active guardian ad-Litem in county child protection taught me how important people, programs, and services are to children caught up in our court system.

Without early childhood programs like daycare and early learning, at risk children can find it impossible to build the skills needed to succeed in school or in life. Life gets much worse for these children when they are faced with managing their own life as juveniles.

We know that well adjusted children become smarter adults and better citizens, contribute instead of burden our communities, and go on to have families of their own that contribute to, not cost, society.

Unfortunately, our communities are offering less and less in the way of help for abused and neglected children.

MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated that 90% of the youth in our juvenile justice system have passed through child protective services. Almost all inmates in our criminal justice system passed through juvenile justice on this pipeline to prison.

Over half of all youth in the juvenile justice system have diagnosable mental illness, and over half that number have multiple, chronic, and severe diagnosis. It’s a wonder that America has only two million prisoners (five percent of the world population & 25% of the world’s prison population)

America prosecutes over 25% of its juveniles in adult courts.

Many states have bigger budget increases for prisons and jails than for schools and early childhood programs.

Children have no lobby and social workers are trained to not speak of these things outside of their work day. This combination makes the 3 million children reported to child protection each year voiceless. They have no power to escape the cruelty of sex abuse, violence, and dysfunctional upbringing & no way to avoid the mental health consequences that come with it.

America spends 7$ on the aged for every 1$ we spend on children.

Educators are forced to manage the growing population of severely damaged children without the resources (or even the understanding of the underlying issues) to control a classroom.

Instead of supporting educators, we blame them for poor performance, as if they can manage severely damaged children, many of them regularly taking psychotropic medications.

Rather than training daycare workers and supporting early childhood programs, America builds prisons & send juveniles to prison.

“Children who are the victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the State of Minnesota” said by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to State Rep Andy Dawkins and current state commissioner David Strand and demonstrates one political party’s approach to day care and early childhood services.

These children, through no fault of their own, are living within a court system that is being torn apart by mean spirited politics.

It is up to you & me to make at least a small effort to enlighten legislators and neighbors to the importance of services for abused and neglected children.

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Military Suicides & Child Abuse; A Growing Problem

Mike Tikkanen — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:15:56 +0000

Stressed military families and the attendant suicides, violence, and child abuse are growing in number and severity.

El Paso County Texas child abuse case numbers are set to surpass 13,000 this year. Mental health issues and military suicides impact children in profound ways. There is more pain than people in the military can deal with & it explodes in rage, abuse, and death.

What do you think about the impact of suicide on the children of the over one thousand MN veterans that have committed suicide? If you know the children of a suicidal parent you know torture.

The daughter of one of these suicides (who had been a dear friend) called me this year a few days after her father killed himself.

There has never been a more difficult call to take. There are no good answers and the questions linger for lifetime.

Safety nets are evaporating and a percentage of our community has decided that we just can’t afford to help people (Minnesotans share of the wars over the next 2 years is 30 billion dollars, but we do not have the 6 billion dollars for our schools, roads, and communities).

The stresses that impact military families are just the tip of the problem in our troubled communities. Poverty breeds stress that impacts children in a similar fashion. Violence and abuse become more common.

Our inner cities and military families need relief to insure that children are safe and suicide rates come back down.

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El Paso County’s child abuse case numbers are up 9 percent this year in military families and are set to surpass 13,000 overall, according to reports by the Associated Press and KRDO -TV.

Crime statistics from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office show 42 cases of child abuse, 302 cases of domestic violence, and 65 attempted or completed suicides from January through May this year alone.

As The Huffington Post reported in February, El Paso surpassed Denver as the largest county in the state this year; the county can now also add the highest number of child abuse cases in the state to its list of titles according the Colorado Springs Gazette. The Board of County Commissioners raised awareness of the issue in April, dubbed “Child Abuse Prevention Month in El Paso County”, with an additional military family outreach program called the Child Welfare Military Project.

Executive Director Sandra Hernandez of Centro de La Familia, an advocacy and counseling group, told KRDO-TV:
In the military population there was always a problem because of the stressors, and that was when we weren’t at war. Now that we are at war, and we’ve got these soldiers going to Iraq and Afghanistan for the fourth or fifth time, there is a high contribution factor to abuse occurring.
In July, El Paso County received $3.7 million from the state to help fund its human services department and ease the burden of abuse referrals.

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Coming To Your State Soon? “A culture of fear, intimidation, & retaliation”

Mike Tikkanen — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:10:17 +0000

“Teachers were either ordered to cheat or pressured by administrators until they felt they had no choice, authorities said.”

Standardized tests were corrupted at 44 schools by 178 teachers & principals (over half have confessed) & a former “superintendent of the year” in Atlanta Georgia will not seek extension of her contract. Criminal charges are probable.

Just for a moment, think about this from an obtuse angle friends.

It is easy & automatic to hate and blame the perpetrators, but perhaps because I have 12 years in as a volunteer within the institution of child protection I find myself more forgiving than someone who does not know what it’s like to be almost guaranteed of failure in the work we do

Remember; we fail and the children fail.

Yes, all across the nation, our institutions are producing the exact opposite of what they were designed to produce.

Child protection services create preteen mothers and adolescent felons.

Juvenile justice manufactures dysfunctional human beings that average ten years in jail & prison.

Our schools graduate only a percentage of their students and about 25% of graduates cannot go on to junior college without remedial math and reading.

Who could possibly want to be a teacher, social worker, or administrative official in this failing system?

As someone from the outside, who worked alongside career social workers, teachers, and administrators, I believe the answer to be;
committed and caring people.

This work really doesn’t pay that well – especially social for workers.

These professions draw people that want to make a difference in the lives of the children they work with. I could not do this work for a living, nor could most of the people that I work with in the business world.

Call me crazy, but getting to know hundreds of social workers, educators, and juvenile justice workers, I truly believe this.

After I spoke at the United Nations 4th Annual Youth Assembly in 2008, social workers and educators from all over the east coast shared their sad stories of why they left their chosen field of endeavor. I’m from Minnesota and conditions were not yet this bad (I was troubled to know just how bad the east coast cities were suffering).

Minimal support, inadequate resources, and the never ending failure of poor children in their care. One worker confessed that she made four times more money caring for one child as a nanny than she had with 22 children as a social worker (and results were much happier and more successful-there was little success with 22 children). She also clearly articulated what it is like to work in an environment of minimal support, fear, and failure.

America is way behind the curve in supporting the change that is needed for educators and social workers to meet the challenges that are facing our youth today.

Let’s do what we can to convince our friends and legislators that teaching is important work and that children have rights and deserve protection from terrible circumstances. Support the change that is needed to make American children safe, smart, and happy.

Police will get more days off, school performance will improve, and our communities will be more livable.

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ATLANTA —

Teachers and principals at more than 40 of Atlanta’s roughly 100 public schools cheated on state standardized tests in 2009. That’s the conclusion of a state investigation whose results were made public Tuesday by Governor Nathan Deal.

Investigators found that nearly 180 Atlanta teachers and principals cheated in 2009, but uncovered instances of cheating dating back a decade.

Deal said he hoped the report would mark a turning point for the troubled school system, and was careful to praise the professionalism of most Georgia teachers and principals.

“However, when educators have failed to uphold the public trust and students are harmed in the process, there will be consequences,” Deal said.

Deal said some criminal charges could result from the report, and his office has referred the findings to district attorneys in Fulton, DeKalb and Douglas counties. The state’s Professional Standards Commission is also expected to sanction some educators.

The governor refused to comment on how much responsibility for the cheating lies with former Superintendent Beverly Hall, who retired last week. But the report cites what investigators call a “major failure of leadership.”

Deal said that extreme pressure to boost test scores drove teachers and principals to cheat.

“I think the overall conclusion was that testing, and results, and targets being reached became more important than actual learning on the part of children,” Deal said.

But Atlanta’s brand-new interim superintendent Erroll Davis said that though the district would take a zero-tolerance policy towards cheating, it would not relax its expectations for academic performance.

“I don’t know what makes people cheat, but I want to make one thing clear: It is not pressure to perform,” Davis said.

The full report was released by the governor’s office Tuesday evening. Details from the report’s overview include:

— “Thousands of children were harmed by the 2009 CRCT cheating scandal by being denied remedial education because of their inflated CRCT scores.”

— “We found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools we examined (78.6%). There were 38 principals of those 56 schools (67.9%) found to be responsible for, or directly involved in, cheating.”

— “We determined that 178 teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public School System cheated. Of the 178, 82 confessed to this misconduct. Six principals refused to answer our questions, and pled the Fifth Amendment, which, under civil law is an implied admission of wrongdoing. These principals, and 32 more, either were involved with, or should have known that there was test cheating in their schools.”

— “Cheating occurred as early as 2001.”

— “There were warnings of cheating on CRCT as early as December 2005/January 2006. The warnings were significant and clear and were ignored.”

— “Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment.”

— “There was a major failure of leadership throughout APS with regard to the ethical administration of the 2009 CRCT.”

— “A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct.”

— “In addition to the 2009 CRCT cheating, we found other improper conduct: several open record act violations; instances of false statements; and instances of document destruction.”

PBS report;

Gwen Ifill, PBS;GWEN IFILL: Now, an exhaustive new report reveals nearly 200 educators cheated to boost student test scores in Atlanta, a problem that has surfaced in school districts across the country.

The Georgia investigation commissioned by Gov. Nathan Deal found, results were altered on state curriculum tests by district administrators, principals and teachers for as long as a decade. Educators literally erased and corrected students’ mistakes to make sure schools met state-imposed testing standards. And it found evidence of cheating in 44 of the 56 schools examined for the 2009 school year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been digging into these inconsistencies for more than two years. Reporter Heather Vogell joins me now.

Welcome, Heather.

So, tell me, how did all of this surface? You have been spending a lot of time reporting on this.

HEATHER VOGELL, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Yes.

Report Finds Cheating by Scores of Ga. Educators
We first wrote about some suspicious scores in at Atlanta school back in December of 2008. And we did an additional analysis in 2009. And the state started their investigation in 2009. So, this has been something that’s been out there for a while. But I don’t think any of us realized quite how pervasive the problem was.

GWEN IFILL: And the response before has been denial, when your stories first came out?

HEATHER VOGELL: Yes, denial.

Slowly, as time has gone by, we have gotten more admissions of, you know, some cheating here and there. There’s an educator who — you know, do the wrong thing occasionally. And, as time has gone by and more and more has come out, there’s been a little bit more concession that there is a more widespread problem.

But, even today, I’m not quite sure that we have gotten really a full — that there’s been anybody who’s admitted in the district administration that this was really an incredibly serious, serious problem.

GWEN IFILL: Well, you recount things like teachers or administrators, educators, putting on gloves so their fingerprints wouldn’t be detected or cheating parties, where people would get together and change the results.

HEATHER VOGELL: Right. Exactly.

I mean, what was amazing to me in this report was how organized it was and how groups of people were getting together. This wasn’t just something that was happening in the classroom or happening in a closet, or one person taking it upon themselves to do something sneaky because they were worried about a couple kids in their class who weren’t going to do well.

This was organized. It was yearly in some schools, and it was an open secret in some schools.

GWEN IFILL: Was it pervasive? You found — or this report finds 178 educators, including — including, I guess, three dozen principals involved.

HEATHER VOGELL: Right.

GWEN IFILL: In the size of the school — what is the size of the school system and how pervasive do these numbers indicate this has been?

HEATHER VOGELL: I think pretty pervasive.

I believe there are around 100 schools in Atlanta right now. And I think that about around 80 of them are elementary and middle. And those are the types of school that were examined by the investigators.

GWEN IFILL: Did the investigators…

HEATHER VOGELL: They only looked at the elementary and middle level.

GWEN IFILL: Pardon me.

Did the investigators find out that this had an effect, manipulating school scores, I guess, that students who couldn’t read end up getting promoted?

HEATHER VOGELL: Yes.

GWEN IFILL: Did it actually change the numbers of overall academic performance in the school system?

HEATHER VOGELL: It did change the numbers.

You know, the investigators say that, because of what they found, they believe that much of the progress that Atlanta has been touting over the last 10 years on these curriculum tests has been — I think their phrase was ill-gotten, that this — this could have actually had an impact on the overall district, their appearance of how they were doing.

And, for individual students, it certainly would have an effect on the trajectory of their education. Kids who fail the CRCT, which is our state curriculum test, they get extra help when they’re flagged by failing. It’s actually an important thing, to fail, if you’re not ready — ready to meet the standards for your grade.

And when somebody changes your answers, and nobody knows that you’re struggling as much as you are, you don’t get the extra help.

GWEN IFILL: What are the — what are the pressures on educators to do this sort of thing? Is it a pressure that was brought by the school superintendent, brought by the state, or internal?

HEATHER VOGELL: I think that what really happened here was — I don’t know that it’s unique, because educators everywhere are under a lot of pressure in public schools now, and everybody knows that. And you have No Child Left Behind.

But there was sort of a culture that sort of brewed within Atlanta public schools that was more intense and more dangerous, I think, than other places. And that was the — according to the investigators, that was some — that was a tone that was set by leadership.

They gave three key reasons why they believe that cheating flourished as much as it did in Atlanta. One was that the district set its own test score targets that were harder to meet than the ones that the state and federal government set. So, they were even higher.

Secondly, there was a culture of retaliation and intimidation that really flourished within the hallways of the schools. Anybody who questioned the means or methods that schools were using to achieve certain gains was shunned if they were lucky, fired if they weren’t lucky.

And, third, they also said that Dr. Hall, Dr. Beverly Hall, the superintendent, and her senior staff emphasized praise, success, performance and her image and the district image over the integrity of the tests, that they didn’t emphasize honesty enough.

GWEN IFILL: She has just left this job. And there’s now an acting superintendent in charge. Do we know that she personally knew and directed this kind of behavior?

HEATHER VOGELL: I think people are still trying to figure out exactly what she knew.

And the investigators, as close as they got to that, was to say that she knew or should have known. There are questions about whether she was in a meeting, for instance, where cheating was discussed, the results of an internal investigation.

And there’s questions about whether she should, as — as an educator with — a veteran educator with a lot of experience, a lot of training and a lot of knowledge of data, she should have recognized the signs that these scores were not valid.

GWEN IFILL: Is there prosecution possible in this? Have laws been broken?

HEATHER VOGELL: It’s possible.

I can’t say whether laws were broken or not. But there are three DA, district attorneys, that are looking at whether crimes were committed. In Georgia, it’s a crime to lie to investigators, and it’s also a crime to alter or destroy public documents.

And that is a statute that was used — it’s a felony — both of those are felonies — that was used to prosecute a principal in another district. I guess it was last year, I think, that he ended up being charged, and he pled guilty to changing answers, to changing the tests.

So those are potentially applicable statutes. And the investigators did say people did provide them with false information.

GWEN IFILL: And this is something which is not unique to Georgia, you discovered, as well.

HEATHER VOGELL: Right. Yes. I mean, we seem to be hearing more and more about these sorts of problems cropping up around the country.

GWEN IFILL: Heather Vogell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, good work. Thank you so much.

Huffington Post Dorie Turner 7.16.11
ATLANTA — Teachers spent nights huddled in a back room, erasing wrong answers on students’ test sheets and filling in the correct bubbles. At another school, struggling students were seated next to higher-performing classmates so they could copy answers.

Those and other confessions are contained in a new state report that reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. Investigators concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed the cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001.

Administrators – pressured to maintain high scores under the federal No Child Left Behind law – punished or fired those who reported anything amiss and created a culture of “fear, intimidation and retaliation,” according to the report released earlier this month, two years after officials noticed a suspicious spike in some scores.

The report names 178 teachers and principals, and 82 of those confessed. Tens of thousands of children at the 44 schools, most in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, were allowed to advance to higher grades, even though they didn’t know basic concepts.

One teacher told investigators the district was “run like the mob.”

“Everybody was in fear,” another teacher said in the report. “It is not that the teachers are bad people and want to do it. It is that they are scared.”

For teachers and their bosses, the stakes were high: Schools that perform poorly and fail to meet certain benchmarks under the federal law can face sharp sanctions. They may be forced to offer extra tutoring, allow parents to transfer children to better schools, or fire teachers and administrators who don’t pass muster.

Experts say the cheating scandal – which involved more schools and teachers than any other in U.S. history – has led to soul-searching among other urban districts facing cheating investigations and those that have seen a rapid rise in test scores.

In Georgia, teachers complained to investigators that some students arrived at middle school reading at a first-grade level. But, they said, principals insisted those students had to pass their standardized tests. Teachers were either ordered to cheat or pressured by administrators until they felt they had no choice, authorities said.

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The Boy Who Died Locked In A Cage After 12 Visits From Indiana DCS

Mike Tikkanen — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:45:43 +0000

New and more detailed information has been discovered about how long and painfully seven year old Christian Choate suffered before his parents killed him in his cage.

Blaming social workers is the first and most common reaction we have. After 12 years of working alongside the folks that try to provide a safety net for our weakest and most vulnerable citizens, I don’t believe this is fair or a productive response.

Like blaming teachers for failing schools; teachers have not gotten worse over the last twenty years. The population of abused and troubled children has grown exponentially. These children are hard to manage, let alone educate.

Social workers in a growing number of states are barely able to visit the worst of the worst cases anymore due to giant caseloads. Training is minimal and resources are scarce. Minnesota responds to one out of three reports today. A few years ago two out of three calls were responded to.

We only read about the babies found in dumpsters, or other violent child deaths. NO one reports the thousands of children sexually abused, beaten, or starved.

I know too many of these children & it is a dark stain on America that explains overflowing prisons, failing schools, and unsafe cities.

This nations would save money by funding child protection and copying the Missouri Miracle of a few years ago (in its treatment of juvenile offenders). Until then, we will read about more unbearable tragedy & worry about being downtown after dark.

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate

Huffington Post 6.26.11

Christian Choate, Boy Who Died Locked In Cage, Wrote About Abuse And Desire To Die

Records of the Indiana Department of Child Services reveal that Christian Choate, a boy who authorities claim lived locked in a cage and died from savage abuse, wrote letters describing his situation and saying that he wanted to die.

According to the Chicago Tribune, DCS visited with the Choate family in Gary, Indiana more than a dozen times starting in 1999, investigating allegations of abuse and neglect. Authorities never discovered what prosecutors claim was the true depth of the misery in which young Christian lived.

Based on accounts from his sister and stepsister, Christian, who died in 2009 at age 13, spent much of the last year of his life locked in a three-foot-high dog cage, with little food and drink and few opportunities to leave. When he did get out of the cage, he endured savage beatings from his father Riley.

One night in April of 2009, Christian was too weak to keep his food down. His father allegedly beat him to the point of unconsciousness, then locked his limp body in the cage.

The next morning, his sister Christina found him dead.

According to investigators, Riley then buried the boy in a shallow grave, covered his body in concrete, and moved with Christina to Kentucky, where he threatened to harm her if she ever told anyone about his death. It would be two years before his body was found.

One of the reasons his absence wasn’t noticed was that his stepmother, Kimberly Kubina, took him out of school, saying that he was being home-schooled.

The extent of that homeschooling was revealed in some letters found by DCS. When other children were out playing, Kubina would give Christian paper and tell him to write.

“Christian wrote of why nobody liked him and how he just wanted to be liked by his family,” a DCS document wrote, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Christian stated that he wanted to die because nobody liked the way he ‘acted.’ Christian’s writings detail a very sad, depressed child who often wondered when someone, anyone, was going to come check on him and give him food or liquid. Christian often stated he was hungry or thirsty.”

In a still more disturbing twist, the Northwest Indiana Times reveals some of the assignments his stepmother gave:

Kubina wrote topics on top of some of the pages including, “Why do you want to play with your peter? Why do you still want to see your mom? Why can’t you let the past go? What does it mean to be part of a family?” DCS records state.

Riley Choate and Kimberly Kubina have been charged with murder, battery, neglect of a dependent, confinement, obstruction of justice, moving a body from a death scene and failure to notify authorities of a dead body. They have both pleaded not guilty.

* authors note; Before blaming teachers, social workers, or cops for the awful things that appear in the press, spend a month or two in their shoes. Get to know one, or volunteer to work with them in some capacity (you will get a deeper understanding of the issues that just can’t be found otherwise).

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Sometimes People Get Shot

Mike Tikkanen — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:21:25 +0000

Michael Swanson’s pointless execution of Sheila Myers & Vicky Bowman-Hall defines our continuing failure to make mental health resources available to even the most severely troubled people.

This story will fade away until the next Cho (Virginia Tech), Michael Swanson or Jeff Weiss (ten dead Red Lake) makes the front page and more families will be doomed to the years of grieving over the avoidable homicides that destroyed their families.

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.

My heart goes out to each one of you. The fear and worry are none stop.

Michael Swanson’s mother Kathleen outlined the years of terror the family lived with as her son received what now looks like almost no professional help even though he repeatedly showed signs of very violent behavior.

Support KARA’s effort to stop punishing children; sponsor a conversation in your community (invite me to speak at your conference) / Buy our book or donate

It is unimaginable to most of us just how impossible our health care system is for most parents of disturbed children to find adequate mental health services in this nation (proscribing psychotropic medications without therapy is not adequate care).

What is it like to be Michael Swanson’s mother (18 years of terror) & know that your son is capable of shooting defenseless people in the face and have no way to stop this tragedy. Or for the friends and family of Jeff Weiss who talked (and wrote about) about his impending violence?

I know parents that want their children to be caught up in the juvenile justice system because they might receive mental health services inside the system (it’s largely a false hope).

About 66% of the youth in America’s juvenile justice system have diagnosable mental illness & fully half of them suffer from multiple and severe diagnosis (they are really troubled youth).

MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has commented that 90% of the youth in the juvenile justice system have come through child protection services (they have been abused by their parents). Three million children each year are reported to child protection services. By definition, children that suffer from extended exposure to violence & deprivation have been tortured (traumatized) and need special care to lead a normal life.

As an active part (as a GAL) and observer of hundreds of children passing through the Hennepin County child protection system, I agree with Chief Justice Blatz, that we know who need mental health services and how to avoid filling the prisons and wrecking our schools.

MN spent half a billion dollars on its prisons last year and many states have increased spending on incarceration that exceeds their investment in education (and there is virtually NO investment in mental health services).

Yes, this all ties together to make my main point; Dr Bruce Perry is right. If the mental health issues facing this nation are not dealt with effectively, within the next generation 25% of Americans will be special needs people. The impact this will have (is having) on our schools, city streets, and economy is tremendous.

Michael Swanson is just a very violent example.

*Authors note; There is no causal relationship implied between Michael Swanson and child abuse. I simply want to point out the great and growing need for attention to better mental health services for youth in America.

Minneapolis Star Tribune Article;CARROLL, IOWA – For nearly two hours Wednesday, Michael Swanson’s mother sobbed as she told a jury about 18 years of near-misses with a son who from the very beginning was never like other kids.

They knew something was wrong early on, Kathleen Swanson testified. From birth, the boy never slept and never stopped moving. She had to quit her St. Louis Park day-care business after she found Michael, still a toddler, preparing to jump on top of an infant lying on the floor.

He was only 11 when a psychiatrist told her that he was a lost cause and needed to be locked up. His grandmother, his aunt, even his own mother feared he was going to hurt them — and he usually admitted thinking about it, she said.

But always, it seemed, Swanson was caught before someone got hurt. Until Nov. 15, 2010.

“It all changed when I woke up that Monday,” she testified, her shoulders heaving as she described the morning she awoke to discover her Jeep, her debit cards and her very troubled 17-year-old son all missing. That night, Swanson drove from St. Louis Park to northern Minnesota to Iowa, where he allegedly shot and killed two convenience store clerks.

His mother’s testimony marked the third day of Swanson’s first-degree murder trial for the slaying of Humboldt, Iowa, clerk Sheila Myers, 61. He will be tried separately for the slaying of clerk Vicky Bowman-Hall, 47, of Algona, Iowa.

‘I felt powerful’

Kathleen Swanson was the first defense witness. The prosecution rested its case following the playing of a two-hour videotaped interview that the defendant gave Iowa criminal investigators shortly after the shootings.

In the video, Swanson’s calm demeanor struck a chilling contrast with his mother’s raw emotion on the stand. He described in an unaffected tone how Myers had given him cash before he shot her in the face from 2 feet away.

“I felt powerful. I just didn’t care,” he told Special Agent Mike Krapfl with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation in the early morning hours of Nov. 16.

“My adrenaline was going good. I just felt like, ‘Well, sometimes people get shot.’”

He talked about how, after not sleeping for four days, he chose the Humboldt Kum & Go store to rob because Myers was the only person there. He put on his ski mask, packed a handgun and pointed it at her while setting the bag on the table. She put the money inside it, he said.

“Then I shot her,” said Swanson, now 18. “And I left. I just walked out.”

His voice on the videotape reflected little emotion, but he smiled and scratched his head when re-enacting the noise that Myers made when he shot her, a “half-scream, half-gasp.”

He shot her in the face, he said, because “it was final.”

“If I was just gonna shoot to injure, why would I shoot her at all?”

Years of pain, pleas for help

The slayings marked the culmination of years of attempts to get help for their son, Kathleen Swanson testified — psychiatric care, commitment, even time in a juvenile facility.

He’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and more. Incident after incident, he bounced between juvenile facilities and temporary inpatient psychiatric care. He was kicked out of the St. Cloud Children’s Home before his evaluation was complete, she testified.

As her husband, Robert, listened, Kathleen tearfully repeated the common refrain they used throughout their son’s youth: “What are we gonna do with this kid?”

When he went with an aunt to do community service at Pioneer Park in Annandale, he stole $250 from the nonprofit. The aunt demanded he return the money and apologize. Then after returning home, she found two of her deceased husband’s shotguns in the trunk of her car and a hatchet, baseball bat and handguns in the bed of her four-wheeler. She called Kathleen to pick him up immediately, fearing he was going to hurt her.

He admitted he was angry at her and was charged with felony gun theft following the incident. He spent 10 days in the Anoka County Juvenile Center in Lino Lakes before a judge ordered him to go home under his parents’ supervision in 2006.

The Swansons installed locks that required a key to get out from the inside, and Robert Swanson locked the boy’s clothes away. They gave their son a towel and safety pin to wear around the house.

“If he was gonna break a window and run away, he was going in a towel,” she said.

Hope, and then gone

By 2008, after more problems, a probation officer recommended Michael Swanson be sent away for six to nine months. After a second opinion from a psychiatrist, his mother agreed. They went to Hennepin County District Court, and at the last minute the probation officer changed his mind. Sometimes it was worse for a kid to take him out of his home, the probation officer told her.

Foreshadowing his alleged crime, in April 2010 Swanson stole his mother’s Jeep, credit cards and took one of the dogs south on Hwy. 169. When he ran out of money, he called home and asked them to pick him up in St. Joseph, Mo.

Suspecting her son was bipolar, she struggled to get him on medication. Doctors who diagnosed him while he was in custody wouldn’t, or couldn’t, help when he was home.

By July he was sentenced to the Hennepin County Home School, a residential treatment center for adolescent offenders. She was told he would receive treatment there, but she said he never did.

He came home in early November, and things looked up for a time. They enrolled him in a clinical trial at the University of Minnesota. He was working at Cub Foods and even going to church.

“We felt like we were hopeful,” she said.

Then he was gone.

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921 @ajillsimons

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Child Rights & Safety; Advanced Nation or Emerging Nation?

Mike Tikkanen — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:02:12 +0000

Over the years, it has been safer to be an on duty police officer than a juvenile in America.

Statistically, more U.S. teens (and ten and eleven year old children) are charged as adults in our criminal justice system than in any other nation in the world.

We also lead the other 24 industrialized nations in child poverty, teen and preteen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, & child mortality.

America is also the undisputed leader among industrialized nations in juvenile crime, violence, and death.

Florida may very well lose its battle with the National Rifle Association and forbid doctors from talking to their patients about having a gun in the house.

This NRA / Florida battle is the very definition of America’s public health problem.

Americans are apparently unconcerned with very young children being tried as adults in our court system, child abuse, or the most basic child rights or protection. The NRA is a lobby for big gun manufacturers and they spend millions to make sure that guns are being sold anywhere and everywhere.

Children have no lobby to raise the questions that need to be raised about the proliferation of guns and their impact on youth.

Much like the tobacco companies years of false studies and claims that cigarettes don’t kill people, the NRA has convinced us that guns are harmless and should be allowed (or mandated) in schools and now in Ohio, bars & sports stadiums.

Children in America have almost no voice or rights over basic well being or protection. Guns killed or wounded about 4000 youth in 2008. The rate of unintentional gun death for children 14 years of age and yonger is nine times higher in the U.S. than in all the other industrialized nations combined.

The U.S. and Somalia are the only nations on the planet that have refused to sign the International Rights of Children Treaty. I believe that Somalia simply has no functioning government to sign it. The only reason the U.S. has not signed it is that we refuse to stop the military training of eleven year old children.

Dennis A. HeniganBrady Center Vice President and Author of “Lethal Logic”
GET UPDATES FROM DENNIS A. HENIGAN

Florida Doctors Fight Back Against Gun Lobby Gag Law

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-a-henigan/florida-doctors-fight-bac_b_874224.html

Posted: 06/ 9/11 02:00 PM ET

Do you want your pediatrician to assess existing risks to your child’s health, based on the latest scientific knowledge? Do you want your doctor to tell you the truth about those risks, based on the best evidence that can be brought to bear? When it comes to the risks of guns in the home, particularly to children, the gun lobby wants to prevent doctors from telling you the truth and prevent you from hearing it.

At the insistence of the National Rifle Association, Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed extraordinary legislation that threatens doctors with disciplinary action, including fines or even loss of their license to practice medicine, for “unnecessarily harassing a patient about firearm ownership during an examination.” What constitutes “unnecessary harassment” is left undefined. Is it “unnecessary harassment” to tell a gun-owning parent that his decision to leave a loaded handgun in the nightstand poses a severe risk of injury to his curious 6-year-old?

The new Florida gag law bars doctors from even asking parents whether they have a gun in the home, unless the doctor has a “good faith” belief that it is “relevant to the patient’s medical care or safety.” What in the world does that mean?

Just as pediatricians have long advised parents on the best ways to reduce the risks of harm to children from household poisons, unsupervised swimming pools and riding bikes without safety helmets, they also have advised them how to best protect their kids from the lethal danger of firearms.

The fact is that more than forty percent of gun-owning households with children and teens store their guns unlocked and one quarter of those homes store them loaded.

These loaded, unsecured guns are like ticking time bombs, posing a clear and present danger to young people. In 2007, 138 children and teens were killed in unintentional shootings; in 2008, almost 4,000 were wounded. Indeed, the rate of unintentional firearm death for children 14 years and younger is nine times higher in the U.S. than in twenty-five other industrialized countries combined.

The presence of easily-accessible guns in the home also increases the risk of adolescent suicide. Each day, two American teenagers commit suicide with guns, the vast majority with their parents’ gun.

More than ninety percent of suicide attempts with guns are fatal, whereas the fatality rate for attempts with drugs or cutting is around three percent. Unsecured guns in the home have cost thousands of young lives, as they transform momentary adolescent depressions, over romantic break-ups or bad grades, into unspeakable tragedies.

Because of these well-established risks, the American Academy of Pediatrics has long recommended advising parents that firearms should be removed from homes with children or, if parents choose to have guns in the home, they should be stored unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition. For homes with adolescents, AAP also has recommended that practitioners inform parents that guns in the home are particularly dangerous because of the potential for impulsive use by teens, resulting in suicide, homicide or unintentional injury.

The gun lobby has now decided that it can no longer tolerate physicians, who have ultimate credibility on issues involving the health of children, telling the truth about guns in the home. The Florida gag law was written to have a profoundly chilling effect on any doctor who seeks to implement the best thinking of the medical profession on the risks of firearms.

How many doctors in Florida will refrain from addressing those risks with parents, for fear of being charged with “unnecessary harassment” of gun owners? How many Florida children will perish, or be seriously wounded, because doctors are intimidated from providing life-saving advice about safe storage of guns?

In the name of the Second Amendment, the NRA is quite willing to discard the First Amendment. The Florida gag law is a gross violation of the First Amendment right of physicians to provide preventative health care advice to families within the highly confidential confines of the physician-patient relationship.

Florida doctors are fighting back. Represented by lawyers from the Brady Center and the law firm of Ropes & Gray, three Florida physician organizations, as well as several individual doctors, have filed suit to strike down the new gag law as a violation of the First Amendment.

This lawsuit is not an effort to restrict anyone’s Second Amendment right to have a gun. It seeks to vindicate the right of doctors to communicate the dangers inherent in the exercise of the Second Amendment right. Patients don’t have to take the advice being offered; indeed, they have the right to vehemently disagree. But the State of Florida has no business invading the doctor-patient relationship to dictate to doctors what they can, and cannot, tell parents about the dangers of guns in the home.

For more information, see Dennis Henigan’s Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy (Potomac Books 2009).

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