Join Us

You can help at-risk children! Join us by supporting our organization goals.

To receive our network emails, send us a note at;  amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com and we will add you to our list serv

Volunteer with KARA

Work with Kids At Risk Action (KARA)  to discover more effective approaches to solving our nation’s problem with the fair and ethical treatment of abused and neglected children.

We are seeking volunteers to:

  • Advance the reach of KARA’s Community Forums
  • Conduct outreach, grant-writing and fundraising
  • Blog about issues related to at-risk children and youth

Share Invisible Children

Share Invisible Children with your faith-based community, legislators, public officials, teachers, and social workers by purchasing a copy of the book and having Kids At Risk Action (KARA) mail it to them on your behalf.

Speak Out

You can become a speaker/organizer/advocate for children in your community. Listen to Invisible Children and read KARA’s blog to become aware of issues related to at-risk children.

Mike Tikkanen, author of Invisible Children and KARA founder, is available to speak to your organization about his work as a Guardian ad-Litem and advocate for at-risk youth. Contact us regarding scheduling Mike to speak at your conference, workshop or event.

Support CASA

Kids At Risk Action (KARA) is partnering with CASA and the Guardian ad-Litem program to help you volunteer with CASA or start a a CASA program in your community,

Contact your Elected Officials

Abused and neglected children cannot contact their senators to have laws changed that affect them. We all need to do our part to help win the war that is being waged against the youngest and most vulnerable among us.

KARA’s founder, Mike Tikkanen, has written a sample letter that reflects on Minnesota at the time of its composition. When you write your elected officials or others, make your advocacy letter reflect your voice and your story about the needs of neglected children. If you have a connection (as a teacher, a social worker, an adoptive/foster parent or another connection) to an abandoned or abused child, include that connection, or a story about that connection in your letter. Make your letter personal. Those are the letters that are remembered and are effective.

Sample Letter

Dear Representative,

I’m writing you because abandoned and neglected children cannot afford high powered lobbyists to plead their case.

It is up to the people in power to know what the right thing to do is. You are that person.

It is a tragic fact that Minnesota has a significant population of abused and neglected children and the system in place to protect them is already stressed and failing in 19 of 23 federal measurements. The significant cuts being proposed by the county can only erode this system even more and the consequences could be devastating.

In these difficult economic times, it is understood that many areas of state and local government services need to be evaluated and reduced where possible. Unlike services provided for public entertainment or convenience, underfunding child protection can have long lasting negative financial and social repercussions.

It is likely that the stressful times to come will only increase the number of children in need of our protection. Knowing this, how can cuts be justified?

Children who experience abuse or neglect are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30 percent more likely to commit violent crime.

One-third of abused and neglected children will eventually victimize their own children.

The statistics quoted above are only part of the unfortunate future of the abused child. The incidence of mental illness, chemical dependency and teenage pregnancy are much higher in abused children. The costs to handle these problems are far greater than the cost to help families and children before the problems become severe. The extended cost to schools and other people who become victimized by these troubled children as they become adults is immeasurable. As a volunteer Hennepin County guardian ad-Litem, I have seen these things come true with many of the children that I have worked with in troubled families (where just a little bit of help would have allowed a child to lead a normal life).

Isn’t it worth looking at cutting more expendable budget items a little deeper than decreasing an already compromised system that could have life threatening consequences? Can’t we remember that an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure? Our schools would benefit, our streets would be safer, and not so many people would fill our jails and prisons.

Please reduce or eliminate the budget cuts to child protection.

I ask now that you consider doing your part to help them as well.

Sincerely,

Mike Tikkanen

Mike Tikkanen
Founder of Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
Volunteer, Hennepin County guardian ad-Litem