Dear editor,

Today’s (5/6/08) Minneapolis Star Tribune article “Disorders are likelier in adopted teenagers” reviewing Margaret Keyes U of M research, is not helpful to children in child protection.

While the article concentrates on infant adoptions and it does state that adopted kids are 2.5 to 6 times more likely to show up for counseling than non adoptive kids, the author makes the claim that “No one understands why adopted children are more troubled, nor how often those emotional problems extend into adulthood“.

As a long time volunteer guardian ad-Litem working with children in child protection, it hurts me to see this kind of statement in print.

If there is one thing we should know about American children that have been removed from their birth homes, it is that they have suffered extended exposure to violence and deprivation.

This is the definition of the “Imminent Harm Doctrine” which is the legal statute that allows children to be removed from their family.

Extended exposure to violence and deprivation is also the World Health Organizations definition of torture. Children are not removed from their birth parents unless the home environment has endangered the life of the child. That is the law.

Of the 50 children I have advocated for over twelve years, all had experienced severe and chronic violence and neglect. Sexual abuse of children is not uncommon. Their stories would make you cry (you may listen to them on this website under the book button). 

To express wonder at why abused children develop emotional problems as they age is misleading and unfair to these children.

A child protection judge has provided me the annual psychotropic medical prescriptions taken by very young children in her courtroom. I have not seen children in child protection receive the therapy that should have accompanied the drugs. Five year old kids proscribed Prozac. Ritalin is a cocaine derivative.

I have experienced four and five year olds trying to kill themselves.

To expect these children to go to school, play well with others, and become fully functional human beings without special attention is just wrong.

MN former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated that the vast majority of children in the Juvenile Justice System have come out of the Child Protection System. Marion Wright Edelman (Children’s Defense Fund) clearly articulates the relationship between abused children and prison. Almost all criminal justice inmates have passed through the juvenile justice system.

More than half of the youth in the Juvenile Justice System have mental health problems (about half of this number have multiple and severe diagnosis).

It is clear to me that most of the three million children per year that are referred to child protection services, need and deserve much more help than they currently receive.

Children that receive inadequate help go on to lead dysfunctional lives (80% of the youth aging out of foster care are leading dysfunctional lives).

Troubled children would not go on to disrupt our classrooms and hurt our school performance (25% of U.S. high school graduates are functionally illiterate) and they would not be arrested and sent to prison (44% of the adult male African American Hennepin County residents were arrested in 2001).

Art Rolnick at the Federal Reserve has done extensive work on this issue and proven that early childhood education is a terrific return on investment for our community.

Speaking openly about children in child protection and focusing on their needs to make the economic argument for helping them, would give us safer streets, better schools, and empty jails and prisons.

We would also have happy functioning members of our community instead of the troubled youth we have today.

Today’s cost of incarceration, failing schools, and unsafe streets are exponentially greater than the costs of intervention and prevention

It is also the right thing to do.

Ignoring or misunderstating children’s issues is not helpful to them (or us).

We very much do know why adopted children are more troubled and that their emotional issues do extend into adulthood. We also know what needs to be done to help them.

I’m a child advocate. Let’s help them.

Take the time to investigate the discussion groups on this website.  It is easy to participate.

Best wishes,

the KARA TEAM                                                                                                                                                                                                          Tell us your story, comment, or perspective.  Think of someone you would like to send this to? Press the “share this” button below.

Instead of investing in reading for third graders (and early childhood education), California began investing in a third strike punishment model and building tens of thousands of prison beds.

Today, crime, courts, and incarceration are the largest piece of California’s state budget. The prison lobby is the largest lobby in the state, and California recidivism is above 70% (the highest in the world?)

The state now has the dubious distinction of spending more on prisons than on education and one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation

Former MN Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz and Marion Writght Edleman (Children’s Defense Fund Founder) have pointed out that almost all the youth in our juvenile justice system have come through chiild protection services and the vast majority of adults in the criminal justice system are graduates of our juvenile justice system.

Nationwide, about 25% of America’s youth are being tried in adult courts today. Once these youth are treated as adults in our court systems, they rarely leave the system. Juveniles are more likely to be raped and brutalized, and suicidal, than adults within the system (they are just more vulnerable).

California’s great investment in its criminal justice system has ruined tens of thousands of lives and paid very poor dividends to its citizens. It is horribly expensive, almost all the inmates recommit crimes within three years, and now they are letting the inmates out quickly because they are out of money to feed and house felons (let them rob and steal for their dinner).

The math is pretty straightforward:

X years and Y dollars of early childhood education/programs = children that can go to school and learn to read* graduate and build a meaningful life within our community. They go on to have jobs, raise normal families, and lead meaningful lives, versus

Spending those same dollars on prisons and punishment that has bought us recidivism, astronomical crime costs (1.5 to 2 trillion dollars annually) failed schools, and a persistent fear of walking home in our neighborhoods at night. What does forty years of social services and incarceration cost a community? What is the value of a healthy productive citizen?

This cycle will not be broken overnight. We will have to invest in programs that make children ready for school (it is a proven solid investment) and ready for life.

Our thirty year spree of “the floggings will continue until the Morale improves” policy making model has created more felons and mentally unhealthy people than any other nation in the world.

Are we able to change the direction of our public policies so that thirty years from now, all children will be valued as potential citizens and given access to health and education that are critical to participating in their community?

Minnesota has just experienced three consecutive years of double digit prison (investment) growth. Hennepin county arrested 44% of its black adult male population in 2001. Nationally, 13% of Black men can’t vote because they are felons. The racial disparity is clear to some of us.

After 12 active years in the County Child Protection system, I can testify that early childhood programs work as a deterent to crime and as a fiscally responsible means of running a county (or a state).

All children want to be happy creative beings. It is human nature. We can either facilitate this, and save tons of lives and money, or continue to build more crime and prisons and let our prisoners out early when we run out of money.

Support our effort to positively redefine the lives of at risk children, join our grassroots efforts and join one of the action / discussion groups you see on this website.   Make a difference in your community.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Tell us your story, comment, or perspective.  Think of someone you would like to send this to? Press the “share this” button below.