People That Know Child Abuse

ACES, child abuse, Health and Mental Health, Politics and Funding, Public PolicyLeave a comment

Know how traumatized children respond to more punishment

We know how valuable the ACES, Adverse Childhood Experience healing methods are in mending children and ending the growing public health problem generational child abuse has become.

We are familiar with, 3 strikes you’re out, Lock’em up, and throw away the key

As references to the litany of punishment practices our nation is built on –

and the damage more punishment does to millions of damaged children that are living in abusive homes.

When Children Can’t Add (or write, or learn…)

education, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

America became a great nation because we educated every citizens children.  Our commitment to public education, developed a very smart and able citizenry that worked hard, invented great things and governed itself well.

Because our population was smart and able we led the world in education, public health and public safety and most other quality of life indicators…

Early Education (return on investment)

David Strand, education, Politics and Funding, Public PolicyLeave a comment

Let’s stamp out homelessness for 2 year old children. .

Let’s change the sad fact that children in many third world nations stand a better change of being vaccinated against preventable deadly diseases than U.S. kids…

Make a resolution to support reading programs and mental health programs that teach children how to cope with their surroundings and insure that they can read by the third grade. This will have a great and positive impact on graduation rates, crime rates, and the overall safety and happiness of our communities.

Le’t’s resolve to promote good public health programs and reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted disease among our youth (we lead the world in this realm).

Overall, we need to recognize the value of children in our society. As Pliny said 2500 years ago, “What we do to our children, they will do to society”.

Read David Strands Early Childhood Education Manifesto below, it is a first rate strategy for saving the next generation in America;

Thank You Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota

child abuse, child care, Links To Helpful Orgs, Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Wonderful PeopleLeave a comment

This year Minnesota children were safer and received more services due in large part to the loyal donors and passionate volunteers of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota.

Safer Children

13,600 more children annually are getting help from county child protection agencies due to changes our passionate volunteers helped make in state law.  

More Resources

Counties and the state increased their budgets for child protection and foster care by over $200 million since 2015.  In addition, counties added nearly 500 caseworkers – a 60% increase.

Draft KARA TEDx Talk (14 minute video)

child suicide, Children's Rights, Foster Care, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & Facts, videoLeave a comment

Addressing Generational Child Abuse As A Public Health Issue (14 minute video) & how to heal damaged children to make our communities happy and safe again

Take a moment and share your response to KARA’s short video overview of child abuse & child protection in America as an online comment to this post or by email; info@invisiblechildren.org.

Child Sex Abuse & The Most Powerful Suicide Note Ever (Bill Zeller from 2011)

AAA Featured Slider Post, child suicide, Health and Mental Health, Invisible Children44 Comments

This is the longest and most powerful and articulate suicide note I’ve ever read and it has great meaning to me for its power to relate these two incomprehensible sorrows (abuse & suicide).

I could not read Bill Zeller’s last letter without feeling the terror, physical and mental impediments, and daily reminders of his childhood nightmares and adult confusion and suicide.

Day of Justice in the Death of 3 Year Old Arianna Hunziker

child abuse, Child Death, Foster Care, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Reporting, Sad StoriesLeave a comment

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

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

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

MN Child Abuse/Child Protection Articles, Statistics & Events 2019

child abuse, Child Death, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Reporting, Sad Stories, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

KARA gathers news about Minnesota’s at risk children
to provide a snapshot of
how our state
values its children.
Only a fraction of serious child abuse makes the news.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children

Follow;
Safe Passage For Children MN (Join their legislative volunteer efforts and make child friendly legislation a reality)
CASAMN (become a guardian ad Litem and speak for abused children)

KARA’s Plea For Change (a call to action – with videos)

ACES, child abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

Significant institutional change happens when those of us that know the critical issues and have seen better answers start to talk about those problems and solutions loudly and often.

By speaking out, more of our friends and neighbors will know that the punishment model is worsening the public health problem of generational child abuse/trauma is causing all our public institutions.

By speaking out, more people will come to understand that the ACEs model is critical for better results in schools, public health, public safety and happier, more livable communities.

As more of us speak out and advocate for these kids (37% of American children are reported to Child Protection by their 18th birthday) our friends and neighbors will understand the ground truth about why these children don’t do well in school and have so much trouble leading productive lives and spend so much time in the courts and jails.

United Nation’s Rights of the Child Treaty (sign here now)

International Child Abuse, Invisible Children, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy2 Comments

Children have no voice in the media, courts, homes or legislature.

Child rights in America today are the rights of women in 1917 (a personal possession – a slave or pet).

Only a fraction of parental violence and abuse against children is ever reported, a tiny percentage of that number is ever prosecuted and parents can legally withhold life saving medical care from their children in 37 states and some states put only token resources into child protective systems leaving children trapped in a lifetime of violence, trauma and abuse.
Please join KARA in sending your support to president Obama in asking Congress to sign on. Without this treaty, children in this nation have almost no rights outside of the Imminent Harm Doctrine that forbids parents from (almost) killing their children. After many years as a volunteer guardian ad-Litem, countless tragic stories of horrific abuse, backlogged courts and troubled child protection systems, these children need the basic rights outlined in this treaty. It is the right thing to do.

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

CASA, Guardian ad-Litem, Links To Helpful Orgs, Resources, Wonderful PeopleLeave a comment

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

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

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

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

KARA & 4th Annual Law Enforcement & Social Services Conference

education, for the record, KARA Events, KARA events/projects, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), mike tikkanen speakingLeave a comment

4th Annual Law Enforcement and

Social Services Conference

October 17, 2019

Best Western Plus Kelly Inn 100 4th Avenue South St. Cloud MN, 56301

Sponsorships & Exhibitions • Panels & Discussion

Presentations & Workshops • Networking & Partnership Building

Greetings Law Enforcement, Social Services Professionals, and Honored Guests!

CASA MN Trivia Night & Silent Auction (Oct 17)

CASA, Foster Care, Guardian ad-Litem, KARA events/projects, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Wonderful PeopleLeave a comment

CASA MN supports the guardian ad litem child advocacy program gives grants to children in foster care through CASA Cares. This is our annual fundraiser and it’s great fun and a great cause.

Gather a group of friends or co-workers for a team or come and join a team to compete in a fun night of trivia.

Healthy Students – Healthy Schools

education, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

1/3 of foster children have mental health issues serious enough to be forced onto psychotropic medications.

Of the 2 million youth arrested in America every year, 70% or them have mental health issues – half of them have severe, chronic and often multiple diagnosis.

That’s what teachers and schools face every day with one school nurse if they are lucky enough to have one.

Recent Stories, Statistics & Articles About Adoption & Foster Care

AAA Featured Slider Post, Adoption, Foster Care, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Public Policy, Sad Stories, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

After a 9 day trial, foster mom Melissa Sondrol was convicted of of assaulting her infant state ward child, breaking multiple bones and withholding medical information from providers. The court was not allowed to hear her prior histories of abuse. This infant has suffered for years in MN and will live a life very different from other children due to the traumas visited upon him as a foster child – and the things that happened to him prior to entering child protection.

Stories about the shortage of foster care providers, lack of training and resources and transparency within the system are not uncommon – remember, we only read about the very worst cases – the sadness in foster care goes much deeper.

Childhood Trauma – Making Children Crazy

child abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

This powerful ACEs Too High article contains tons of statistics and information related to the prevalence of child abuse in America. What has struck me most is the impact abuse has on school engagement and the number of states where being an at risk child can be dangerous. The list of states with a lack of prenatal care and poor services for young mothers, lack of insurance, affordable day care and other early childhood programs has grown to about 1/3 of America.

Arming Teachers/Shooting Students (advocating for less violence and a more civil society)

AAA Featured Slider Post, Child Death, Guns, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

After the COVID19 lockdowns are lifted, and children and teachers return to the the classroom after months of fear and isolation, wouldn’t it be wonderful if students and teachers do not have to replace the daily fear of a virus with the daily fear of violence? 

What can the community do to make that happen?

How many teachers have combat training or signed up to pack a weapon when they entered the profession?  Turnover in education is already a huge problem.  Packing a gun is what police and soldiers do. Shooting someone takes training – shooting the right person takes extensive training.  For decades now, guns have been more often used for suicide than self-defense in America.  This is true also for domestic violence.

The Cost of Saving Money

child abuse, child care, Health and Mental Health, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public PolicyLeave a comment

at the time, argued that subsidized daycare was unnecessary (like bus service and bridge maintenance—his words) and he diverted all the money allocated to subsidized daycare for poor families and children into a “general fund.”

The waiting list for low-cost daycare climbed from 34 to over 7,000 families. People quit applying.

My state was saving money at the expense of 1- and 2-year-olds. Drunk uncles and boyfriends became daycare providers overnight, and terrible things happen to children when that occurs…
“What we do to our children, they will do to society” (Pliny the Elder 2000 years ago)

American Crime Costs & Statistics

AAA Featured Slider Post, Crime and Courts, for the record, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), mass incarceration, Public Policy, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

Louisiana (the World’s Prison Capitol), Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma & several other states have incarceration rates 20 times that of incarceration rates in most other industrialized nations. The best prisons in the world release good neighbors back into the community American prisons release hardened criminals with mental health problems and an 80% change of recidivism within five years.

Federal Prisons are 131% of design capacity – 2015 18 states are over capacity. 800% increase in women in prison since 1980.

These statistics and research calculate crime in America today and its cost…

It Didn’t Start In a Vacuum (crime – impact & statistics)

ACES, Crime and Courts, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Public Policy, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

DJ Tice Star Tribune article recently made crime very real by describing his wife’s rape, his own assault and home burglary along with the awful Barry Latzer assumption that 80% of Americans could become victims of a violent crime in their lifetime.

No obfuscation here.

Crime hurts when it happens to you or someone you love.

What best should be done about crime and punishment is our national conundrum.

Damn the data, “hanging’s too good for em’ and “lock em up” our national chant for fifty years bringing us such data as;

Wow – Thank You Amy and Friends

KARA Events, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Wonderful PeopleLeave a comment

Last night’s KARA party and fundraiser was great fun and a super success. The food was remarkable and between the banana ice cream cinnamon wonder and the multiple courses of beefy and veggie creations, I was hard pressed to not have two of many things.

We met new volunteers and supporters and raised significant money for KARA’s INVISIBLE CHILDREN Campus program

Damon & I had the pleasure of engaging many of you in KARA’s mission and strategy. We have high hopes of keeping your interest in our efforts in the years to come as we build an army of people that want to improve the lives of at risk children.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN Book II – America’s Public Health Crisis (why we should care)

BOOK II, Kids At Risk Action (KARA)Leave a comment

We are all in this together.

Pliny the Elder stated 2000 years ago, “what we do to our children they will do to society”.

Let’s do better.

The Heart of the Matter Chapter One
What You Don’t See;

If it’s not seen, it’s not spoken of.

If it’s not spoken of it’s not an issue.

If it’s not an issue there’s not a problem.

If it’s not a problem it needs no solution.

Generational child abuse is a problem festering in America for decades. It is having a profound impact on taxes, public schools, public health and public safety.

Hard to Watch; Immigration & Children as Political Footballs

Crime and Courts, International Child Abuse, Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

Dropping napalm on children and families in Vietnam (PBS video) was an unforgivable evil. Thousands of small children died by napalm.

Burned alive is the most painful death anyone can suffer. Survivors live with scars and trauma that never end.

Today, my government takes helpless babies & children from parents and places them in the custody of money driven defense contractors who warehouse them in cages at vacant shopping centers by the thousands.

The American Psychological Association condemns this act as needlessly cruel threatening “the mental and physical health of both the children and their caregivers”.

*Torturing immigrant children for political reasons is a vile act and it needs to be called out. *The World Health Organization defines torture as “extended exposure to violence and deprivation”.

Be A Voice For a Child In Court (July 24th 630 pm refreshments served)

CASA, child abuse, Guardian ad-Litem, KARA events/projects, Kids At Risk Action (KARA)Leave a comment

Children don’t have a voice in the homes they live in, the media, or in the courts. Speak for an abused child in court and give that child a chance to be heard as a CASA guardian ad litem volunteer. Come learn about what it takes and how it works to stand up for a frightened abused child in the court system.

Ensuring Children Will Die Lawsuit in Indiana (the other way of getting better public policy)

Adoption, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Reporting, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

I visited Indiana a few years ago after the governor redirected funding from parents adopting special needs children after the adoptions had been completed (AFTER). Then governor mitch daniels directed those dollars to people most successful in dismantling services to abandoned children.
The complaint (new lawsuit) alleges that Indiana removes children from their homes to be placed into foster care at a “staggering rate — more than double the national rate” and then fails to keep them safe while in DCS custody “often placing them in inappropriate, unstable or overly restrictive placements; fails to provide necessary support services and medical and mental health care; and fails to provide meaningful case management.”

Civil Rights of A Three Year Old (and what happens without them)

child abuse, Child Death, Children's Rights, Foster Care, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Public PolicyLeave a comment

Zepora Fortenberry will spend 27 months in prison for watching her boyfriend Charles Homich punch 3 year-old Zayden Lawson to death.

Zayden was one of two foster children this mom cared for along with her two biological children.

For weeks (or months) Zayden and his siblings lived in sheer terror of Zepora’s boyfriend.

It must have been torture and traumatizing for the other children to witness the insane and evil violence repeatedly done to Zayden in their home while their mother watched.

Sad Stories June 2019 (III – child suicide)

child suicide, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Sad StoriesLeave a comment

The National Poison Data System, researchers found more than 1.6 million cases of 10- to 24-year-olds attempting to kill themselves by poisoning from 2000 to 2018. More than 70% of the suicide attempts by poisoning were in young women.

U.S. youth emergency psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide attempts are escalating at alarming rates.

Among children between the ages of 5 and 17, annual emergency department encounters for suicidal ideations and attempts have more than doubled from 2008 (0.66%) to 2015 (1.82%)7. That equates to an increase of 35,266 encounters for SI or SA during the period of 2008-11 to 80,590 encounters from 2012-2015.

Taxes 2 Year Olds (what the feds know that we should)

Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Resources, Statistics & FactsLeave a comment

It turns out that investing in children and young families provides the highest return on investment a government can make.

It’s apparent how terrible many government investments are and it’s easy to see how providing skills and basic needs for children and you families are superior investments to giving the homeless bus tickets to other states so they would be a burden elsewhere.

June Sad Stories (I) 2019 (find your state here)

child abuse, Child Death, International Child Abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Sad Stories, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

American states are struggling to find answers for ending adverse childhood experiences and saving at risk children by reversing the explosive growth of child abuse and neglect.

Today, many state ward children are 4th and 5th generation abused children raising their own families without parenting skills and with serious drug, alcohol and mental health issues.

37% of children overall and 57% of Black children are reported to child protection services in America by the time they turn 18. (American Journal of Public Health 1.17)

6 to 12 million children a year are reported to child protection services and in most states, 1/3 of foster children still forced onto psychotropic medicines

KARA Needs Your Videos & Stories

child abuse, education, Invisible Children, KARA events/projects, Kids At Risk Action (KARA)Leave a comment

KARA needs children’s issue videos for our traveling INVISIBLE CHILDREN Campus Program

Do you know someone with a compelling video story about child abuse, foster care, child protection or other at risk children’s issues?

Forward this to them and help Kids At Risk Action as we build awareness and support for the people, policies and programs that improve the lives of abused and neglected children.

Contact info@invisiblechildren.org with video project in the subject line

Be A Squeaky Wheel For Children

education, for the record, Health and Mental Health, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Politics and Funding, Public Policy, Statistics & Facts, The StatesLeave a comment

Annual teacher turnover is highest in Arizona (24%) and New Mexico (23%) Minnesota is 14th highest in teacher turnover.

After my workshop in New York at the United Nations Annual Youth Assembly, a line of ex social workers formed to tell me their stories of why they quit. Annual social worker turnover has been 20 to 40% for many years with individual agency rates as high as 65%.

Police officer turnover rates fall in the middle of teacher/social turnover rates (about 14%) but their suicide, divorce & substance abuse rates are significantly higher.

Blog Talk Radio Mike Tikkanen 7PM Friday

Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, child abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Links To Audio, Links To Helpful Orgs, Radio ShowsLeave a comment

Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) – 2155 — Special guest Mike Tikkanen — Friday, 06/07/2019

Direct URL:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/naasca/2019/06/08/stop-child-abuse-now-scan–2155

Tonight’s special guest is Mike Tikkanen from Hopkins, Minnesota, a returning NAASCA family member, founder and President of KARA (Kids at Risk Action), a non-profit action tank supporting people, policies, and programs that improve the lives of at-risk

Recent International Child Protection News

child abuse, Children's Rights, International Child Abuse, Kids At Risk Action (KARA), Occasional Authors, Sad StoriesLeave a comment

KARA tracks current news about at risk children bringing transparency and  attention to our youngest and most vulnerable  citizens. This is only a sampling of what should be reported –  the great majority of child trauma & abuse never gets reported. ALL ADULTS ARE THE PROTECTORS OF ALL CHILDREN –  Join The KARA Team (and…