KARA reports on the issues of child abuse and child protection

This article submitted by CASA volunteer Mike Tikkanen

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What makes a healthy human being or a healthy community?

If there is an equation, the wrath of COVID is becoming a huge negative central to the calculation.

We will need to add a positive to offset the negative if we are to manage the stress and trauma this pandemic is visiting upon millions of at risk children and their families today.

Caring for others when times are stressful and fearful

becomes harder for the people and institutions working to do so.

Today, our people and institutions are fearful.  Think about nurses and doctors stretched to the limit during COVID and the stress on social workers, teachers and police dealing with a growing number of COVID suffering people, stressed families, out of control children and rising crime in our communities today.

Mental health and human well-being is based on the ability to cope with one’s environment.

Our environment has become unwell, fearful and uncivil

Those of us lucky enough to grow up in homes with healthy caregivers helping us develop the skills necessary to manage what life throws at them become capable adults.

Children with life and school skills have less stress and fewer problems because their caregivers made them feel safe and worked to teach them the skills to be comfortable with others and learn in school.

Children born to parents lacking parenting and coping skills make life very difficult for them and their children.

Substance abuse, child abuse and domestic violence are becoming more common because of COVID and the fear and stress that came with it.

Pre pandemic, communities and institutions have been long been troubled by the steady growth of generational child abuse.

The COVID equation is creating an exponential increase in damaged children soon to be unhealthy adults with more dysfunctional families and damaged children making schools, public safety and public health more costly, more dangerous and more unhealthy.

Finding the positives to offset pandemic negatives is critical to solving America’s quality of life problems.

Trauma informed communities understand that punishing damaged children

creates more damaged adults, crime, prisons and public pain. 

The positives will come from those communities building healing models and support for at risk children and their families. The effects of COVID are here now and will be with us a long time. The positives in this equation must come from us.

Become a voice for youth and an advocate for ACES and 

a healing model that save children and families.

All Adults Are The Protectors Of All Children

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