The Value of Healthy Children
Children that have suffered severe or prolonged abuse need a counseling regimen that will be part of their life for a long time. Short term counseling for severely damaged children is just one more abandonment.
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Reality Training
I’m certain that community investment in troubled youth is a sound investment. It also strikes me that any nation that values children would find a way to invest in children.
DetailsCrime and Justice & a Great Sadness
What do you feel when a baby is found dead in a dumpster, a young person deliberately murders innocent people, or some other insane tragedy fills the headlines?
Do you feel a sense of loss and sadness for the suffering of the parties involved?
Or are you filled with judgment and a need to blame someone and a desire for punishment?
DetailsA Finished Book
The book is finished. It just arrived from the publisher. Books are always neater and cleaner than the process that makes them. Hundreds of hours, stacks of paper, and dozens of edits. I’m genuinely embarrassed by some of the poorly edited pages that I sent to people to review and comment on what I had been writing.
DetailsBook review: Armchair Interviews
The author packed the book with his passion and purpose: society’s involvement in children’ in abusive and dysfunctional homes’ foster care and the system in general. If you care about your community’s welfare, it is a “must read.”
DetailsHibbing, MN Daily Tribune -Article and Review
On Aug. 28, 2005, the Hibbing, MN Daily Tribune ran an article about me and my book, Invisible Children, titled A serious book about a serious problem by reporter Cathy Braun.
DetailsChildren’s Defense Fund Training
And most of all, how we can become comfortable being “the voice” for At Risk Children in our communities.
I have delusions about how to be helpful to CDF for Item B.
Half of an experience like this is meeting so many smart and committed people from every corner of the country. We can learn so much by just sitting next to someone from Missouri, Chicago, or even St. Paul.
The nice lady from Missouri understood why her state was getting such terrific results from their Juvenile Justice system. She could have taught us some very important things (but she was not on the agenda).
DetailsGod Save Our Pets
On November 16th I gave two presentations at the 24th Upper Midwest Conference on Adolescents & Children In Need in Arden Hills MN;
“WALKING THE TALK FOR CHILDREN” &
“WHY SOME CHILDREN DON’T LEARN IN SCHOOL”.
DetailsDay Care; The Bargain
Because the waiting list for subsidized daycare is one year into the future for the father of the children I represent (as a county guardian ad-Litem) there is a good chance that his two small children will be taken from him by the county and adopted by someone he has never met.
It is also possible that he may not be able to visit his children if they are adopted.
Defining Institutions by What they Create
“Defining our institutions by what they actually create instead of what they were designed to create”* would be the first step in making the changes necessary to fix our poorly understood and vastly under-resourced system.
DetailsEconomics 101
A recent ACE study proved that almost 70% of the serious and violent crime committed by juveniles in Ramsey County was committed by children living in 2 to 4% of Ramsey County families.
DetailsCalifornia Dreaming
Last week the State of California achieved perfect synchronicity in its public policy making when it announced that criminals would be released early because the state could no longer afford to keep them incarcerated.
This news reminded me that when I began my work as a guardian ad Litem there were states predicting the need for prison expansion based on the number of failed third grade reading scores within its schools.
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.
In Whose Best Interest?
“If you measure the success of our institutions by what it is they actually create versus what they were designed to create”, (the following are my words) our Child Protection system creates mentally unhealthy youth, future felons, and pregnant teenagers.
DetailsPTSD study of abused children
In my experience as a CASA guardian ad-Litem working with children over twelve years, I have only rarely seen adequate services provided. A County Judge has provided me with the psychotropic medical prescriptions of the five and ten year old children that have passed through her courtroom in child protection
DetailsReview of Our Century College Forum
IMPROVEMENTS:
More information on how to get involved to improve the system
DetailsMike’s Next Speaking Engagements
Periodically I speak in public and record those events in this space.
DetailsMike Tikkanen Speaker
Learn the key issues facing abused and neglected children, what programs and policies work to improve their lives, and how you can be a better advocate for at risk children.
DetailsKids At Risk Action’s YouTube Video Channel
Kids At Risk Action (KARA) has posted videos on our YouTube Channel of the 2008 KARA Forum held at Century College. To view more videos of our events, visit our page at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kidsatriskaction.
Here is a sample of the 2008 Kids At Risk Action (KARA) Forum:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCTBZmy40Y
DetailsSummer Is No Vacation For Abused Kids
Thousands of names ahead of them on a list for subsidized day care that won’t provide help for years to come, means that any available family member, friend, or neighbor is considered a better option than leaving a three, five, or seven year old unattended (or is it?)
Leaving your child with that drunken or meth using uncle or aunt, the friend with the mental health issues, the dangerous or abusive teenager. Children need and deserve better choices.
DetailsInvisible Children Audiobook & ebook Without Charge
Invisible Children (The American Cycle Of Abuse & Its Cost) ebook & audiobook
http://www.invisiblechildren.org/our-book/
An informative & compelling look at the shameful treatment of vulnerable children, how it impacts our communities, and what we can do about it.
Listen, Read. Pass it on (a great gift).
DetailsNote To Invisible Children Followers
I am unable to respond quickly as my normal work can keep me away for days at a time. This site and my efforts are designed to provide information and resources on and about child abuse and at risk children.
The Blogroll, Links, & Resources links on the right side of the page (located below the comments section) provide telephone numbers and contact information for organizations that have staff and can be of help (KARA has no staff).
DetailsFree Printed Book With Each Audiobook Order (thru 8.15.12)
Read and listen to the important issues raised on this blog while supporting our efforts to “get the word out”.
Pass it onto your friends & ask the library to carry it. This information has been kept under wraps for far too long.
Buy or sample the INVISIBLECHILDREN audiobook
Best wishes from the team at Kids At Risk Action
DetailsCASA Minnesota Wine Tasting & Silent Auction For a Great Cause (Stop By & Say Hi – January 10th, Buy Your Ticket Today)
Join us on Thursday, January 10, 2013 from 6 – 9:30 pm to celebrate, and help continue, the good work of CASA Minnesota! Featuring wine tasting courtesy of the experts at South Lyndale Liquors, cheese and desserts, and a fabulous silent auction. More details about the event can be found here: Uncorked Invitation
RSVP by December 31st by printing the Uncorked RSVP card and mailing it to: CASA Minnesota, P.O. Box 17358, Minneapolis MN 55417. Or register online via Paypal using the link below:
DetailsJoin Me For A Grand Time & A Great Cause At the CASA MInnesota Auction & Wine Tasting Fundraiser (January 10th)
Join me on Thursday, January 10, 2013 from 6 – 9:30 pm to celebrate, and help continue, the good work of CASA Minnesota! Featuring wine tasting, cheese and desserts, and a fabulous silent auction. More details about the event can be found here: Uncorked Invitation Please contact me if you have items for our silent auction, mike@invisiblechildren.org
RSVP by December 31st by printing the Uncorked RSVP card and mailing it to: CASA Minnesota, P.O. Box 17358, Minneapolis MN 55417. Or register online via Paypal using the links below:
ticket individual
Details