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Foster Care Realities, Problems, and Solutions

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

Foster care is meant to protect children whose lives are in danger, but for many youth, it leads to a painful transition into adulthood with little support and almost no transparency. Most critical data in Child Protective Services (CPS) is never tracked or reported, and decades of experience show that nearly 80% of youth aging out of foster care go on to lead dysfunctional lives, with enormous costs to public health, safety, and education.
This article, based on the work of Minnesota’s FOSTER ADVOCATES, explores the realities of foster care and the Extended Foster Care (EFC) program: the barriers youth face, the strengths of EFC, and the systemic gaps in housing, data, training, and life skills preparation. It concludes with 14 recommendations to improve data, accountability, and support so that foster youth are not punished for trauma, but given a real chance at stability and success.
Read, share, and then contact your legislators using the links provided to demand better outcomes for foster youth

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Why Every State Needs a Foster Led Child Welfare Promise

Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

The Minnesota Promise Report is a foster led blueprint for changing how states treat children in CPS and foster care. It combines listening sessions, data, and bold ideas from Fosters themselves to define what it would mean for a state to truly keep its promise to children. Sharing this report with colleagues and state representatives is one way to support Foster Advocates—and to spark similar efforts across the country.

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2 year-old Lylah Koob’s Death & Why (from the Safe Passage Report)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Lylah Koob, Goodhue County

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2 Year-Old Sophia O’Neill Death & Why (from the Safe Passage Investigative Report)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Please share this with your contacts and State Representative. Sophia O’Neill, Hennepin County

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How Missed Medical Red Flags Failed Baby Eli Hentges in Minnesota

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Children's Rights, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

Eli Hentges. This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Please share this with your contacts and State Representative.

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Cost Neutral Child Protection: The Deadly Lesson of Gabriel Fernandez

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

When paramedics arrived, eight-year old Gabriel Fernandez was not conscious. His skull was cracked. Three ribs were broken. Bruises and burns covered his body. Two teeth were knocked out of his mouth. X-rays would later show that the third-grader had BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin. Gabriel’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, 29, and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre, 32, told the paramedics that Gabriel’s injuries were self-induced. Later Aguirre said that he delivered ten or so blows to Gabriel’s stomach for lying and “being dirty.”

Before Gabriel’s death, his mother was the target of six investigations of child abuse. One of Gabriel’s teachers reported the boy coming to school battered. One of Gabriel’s therapists reported that Gabriel said that he was forced to perform oral sex on a family member. Gabriel told a teacher he’d been beat with a belt buckle until he bled and his mother shot him with a BB gun. Gabriel wrote a suicide note, found by his teacher.

According to documents obtained by the LA Times and a recent wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gabriel’s grandparents, Gabriel was never interviewed privately by a social worker about his abuse. Fernandez and Aguirre have been charged with first degree murder of a child. The two have yet to enter their pleas. Two months after Gabriel’s death, four DCFS employees related to his case were fired.

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Ethan’s Story: How Foster Care Failed a Traumatized Child

Aces and Trauma, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Protection, Child self harm and suicide, Guest Posts, Mental Health + Over Medication, Reporting and News - US Based, Statistics, Their stories

Ethan’s story follows one boy taken from his parents into foster care, abused in placement, struggling with guilt and suicidality, and now facing adulthood alone. His journey exposes how often our foster care system fails traumatized children—and why changing life for foster youth will take all of us.

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New Jersey Recent Child Abuse Death, Egregious Harm & Child Protection Issues

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

New Jersey’s recent child abuse tragedies—from Ne’Miya Duncan’s death days after a welfare visit to two brothers killed in Hillsborough—show deep failures in DCPP’s ability to protect children. This post highlights specific deaths, lawsuits, and state fatality data that reveal a child protection system still in crisis.

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Aaliya Goodwins Death & Why (podcast)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

This episode of KARA’s podcast tells the story of 5 month old Aaliya Goodwin, who died of positional asphyxia while in the care of her drug abusing parents. Drawing on the Safe Passage for Children investigation, we explore eight prior reports, repeated “Family Assessments,” and the systemic choices that left Aaliya unprotected.

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California Recent Child Abuse Death, Egregious Harm & Child Protection Issues

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Public Policy, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

Recent California cases show children dying in foster homes, day care, and families long known to CPS, exposing egregious child protection failures. This post highlights specific deaths, audits, and multimillion dollar settlements that prove these are systemic problems, not isolated tragedies.

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INVISIBLE CHILDREN (their stories) audiobook – listen free here

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, invisible children, PODCAST & STREAMING, Statistics, Their stories

Listen to the powerful Invisible Children audio book and hear firsthand how our institutions fail abused and neglected children and learn what we can do to change the system. Hear the heartbreaking stories from CASA and guardian ad litem volunteers about children moved through multiple foster homes, children jailed instead of treated for trauma, and…

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Revisiting the Death Of Eric Dean (& where we are today)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

In 2014, Safe Passage for Minnesota Children reported that Pope County would face no legal penalty for its role in the slow tortured death of 4-year-old Eric Dean at the hands of his stepmother Amanda Peltier. Brandon Stahl presented Star Tribune readers with the sad fact that four Minnesota counties screen out 90% of child abuse calls.  Read more for a review of child abuse death since Eric Dean.

Book cover titled 'Childhood Made Crazy' by Eric Maisel.

He Carries His Passport Everywhere Now (from a Minneapolis Teacher)

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Children's Rights, Day Care and Education, Domestic Violence, KARA News and Events, Public Policy, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

A Minneapolis teacher describes a 17 year old who carries his U.S. passport everywhere after ICE raids—showing how immigration enforcement terrorizes children, families, and classrooms.

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Holding the Line For Children In Need of Protection

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, Mental Health + Over Medication, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

What is it like to do social work, child protection, or nonprofit work with at‑risk children and families in this climate? How do you avoid being worn down by the steady drip of misinformation, negative media, and viral “anti‑CPS” narratives that are hitting workers and agencies hard?

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Christmas Wish From a Child Protection Worker

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, invisible children, Public Policy, Their stories

I have sat in emergency rooms at 2 a.m. holding the hand of a child who flinched at every sudden sound, because of the things done to her at home. I have watched little ones arrive at foster homes with all their belongings in a trash bag, eyes wide and silent, trying to be “good” so no one will send them away again. I have seen teenagers scream, swear, and hit people, when what they really were was traumatized, terrified, and broken.

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What Happened to Aaliya Goodwin (a KARA Podcast)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Child Protection, PODCAST & STREAMING, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

the heartbreaking case of five-month-old Aaliya Goodwin, who died of positional asphyxia while under the care of her drug-abusing parents. Despite multiple reports of neglect, substance abuse, and unsafe conditions, Aaliya remained in the home due to systemic failures in Minnesota’s child protection system

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Seeking Stories About Childhood Trauma

Aces and Trauma, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, KARA News and Events, LGBTQ, Their stories

KARA’s next book will be the gathered wisdom from those of us with stories about child abuse, child protection, and childhood trauma. Do you have a story you want to tell?

We invite writers to submit original work of 300-400 words for consideration in our upcoming book, (working title), CHILD ABUSE IN THE MIRROR.

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Minnesota Children Killed By Caregivers While Known to CPS (& how to stop it)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

 There is a real lack of data and transparency in CPS which makes it hard to know outcomes short of child death.
72% of of the 88 child maltreatment deaths studied (complete study below) were known to CPS. We do know that there were many reports of life changing violence, neglect and abuse but few follow ups. 

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5 Month Old Aaliya Goodwin Death & Why From Safe Passage For Children Investigation

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Children's Rights, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

Aaliya Goodwin. This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in…

Babies bathing together in small white tubs

Eli Hentges – 1 of 88 Stories of Child Death at the Hands of Caregivers

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Children's Rights, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

Eli Hentges. This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Please share this with your contacts and State Representative.

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8 Year-Old Tayvion Davis Death & Why (from the Safe Passage Investigative Report)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Abuse and Deaths, Reporting and News - MN Specific, Their stories

This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Please share this with your contacts and State Representative.
Tayvion Davis, Hennepin County

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Child & Youth Suicides Feb 2023 (find your state here)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association have joined forces to declare a national emergency in children’s mental health, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today’s declaration is an urgent call to policymakers at all levels of government — we must treat this mental health crisis like the emergency it is,

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Alito’s Story

Aces and Trauma, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child self harm and suicide, Reporting and News - US Based, Their stories

Repeated self-harm and hospital trips for healing were his normal behavior when he was depressed. He would cut himself and stuff objects into the wound – a paper clip, staple or anything he could find. This poor boy was a product of rape and incest.

His mother was raped by her father when she was 13. She abandoned her son to State Care at birth. Acanto never experienced love or the warmth of a family. Alito shared with me that the only love or tenderness he ever felt was nurses caring for his wounds.