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Child Welfare at the Capitol: Tune in to the Meetings of the Legislative Task...
This morning, a group of lawmakers will gather to discuss potential reforms to the child welfare system in Minnesota. In the first three weeks of 2024, there were 2,569 children who had child...
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Learn More about Current Child Welfare Legislation Being Put Forward at the...
Minnesota lawmakers gaveled in the 2024 legislative session on Monday – with a short list of priorities and a much smaller pot of money compared to last year. Our work in 2024 will be influenced by...
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Where is the improvement? Nine years since Governor Dayton’s Task Force on...
Approximately 25 years ago, Minnesota introduced an “alternative response” to the child protection system. The alternative response was initially well-defined and was only offered after the...
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Too little, too late: we need to do more to protect Minnesota’s most...
On Wednesday, a group of concerned citizens joined us to discuss the need for reforms to Minnesota’s child protection system. Several were frontline professionals who had seen too many children suffer...
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Gathering more information leads to better decision-making and safer children
There were over 76,000 calls into counties about possible child abuse and maltreatment in 2021, according to the most recent public data. That’s over 200 calls per day. Most reports are made by...
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Child protection and safety bills at the Minnesota Capitol and how we are...
It may be Spring Break, but the legislative session is in full swing, and Safe Passage for Children is tracking about a dozen bills related to child protection. We’ve also been talking with...
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The silent struggle of vulnerable children, and new funding brings hope
Last week many of us received an AMBER Alert on our phones, asking us to watch for a missing 3-year-old boy from Red Lake. Law enforcement found him a short time later and “immediately observed” the...
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Let’s Put Some Pressure on Legislators
Every day, teachers, doctors and concerned citizens call child protection, expressing concerns about what they’ve observed or heard from a child. Over half of these calls are immediately screened out...
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Conversations at the Capitol
On Monday, we’ll be having conversations at the Capitol about the need to improve Minnesota’s child protection system. A victim of child abuse himself, Representative Jim Nash is the author of one of...
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Advocacy for Children Day
On Monday, a group of us gathered at the Capitol to meet with key legislators about Minnesota’s child protection system. We shared the stories of children in our families, clinics and neighborhoods...
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Children Suffer when Concerns are Silenced
Child abuse occurs in families of all demographics. Earlier this week, the mayor of Atlantic City and his wife were charged with abusing their teenage daughter. Mayor Marty Small is accused of...
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Lives Cut Short: Tracking Child Fatalities Nationally
Our heart breaks every time we hear of a child who is senselessly killed. Last month, 7-month old Mateo Harding was drowned by his mother in a Bloomington hotel bathtub. Also in March, three-year-old...
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Parenting Under the Influence
On a cold day in March of 2023, 7-year-old Za’Maiya Travis didn’t wake up for school. Hours before, she stumbled upon her mother’s drugs. When first responders arrived, they pronounced her dead at the...
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Every Child Death Should Count in Minnesota
Earlier this week, a Minnesota mother was charged with murdering two of her children, neglecting a third child, and setting her home on fire. Because the crime occurred on tribal land, the deceased...
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Celebrating Success at the State Capitol!
We’re breathing a sigh of relief this week! That’s because more laws will soon go into effect to protect Minnesota children from harm. Following the recent Star Tribune series “In Harm’s Way,”...
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State Performance Measures Fall Short
Summer vacation is just around the corner, but for many children, school is their safest place. There were over 76,000 calls into counties about possible child abuse and maltreatment in 2021,...
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Another toddler likely overdosed
Last week Minneapolis police rushed to the Higher Ground homeless shelter where they tried to resuscitate a 2-year-old girl. She was found “in a room with narcotics and paraphernalia around her.”...
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New Study to Evaluate Minnesota’s Child Protection System
If you’re concerned about a child’s safety and wellbeing, there are more than 87 numbers to call in Minnesota. It’s up to you to find the right one. That’s because each county and tribe has its own...
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Domestic Violence Hurts Kids
Earlier this month, Amir Demarion Harden, an 8-year-old boy from Burnsville, was shot and killed by his father. He was trying to wrestle the gun away from his father in order to protect his mother....
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A New Memorial Playground Just Opened
A newly constructed playground opened earlier this month in the west metro. It has been dedicated to the memory of Eli Hart, a 6-year-old kindergartner who was murdered by his mother in 2022. In...
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