Publications
Minnesota Child Fatalities from Maltreatment 2022 – 2023 Published January 2024
Rich Gehrman, Executive Director Emeritus, Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota
Sarah Haegele, University of St. Thomas School of Law Archbishop of Ireland Justice Fellow
Intro coming soon!
Minnesota Child Fatalities from Maltreatment 2014 – 2022 Recommendations
This report recaps the recommendations from the February 2023 report.
Standards for Evaluating Cases for Elements of Torture
See more regarding the three standards we consulted in evaluating cases for elements of torture.
Minnesota Child Fatalities from Maltreatment 2014-2022
Rich Gehrman, Executive Director, Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota
Maya Karrow, Staff Attorney and University of St. Thomas School of Law Archbishop of Ireland Justice Fellow
This study of children who died in Minnesota because of maltreatment was undertaken to identify opportunities for constructive changes to the philosophy, policy, practices and management of Minnesota’s public child protection and foster care programs, known together as child welfare.
The project collected data and reviewed documents from Minnesota counties and courts related to 88 children who were killed between October 2014 and May 2022. The analysis by the authors was augmented by case reviews performed by fifteen Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in six fields that regularly interface with county child protection programs. The report is presented in two sections, one focusing primarily on state and county child protection agencies, the other on the court system.
An average of two children per month were killed in Minnesota by their caregivers during the report period. Our analysis demonstrates that many of these deaths were preventable and were due to a child welfare philosophy which gave such high priority to the interests of parents and other adults in households, as well as to the goals of family preservation and reunification, that child safety and well-being were regularly compromised.
BUILDING FOR CHILDREN, SPRING 2021, 01 INAUGURAL ISSUE,
Your Supporter Newsletter from Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota
Rich Gehrman, Safe Passage for Children, St. Paul, Minnesota
Stephanie McCorkell, Safe Passage for Children Operations Manager and Volunteer Coordinator
Avivah Luehr, Safe Passage for Children Director of Developemnt
Catch up on what we’re working on at Safe Passage with our Spring 2021 newsletter. In this first edition of our new newsletter, we discuss our legislative work and offer an in-depth picture of our programs. This edition takes a look at the 2021 Minnesota state legislative session, highlights our outstanding volunteers, our webinar series, our 2021 partnership with Emiliani Coffee, virtual house gatherings, and more. Click the link below to view and download a PDF of the newsletter. If you would like to receive our next newsletter in the mail, please email us at contactus@safepassagemn.org with your name and current mailing address. Save the date for our fall fundraiser on Wednesday October 13th!
A Study of Maltreated Children and Their Families in Juvenile Court. III. Case Plans
Published in collaboration with researchers at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Canan Karatekin, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Richard Gehrman, Safe Passage for Children, St. Paul, Minnesota
Jamie Lawler, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
We reviewed publicly available court records of 88 cases referred to juvenile court for maltreatment in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The goal of the current study was to examine the content of, and extent of compliance with, case plans. There was an average of 9.5 items per child on the case plan. About half the case plans did not address at least one presenting maltreatment type.