The holidays should be a joyful time for all children, but we know that for some, the greatest gift they could receive would be a stable and loving home.
Far too many children continue to suffer from abuse and neglect at the hands of their caregivers. In fact, state records reveal somewhere around 5,200 children suffered from maltreatment as determined after investigation by child protection last year. Some of them suffered from repeat abuse. Some of them are no longer alive.
It’s easy to gloss over a big number. Yet each number represents individual children who have names, birthdays, favorite foods and, of course, futures.
In April, for example, we heard about 3-year-old Derric Fulks, Jr., who died in his carseat as a result of fentanyl exposure. There were warning signs from birth, when he entered the world with marijuana in his system.
We want to understand how this could have happened so we can prevent it from happening again.
As we look back on 2023, we remember Derric and other children like him, who deserve nothing less than a stable and loving home.
Of course, knowledge precedes action. The State of Minnesota publishes a Child Welfare Data Dashboard that is available to the public. We encourage you to take a few minutes to explore the data from 2023 for yourself.
Find out how many maltreatment recurrence reports happened in your county. Look into the percentage of face-to-face visits children received from caseworkers. Check out the response times for family assessment versus family investigation. Discover the percentage of children who have a current and comprehensive medical exam after being removed from the home.
If you have ideas or comments, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to email contactus@safepassageforchildren.org
We hope to partner with you in some way in this important work next year.