Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota Podcasts

Join Rich Gehrman for this week's podcast featuring a special interview with Kisha Shanks, the new Executive Director of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota. Kisha Shanks is an accomplished maternal and child health consultant, speaker, and author. With over 14 years of experience in maternal and child health, she has been a dedicated advocate of child-centered programming and policy. For 1...

Listen to our podcast for a conversation with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) expert Peter Hossler about the current state of recovery programs and the planned Minnesota state task force on prenatal substance use. ====== Our work for vulnerable children is made possible through support from listeners like you. Thank you. Please help support our work for vulnerable children at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.safepassagefo...

This Global Rights for Women study of the Minneapolis Police Department found that officers seldom pursued perpetrators of domestic violence once they left the scene, and the Department makes far fewer reports and arrests than is typical nationally. Our study of child fatalities similarly showed that failed responses to domestic violence contributed to 28% of children’s deaths. Join Rich Gehrman f...

A new state task force on prenatal Substance Use Disorder (SUD) will likely consider whether to end mandated reporting of SUD to child protection, both prenatally and at birth. Medical associations’ policy positions uniformly state that mandated reporting of prenatal SUD inhibits women from seeking medical care.  While the research isn’t as clear-cut as they say, creative outreach efforts to engag...

We have been reviewing research on prenatal Substance Abuse Disorder (SUD) because of this legislation proposing a task force on the issue. The American College of Gynecologists and similar organizations have issued statements  opposing mandated reporting of SUD, which they believe deters women from getting prenatal care.  This (open access) article on alcohol addiction supports that view. However...

Listen to our interview with Pulitzer Prize nominee Chris Serres, who talks about investigative journalism and his story of Derric Fulks. ========== Our work for vulnerable children is made possible through support from listeners like you. Thank you. Please help support our work for vulnerable children at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.safepassageforchildren.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠ Rich Gehrman is the founder and Executive Direc...

The Washington Court of Appeals just confirmed a $98.5 million wrongful death settlement against the state human services agency regarding the gruesome murder of five and seven-year-old brothers. In Minnesota, the 2021 Supreme Court Jepsen v. Pope County decision made it easier for surviving relatives to sue counties for negligence in children’s deaths. Yet there have been only two settlements in...

New research indicates that, once poverty is controlled for, Black families enter child protection and foster care at lower rates than whites. This complements other studies showing that poverty, which disproportionately impacts BIPOC families, is the biggest driver of racial disparities in child welfare. Part of the message is that an all-star team of thirteen noted child welfare researchers publ...

There is widespread agreement that the first 1,000 days of life are critical for brain development related to language skills, bonding with others, and regulating one’s own behavior.  Also well-known is that trauma causes infants’ and toddlers’ brains to go into “fight-or-flight” mode, during which time they stop acquiring these building blocks for later stages of development. No one wants to remo...

Los Angeles County and a team of scholars are collaborating on a “ Risk Stratification Model ” – an example of ‘predictive analytics’, which uses complex algorithms to prioritize risk in child maltreatment reports. Algorithms are often viewed skeptically by Progressives and leaders of BIPOC communities as potential contributors to “heightened surveillance”, meaning practices that disproportionatel...

A major takeaway from our recent report on child fatalities is that the single most effective way to reduce child maltreatment is to reduce the strains caused by poverty. Governor Walz’ budget has more proposals to do this than at any time in decades. Join Rich Gehrman for a full discussion and analysis in this week's podcast. ========== Our work for vulnerable children is made possible through su...

A common trope alleges that child protection caseworkers confuse poverty with neglect.  This has been repeated so often that many accept it as fact, but there’s actually no evidence to support it. Join Rich Gehrman for a full discussion and analysis in this week's podcast. ========== Our work for vulnerable children is made possible through support from listeners like you. Thank you. Please h...

Yesterday Safe Passage for Children released its year-long study of Minnesota child fatalities from maltreatment from 2014 to 2022. The report reveals a number of concerning patterns related to child welfare and the courts including: Repeated inappropriate assignment to Family Assessment. Inaction on chronic maltreatment. Neglect cases with numerous chances for parents to address problems. Returni...

Our soon-to-be-released study of child fatalities documents numerous physical assaults on children that caseworkers, law enforcement, investigators and the courts knew about but ignored. Perhaps we have become desensitized to violence against children, or forgotten that it is illegal, or just feel powerless to stop it. Join Rich Gehrman for a full discussion and analysis in this week's podcast. Co...

Our study of Minnesota child fatalities documented seven children who were killed by a mother who had chronic mental health crises, including repeated psychiatric hospitalizations. Six-year old Eli Hart’s mother killed him with nine shotgun blasts shortly after he was returned home, and a few months after she was released from her second psychiatric inpatient stay. If the mental health facilities...

This Star Tribune article reveals that Minnesota counties are diverting income belonging to approximately 700 foster children into local coffers without even informing them.  This includes social security benefits based on a parent’s death or disability, or related to fosters’ own physical or mental disability. Reporter Chris Serres shares the stories of young people who faced desperate finan...

In 2021 Safe Passage helped pass legislation that lowered legal barriers to becoming a foster parent.  We successfully advocated to include statewide mandatory licensing standards in the bill.  The process of developing these standards is underway and they will be implemented next July. The new process will assess candidates based on their ability to provide nurturing parenting today rat...

Chronic neglect refers to cases that are reported to child protection repeatedly.  Our recent webinar speaker Dee Wilson estimates that it accounts for 1/5 to 1/3 of child protection cases nationally. Chronic neglect includes a breakdown of parental norms, for example by leaving pre-school children alone for hours or days at a time.  Frequently it is accompanied by deep poverty and spira...

This week’s webinar speaker, Dee Wilson, co-wrote an article for a 2013 edition of the journal Child Welfare dedicated entirely to research on child fatalities. The authors’ findings are still supported by subsequent studies.  What’s changed is that their perspective has become unacceptable to those who influence child welfare policy today. For example the authors recommended that child prote...

For this week’s podcast we present Rich Gehrman's summary and detailed recap of Minnesota's Inaugural Conference on Family Violence, which Safe Passage for Children organized and hosted, and which happened on 10/14/22.  Read the transcript at https://safepassageforchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Narrative-for-podcast-on-Family-Violence-conference.pdf =========== Safe Passage for Child...

For this week’s podcast we present Rich's interview this week with Mary Pat Lee, Executive Director of the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. =========== Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota’s nonprofit mission is to strengthen the Minnesota child welfare system so children are safe and can reach their full potential. If you know someone who cares about children, be sure to share this podcast w...

For this week’s podcast we present our Executive Director’s address on the “State of Child Welfare in Minnesota." =========== Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota’s nonprofit mission is to strengthen the Minnesota child welfare system so children are safe and can reach their full potential. If you know someone who cares about children, be sure to share this podcast with them. Rich Gehrman is the...

A recent study by Child Trends showed that government programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit reduced child poverty from 27.9% to 11.4% between 1993 and 2019.  Since poverty is correlated with child maltreatment, this should have prompted a corresponding reduction in abuse and neglect. In fact it did. Join Rich for a full discussion and analysis on this in this week's podcast. =========...

Last week the Child Welfare Training Academy hosted the Grand Opening of its Roseville center.  Child welfare facilities are often utilitarian at best, communicating that the work is barely worth paying for. But this building practically shouts “Our staff are valued!”  It has state-of-the-art equipment, business-world-like huddle spaces where staff can do impromptu problem-solving, and s...

Catching most experts by surprise, a census-based study by Child Trends shows that child poverty decreased by 59% between 1993 and 2019, from one child in four to one in 10. The authors attribute this largely to increased minimum wages, fewer teen births, low unemployment, single mothers entering the workforce, children living with grandparents on social security, and federal programs like the Ear...