Our friend, Mike Tikkanen, founder of Kids At Risk Action (KARA) has a powerful new video available that you can access here: http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2013/01/17/watch-this/
The toll of childhood trauma on society is incalculable.
Kids At Risk Action (KARA)
Mike’s focus this year is speaking to CASA organizations & on college campuses (3 minute speaking video). The need for civic involvement of young future community leaders is the solution to America’s At Risk Youth problem. Without today’s college students understanding and support, schools will continue to fail, streets to be unsafe, and jails to fill.
His talk addresses the social and political child protection problems and solutions that need action now.
Mike speaks at local and national venues and has been the keynote speaker at business, community, and religious organizations. He lead a workshop at the United Nations in New York addressing the rights of children.
Since 1996, he’s volunteered in the Guardian ad-Litem program as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) and has worked with over fifty “Invisible Children,” who are part of the County Child Protection System.
Mike is passionate about improving the treatment of abused and neglected children and has formed the non-profit, Kid’s At Risk Action (KARA) to bring public awareness to children’s rights and form action groups to improve public policy towards at-risk children. Contact him; Mike@Invisiblechildren.org
Bikers Against Child Abuse works to create a safer environment for abused children. They work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children.
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for Children is the only volunteer organization that empowers everyday citizens as officers of the court. In an overburdened social welfare system, abused and neglected children often slip through the cracks among hundreds of current cases. CASA volunteers change that. Appointed by judges, CASA volunteers typically handle just one case at a time-and commit to staying on that case until the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. While others may come and go, CASA volunteers provide that one constant that children need in order to thrive.
Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) is the oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization in the United States. Their primary objective is to engage all Americans in promoting the well-being of children and young people and protecting them from harm.
Children International is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to easing the burdens of poverty on children. Their child sponsorship solution provides health, educational, material and emotional aid to impoverished children around the world.
Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) is a non-profit child advocacy organization that champions policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral and spiritual foundation.
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Serving the United States, its territories, and Canada, the hotline is staffed 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week with professional crisis counselors who, through interpreters, can provide assistance in 140 languages. The hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous and confidential.