501(c)(3) nonprofit · working for kids at risk since 1994
Kids at risk. Action that answers.
Kids At Risk Action (KARA) works with mandated reporters, foster families, and communities to put real, usable protections around kids at risk, grounded in a 30-year record, not a slogan.
$428 billion
is the lifetime cost of a single year of confirmed child-maltreatment cases in the United States: health care, child welfare, special education, criminal justice, and lost productivity. That is about $2,629 from every American taxpayer.
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501(c)(3) · EIN 51-0570258 · one-time gift · no reader data sold
Find your role
45 toolkits, one for each role that sees children. Open your group, or see all 45.
Every role gets two things: a toolkit for what to do, and three decades of KARA writing for the background.
At home and in the family
Parents · Foster Parents · Relatives of an Abused Child · Friends of an Abused Child · Friends of an Abused Child's Parents
Open the at home and in the family toolkits Foster care · 248 posts
Schools, campuses, and research
Teachers · Principals and Administrators · School Boards · School Counselors · Childcare Workers · Colleges, Universities, and Schools of Education · Researchers
Open the schools, campuses, and research toolkits Schools and education · 538 posts
Health and mental health
Therapists · Physicians · Psychiatrists · Public Health Professionals
Open the health and mental health toolkits Mental health · 227 posts
Child welfare and frontline response
Social Workers · Mandated Reporters · Child Investigators · Social Service Agencies and Their Employees · Adoption Agencies · Guardians ad Litem · Volunteers Who Work with Children
Open the child welfare and frontline response toolkits CPS and child protection · 734 posts
Courts, law, and law enforcement
Attorneys · Attorneys General · Prosecutors · Judges and Courts · Law Enforcement · Police Investigators · Corrections Professionals
Open the courts, law, and law enforcement toolkits Family court and termination of parental rights · 170 posts
Government and policy
City and County Lawmakers · Mayors and County Administrators · State Lawmakers · National Lawmakers · Governors · County and State Auditors · Policy Wonks and Public Administrators
Open the government and policy toolkits Legislation and policy · 304 posts
Community, faith, and media
Faith Communities · Spiritual Leaders · Media · Social Media Influencers · Social Media Platforms and Administrators
Trauma, children, youth, and survivors
Adults Who Were Abused as Children · Adults Who Were Abused as Children and Now Work in Helping Professions · Teenagers Who Were Abused as Children
Open the trauma, children, youth, and survivors toolkits Trauma and ACEs · 205 posts
Key projects
What KARA actually runs, and who runs it with us.
Hamline University Partnership
The teaching partnership with Hamline, and what students build with us.
University Student Partnerships
Fifty institutions have put student teams onto KARA research and build work.
CASA Technical Services
Technical help for CASA and guardian ad litem organizations.
National Data and Solutions Database
Child protection information and solutions, state by state, on KARA SIGNAL.
Open KARA SIGNAL (external site)KARA Communications
Presentations, deep dives, and Invisible Children Conversations.
Books and Media
Invisible Children, the podcast, and our media work.
Invisible Children
Mike Tikkanen’s book, drawn from his years as a CASA volunteer guardian ad litem. The audiobook and the PDF are free; the paperback funds the work.
The KARA podcast
International
Most of this site reads the United States federal record. The premise does not stop at the border: the World Health Organization estimates that more than half of the world’s children, about one billion aged 2 to 17, experience physical, sexual, or emotional violence in a given year. The countries that publish the least are not the countries with the least to report.
KARA’s international coverage is volunteer-built: Eshanee Singh leads the international child abuse hub with student interns from several countries. More on KARA’s international work
Latest reporting
Topic hubs: the way into the blog, 2005 to today
With thanks to our partners
KARA’s work is carried by companies, foundations, and civic groups, and by partners who give services rather than money.
Funders
In kind
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Student research partnerships
Fifty colleges and universities put student teams on this work too. Everyone who has helped
Since 1994
KARA has been at this since David Strand and Mike Tikkanen took their first CASA volunteer guardian ad litem cases. The timeline is the whole record: the book, the 501(c)(3), the campus program, and every year in between.
Get involved
The Friday newsletter
Posts, program updates, and calls to action. No tracking, no data sold.