Who was eight-year-old Anna?
A Child Welfare case so tragic that it reduced an entire state to stunned silence. Can we stop it happening again?
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello
February 15, 2024
You watched. Now consider…
Eight-year-old Anna is a fictional character that’s based on all too many real cases we saw while working in child welfare in New Mexico. This is where coauthors Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney and Dominic Cappello worked, and it was a case that really stopped them in their tracks. When you work with child welfare, employees are used to hearing about abuse and neglect every day. But there was something about this case that made Dr. Courtney and Dominic stop everything they were doing and meet to discuss how this could have happened and what they were going to do about it.
Anna was a kid who was in and out of foster care her entire life. Her mother was also known to the system well before Anna was born. But despite all of this, Anna was returned home to her mother at the age of eight-years-old where she was kicked to death by her mother.
We ask all New Mexicans to consider these important questions:
Why was Anna’s story written?
How is Anna’s story also a story about all our children?
What does Anna’s story say about our society’s capacity to protect all its children?
How might abuse and neglect be a bigger problem than anyone can imagine?
Anna’s story, as told in the book Anna, Age Eight, has to be told, but it’s a story that eight-year-old Anna cannot tell herself. If we don’t talk about Anna’s challenges, our children, students and families continue to be at risk for adversity and hardships. Let’s start talking…
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Our transformational 100% New Mexico initiative, focused on ensuring trauma-free childhoods, is guided by self-paced online courses and discussion areas provided free to all New Mexicans.
Take a step. Make a difference. Make change happen.
A Child’s Right to Survive & Thrive Course
You can ensure safe childhoods. In this groundbreaking course, initiative co-developers Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney and Dominic Cappello, authors of Anna, Age Eight and 100% Community, introduce you to “Anna’s story” and the strategies to ensure 100% of children, students, and families can thrive.
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Self-Paced
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD. is a changemaker, psychologist, author, and life coach. Her work in child welfare advocacy has instilled change in data-driven trauma prevention in states across the country. She has worked in policy and research and has led community initiatives through her work at the Santa Fe Community Foundation and the New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership. As a psychologist and life coach, she coaches individuals and organizations on interrupting the cycles of trauma, addressing the burnout rate in government jobs and child welfare, and providing the tools and skills to achieve the work-life balance that will trickle down to better outcomes in prevention. Her doctorate work at Texas Christian University was in experimental psychology focused on substance abuse treatment and prevention.
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Dominic Cappello
Cappello is a New York Times bestselling author and TEDx Conference curator with decades of experience advocating for health, safety and education. He has a Master of Arts in Liberal studies with an emphasis on Language and Communication from Regis University. He worked for the New Mexico Department of Health Epidemiology and Response Division and the New Mexico Child Protective Services Research, Assessment and Data Bureau, where he co-developed the Data Leader for Child Welfare program, which he implemented in New York City, Connecticut and New Mexico.
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The 100% New Mexico initiative is a program of the Anna, Age Eight Institute at New Mexico State University, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service. Contact: annaageeight@nmsu.edu or visit annaageeight.nmsu.edu to learn more.
