CASA Schedules July Information Session

06-26-2012

The trial of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky is dominating the news. Every day, sordid new details emerge about his alleged abuse of children entrusted to his care.

Because he was considered an upstanding citizen, no one could imagine he might be taking advantage of vulnerable boys entrusted to his care. And because of his standing, the children were afraid to cry out because they feared they would not be believed.

Unlike the Sandusky case, there is little outcry about the thousands of children abused every year in Texas – one every eight minutes according to figures from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Most of them are abused by people known to the children. Every 38 hours in 2011, a child died from abuse and neglect in Texas.

In Kaufman and Rockwall Counties there were 265 cases of child abuse in our court systems and with only 50 active volunteers a lot of children went without an advocate from CASA.

With Kaufman County having a population of almost 27,000 and Rockwall with almost 21,000, these children should have someone to advocate for them. CASA is reaching out to people that are willing to step up and help these children. The outrage over these statistics is remarkably absent.

If the Sandusky case makes you angry, turn that anger into good for our children in our community. Consider becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate – a CASA volunteer.

CASA volunteers are ordinary people appointed by judges to speak up for the best interest of children, who through no fault of their own, end up in foster care. Last year, there were 46,063 children in Texas’ custody and more than half did not have a CASA volunteer to speak up for them in court and in the child welfare system.

These children went through the terrifying process of being removed from their homes and losing everything they knew. CASA volunteers work to move children through the foster care system and into safe permanent homes as quickly as possible.

There is a CASA Information Session on July 10th at the Kaufman County office located at 400 Highway 34 Kaufman and another in Terrell at RE/MAX Landmark 113 N. Frances St. Terrell.

For more information, visit www.lonestarcasa.org and make a difference in the lives of abused and neglected children.