NEWS RELEASE
DATE:November 15, 2012
CONTACTS:Mary Brazier
Youth and Family CASA
405-275-3340
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHILDREN HAVE A RIGHT TO A SAFE HOME
THE ISSUE
The rights of our most vulnerable children are being lost in the shuffle of a strained system.
BACKGROUND
In our society the basic needs and rights of children are entrusted to their families, but when the family—for whatever reason—is unable to meet those obligations, our most vulnerable children are placed in the foster care and child welfare system.
That system is full of compassionate lawyers, judges, social workers and foster families, but according to recent statistics each year more than 748,000 children are placed in foster care nationally—8,110 in our state alone. This intense need can strain the system to the point where they are simply unable to protect the rights of each child.
So the little girl who has already suffered in an abusive home, enters the foster care system which places here in three or four different homes in just a few months. Or the two siblings who lost their mother to incarceration are split up and living on different sides of these same county.
This isn’t just a problem it is nothing short of a violation of their basic human rights, in a country where we aren’t supposed to have to fear such things.
SOLUTION
In 1977 a family court judge created an innovative new program called Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children. CASA is a national nonprofit organization which trains and supports volunteers to speak out and act as advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children. They are trained to work within the child welfare and family court systems and are appointed by judges to individual cases. With the help of a CASA volunteer, a child is half as likely to languish in the foster care system, and that much more likely to find a safe and permanent home.
In fact, the CASA program has been so effective that it now has more than 70,000 volunteers serving almost 1,000 programs in almost every court system in the United States. It is an outstanding reflection of the kind of change that’s possible when the public, private and nonprofit sectors join forces.
CALL-TO-ACTION
CASA can only reach 35% of the children in need each year. That means almost 500,000 children (270 in Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties) have no-one advocating for their rights. The CASA program is committed to making sure that every child in need has access to a CASA volunteer. The Youth and Family CASA organization is holding informational events <insert event/activity details> to <recruit more volunteers/speak to policy makers/teach judges> and offer community members an opportunity to help in the fight child abuse
CONTACT
Please contact Youth and Family CASA at 405-275-3340, or send an email to .
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