Hear from Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye, CASA volunteers, Channel 8 News Co-Anchor Cynthia Izaguirre, Retired Channel 8 News Co-Anchor Gloria Campos, and CASA of Tarrant County CEO Don Binnicker as they discuss the ongoing child abuse epidemic in Tarrant County and how you can help!
To give a child a CASA volunteer is to give them a voice. To give them a voice is to give them hope, and to give them hope is to give them the world. From helping siblings find permanent placement together, to finding a child a stable home with a relative, to uncovering information that helps reunite a loving family, volunteer advocates make incredible differences in the lives of abused and neglected children.
CASA volunteer Robin Grady states, “Being a CASA has given me way more than I have given” and CASA advocate Dee Averitt explains, “I wish I had never waited… because I will never stop." We invite YOU to come and experience the rewarding moments you receive as a CASA volunteer. It is a life-changing experience that many volunteers say has changed them forever! Everyone has the power to help support children in the foster care system, and volunteers from all walks of life are welcome to help. For these children in foster care, one small nudge towards a safer and more permanent childhood makes a massive difference for the end result. Every child deserves to be heard, to be loved, to have stability, safety and security. “If you care in just the teeniest bit, there’s a way for you to get involved, especially with CASA. This is a way for you to have a meaningful impact on a child that will last their lives, forever.”—Gloria Campos
Watch a new video that features CASA volunteers, Cynthia Izaguirre, CEO Don Binnicker and Gloria Campos, and take the next step in becoming a CASA volunteer by visiting our Become An Advocate or Help Us Grow page. There are many ways you can help!
Beginning in 1989, Gloria Campos produced her Wednesday’s Child reports on WFAA-TV Channel 8. Each week she brought viewers the stories of children in foster care, with the hope of finding each of them a forever home.
Today, Gloria still speaks out for these children in foster care, and urges members of the community to consider becoming CASA volunteers: “I think there is no better calling for a person than to be a CASA for a child like that, so they can have a consistent adult behind them, looking out for them.”
Tarrant County has the second highest rate of confirmed abuse and neglect cases in the state of Texas (in 2016). Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye urges the community to consider volunteering as a CASA to help these children in their most vulnerable time.
“Children are resilient as long as they think there is hope, and we’re here to not only protect those children through the local police department and through CASA, but to give them that hope, and to give them an opportunity to go on and have a happy life.” Please visit our website to take the next step to becoming a CASA volunteer and help these vulnerable children in your community – www.speakupforachild.org/become-an-advocate
Watch the first installment of our I Am For the Child video series featuring Channel 8 News Co-Anchor Cynthia Izaguirre and Retired Channel 8 News Co-Anchor Gloria Campos, as well as CASA of Tarrant County CEO Don Binnicker and current CASA volunteers.
Over 26,000 children age out of the foster care system each year. One in five of these children become homeless after the age of 18, half are unemployed by the age of 24 and one in four is involved in the justice system within two years of aging out.
A CASA volunteer speaks for the child’s best interests in court, but the difference a CASA makes does not end once the child leaves foster care. CASA volunteers move the direction of a child’s life from uncertain and unstable to empowered and protected. A CASA’s voice impacts a child’s immediate situation and continues to resonate in their future, nudging the direction of their life to healing instead of hurt. The advocacy a CASA provides is associated with better educational, medical and mental health outcomes and decreases in behavioral problems, crime and poverty rates. Abused and neglected children who are appointed CASA volunteers receive significantly more services than children without a volunteer, thereby providing opportunities to improve academic, developmental, health, and ultimately, life outcomes.
You can help! It’s as easy as 1-2-3! 1. Donate to CASA of Tarrant County to help equip these children in foster care with a CASA volunteer. 2. Volunteer as an advocate or at a CASA event. 3. Help raise awareness of this need in your own community.
What happens when the 26,000 foster kids age out of the foster care system each year? Hear from Channel 8 News Co-Anchor Cynthia Izaguirre about children aging out of foster care and how CASA of Tarrant County is an essential part of the solution!
Tarrant County has the second highest confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect in the state of Texas (in 2016). This means 14 children every single day were victims of abuse or neglect. Child abuse is an ongoing epidemic that has a lasting negative impact on the victims, our community and our economy. CASA is an essential part of the solution, and you can help!
CASA volunteers make an immediate impact in an abused child’s life by fighting for their safety, speaking up for their best interests in court and supporting the child’s healing from their abuse and neglect. You can get involved by becoming a CASA volunteer, and no expertise is required! As a CASA volunteer, your voice resounds into a tangled web of uncertainty and fear, speaking courage and peace into a child’s heart. By speaking hope into one of the darkest times of a child’s life, your voice can change the trajectory of a child's life, leading them to a brighter future.
These children in our community are not just victims, they are future parents, teachers, business leaders, doctors, Olympic gymnasts and scientists. Your support can break the cycle of abuse and neglect and will be felt in your community for generations to come! You can intervene now! Visit our Become an Advocate page to sign up for an information session or our Donate page to help today!