DeWitt County currently has 24 children in crisis from 15 families, according to Diana Sneed, program director for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of the Golden Crescent.
“Six of those children do not have a volunteer (advocate,)” Sneed said as she updated the Commissioner’s Court on CASA’s status in DeWitt County before submitting her budget request.
She said a child in crisis, or foster care, was not safe in his or her home due to circumstances such as abuse, neglect, or substance abuse. CASA volunteers gather information from all parties involved in a foster child’s life and advocate for a child’s best interests in court. Ideally, children would reunite with their families.
Volunteers from other counties are filling in for the DeWitt foster children without an advocate, Sneed said. “But I know that the people of DeWitt County, if they knew about this crisis, would want to step up and help the children and the families from their own home community.”
“To remedy that we will have a recruitment event at the library next month,” Sneed said.
The CASA Q&A will be Monday, Aug. 19 from 4-5 p.m. at the Cuero Municipal Library. Sneed said it’s a very casual event and people can bring their questions to Lyn Duenes, the executive director of the Golden Crescent CASA.
