Latest news with #CourtAppointedSpecialAdvocates
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Washburn law professor honored by Kansas Supreme Court
TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Kansas Supreme Court recognized a local woman for her decades of dedication this week. Linda Elrod is the latest recipient of the prestigious Justice Award. A Washburn University Law professor for 50 years, her passion for the rights of children in the legal system exceeds well beyond the classroom. Elrod wrote the Kansas Family Law Handbook, founded the family law certification program at Washburn, served on the Governor's Kansas Child Support Commission for more than three decades and served in leadership roles for organizations around the globe. She stays active in child advocacy to this day. Even through a storied career, she says one of her happiest moments was two weeks ago serving as a moderator for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program. 'The two people sitting next to me were both family law certificate holders of mine,' Elrod said. 'One was the child advocate, the guardian ad litem, and the other was the prosecutor, and both of them were trying to help parents and that was their ultimate goal, was to help parents do a better job of parenting their children. They're doing what I wanted them to do, which is to make sure children are protected.' Highway shutdown to create nearly 70-mile detour in central Kansas Elrod is the 18th recipient of the award, and the first woman to receive it. She was presented the award during a ceremony on May 20. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Yahoo
Hundreds of pinwheels planted in Las Vegas for child abuse prevention month
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — April is National Child Abuse Prevention month, and Las Vegas's Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program held its annual pinwheel event at Family Court on North Pecos Road. Volunteers, court staff, judges, and child welfare partners planted hundreds of pinwheels to shed light on the reality of how many children in the area are affected. 'In Clark County, we have over 3,500 kids in the foster system,' CASA volunteer Kelly Hernandez said. 'So there's a need for everybody to be aware of them and for us to make sure that they have safe homes.' CASA volunteers are court-appointed special advocates who speak on behalf of children in the foster care system. 'The more we can promote letting everyone know about the issues of child abuse and how it affects children growing up, we can get it implanted in the system so that we can stop the cycle ourselves,' Keith Fiandra, who has been volunteering with CASA for five years now, said. Judge Margaret Pickard with Judicial District Court 8 told 8 New Now that issues like child abuse are congruent to other problems like mental health, domestic violence, and drugs. 'We have an overwhelming problem with meth and fentanyl in our community, and as a result we have a lot of parents coming in with drug issues,' the judge said. She continued, 'Of our six judges, we have, every six weeks, we each spend two weeks full-time on 24-hour warrant duty, because it's so common in our community that kiddos are experiencing abuse or neglect.' CASA is always looking for volunteers, and applications are available on their website. There is a minimum two year commitment required. After being accepted into the program, there is a five-week training period. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Yahoo
The way you can become a superhero for CASA
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month, which has a local organization doing what it can to make people conscious of the issue. CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for children, is a national nonprofit program that connects volunteers with abused and neglected children. Paul Phalen has volunteered with them for 3 years. 'I've had four different cases over these years, so each case lasts a while, nine months, I have one that went over a year. I work primarily with younger kids. Seven down to– I had an infant,' CASA Volunteer, Paul Phalen said. Wildlife photographer Jim Brandenberg dies While Phalen could spend his time doing other things, volunteering with CASA is something he feels called to do. 'If you can somehow, in your own way, straighten out a child during their development, that you're going to, make that child's life better, you're going to make the lives for the people that that child interacts with better,' Phalen said. April is a special month for CASA and its volunteers, as it shines a spotlight on what they are seeing every day. 'April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. So we want to bring awareness first and foremost, because I think a lot of people do not understand the magnitude of the abuse and neglect problem that happens in this community,' Sioux Falls CASA CEO, Stacey Tieszen said. To help make even more people aware of these issues, CASA is hosting different events throughout April. 'We ask local businesses to sponsor us to wear the capes, do a whole big social media barrage of information and awareness, and then recognize our volunteers at the end of the month. And so then we just do a lot of fundraising in between there. Wwe just did a bingo event. We have our pizza night, Pizza Ranch on the 16th. And so just a little bit of everything to try to build awareness in the community because our kids need help,' Tieszen said. CASA and its volunteers are helping children who have been in situations many of us couldn't even fathom. 'They're all centrally focused on trying to get this child to flourish despite all the strikes that they've had against them in their short little time here on Earth,' Phalen said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Our kids are our future'; Raising awareness for children experiencing abuse
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Hundreds of kids are in the Champaign County court system due to abuse or neglect. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) works year-round to support them every step of the way, but they're hoping the community joins in too. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month — a time to shed a spotlight on a sobering reality. 'It shaped me'; Black leaders in Urbana talk resilience, motivation to push the city forward 'We don't want abuse and neglect to exist in our community, but the truth is that it does,' said Champaign County CASA Development Director Laura Brown. CASA stands by people from the time they're born to the time they turn 21 as they navigate foster care, the court system and trauma that stems from abuse. 'There's a lot of adults, a lot of decisions being made for them, and they kind of get caught in a place of not having a lot of control over what's happening to them,' Brown said. Much of the work is private to the kids and CASA. This month is a time to highlight how the community can help. 'These kids are resilient, they have hope, and as a community we have an opportunity and the responsibility to come alongside children and give them the best opportunity to thrive in a safe and permanent home,' Brown said. She also said awareness is the first step, and thousands of pinwheels scattered around the community are meant to help with that. Tango music festival returns to Champaign-Urbana 'It sort of represents the whimsy, the playfulness and innocence of childhood,' Brown said. 'The children that we serve, that's sort of been taken away from them.' The annual Pinwheel Project gives people a chance to publicly show their support for CASA. 'These children are in our community, they're in our schools, they're in our churches, they're on our sports teams — we want to make sure that people understand this is not a distant, someone else's problem,' Brown said. The hope is that one day CASA will work themselves out of a job, but until then, there's more to be done. 'Just investing in kids is so important,' Brown said. 'Our kids are our future, and we want them to be whole and healthy and happy.' Along with the pinwheels, CASA is promoting another way to show support for children going through abuse or neglect. They're hoping to see people come together on April 4 for Wear Blue Day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CASA holds murder mystery dinner fundraiser
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — On Saturday night, March 1, people in Colorado Springs grabbed their magnifying glasses and dressed up as their favorite detective for a who-done-it mystery dinner to help fundraise for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of the Pikes Peak Region. This was CASA's third annual Night of Hope event, 'Casa goes cold case.' Attendees enjoyed a live-action performance and a buffet dinner. There was also a silent auction to help raise money for abused and neglected kids. And while the event was a fun and spirited game, the cause behind it is meaningful, and CASA said they appreciate anyone who supports their work and attends their events. 'We can't do it without our donors, individual donors that come out to events like this, we completely need their support so that we can fund the mission,' said Angela Rose, Executive Director of CASA of The Pikes Peak Region. 'We're so grateful that people are coming out tonight. We're hoping to raise $55,000 tonight and if we do that, we will be able to serve an additional 45 children right here in our community who have been abused and neglected.' To keep up to date with all CASA events in the future, head to Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
