"Hands Across Illinois"
to be held April 29

The Illinois Association of Court Appointed Special Advocates is sponsoring the first-ever online "Hands Across Illinois" event on Wednesday, April 29th at 12 p.m. The organization, which is made up of community volunteers who invest their time and efforts in protecting abused and neglected children around the state, plans to join digital hands to raise awareness and draw attention to child abuse.

According to DCFS statistics, more than 36,500 youths suffered from child abuse or neglect in 2019. CASA recruits, trains and support citizen-volunteers to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in courtrooms and communities.

The event, hosted by the Illinois CASA branch, will be the first of its kind on the Zoom video conferencing platform. The organization hopes to support its 32 local programs located throughout Illinois, while they advocate from a distance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Hands Across Illinois" participants are encouraged to wear blue to demonstrate their support of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

For additional details visit http://tiny.cc/ILCASAHands to find out more about "Hands Across Illinois" or contact James McIntyre at 312-505-9226.


CASA receives state funding

After 26 years of operation, the Illinois Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program will receive $2,885,000.00 in State funding.

CASA is not-for-profit organization which recruits, trains, and monitors volunteers who serve as advocates for abused and neglected children. Their services are also used in Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) cases and sometimes in adoption proceedings. Trained volunteers work to ensure the welfare of the children under their care is closely monitored and make independent recommendations to the court system advocating in their best interest.

In Illinois there are 31 CASA programs with nearly 2,500 volunteers who in 2018 advocated for the best interests of 4,184 child victims of abuse and neglect.

"This funding means that more children across Illinois do not have to go through the court process alone," said Mari Christopherson, Executive Director for CASA. "We applaud the Governor in supporting a program that works."

According to the statement issued this week, the funding will distributed to the current local programs with the goal of expanding their ability to protect the interest of minor children who have experienced abuse or neglect with a Court Appointed Special Advocate. The funds will also be used to expand CASA into other communities to help an estimated 2,000 or more children who do not have access to volunteers and service in their area.

The local branch, Champaign County CASA, is located at 301 S. Vine, Suite 210, in the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana.



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