April is Childhood Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month across the nation.
The mayors of both Benton and Bryant signed proclamations this week declaring the month dedicated to raising awareness of child abuse.
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children) of Saline County is a nonprofit that advocates on behalf and abused and neglected children in foster care.
“The mission of CASA of Saline County is to provide trained community volunteers to represent the best interest of abused, neglected and dependent children in court while seeking a safe, permanent home as soon as possible,” according to the non-profit’s Facebook page.
On April 11, Barbara McCreight, the executive director of CASA of Saline County, is encouraging the community to wear blue to raise awareness for children in foster care.
“We would like to get everybody in the whole county wearing blue that day to remember those kids who are in foster care due to abuse or neglect,” said McCreight.
McCreight said that currently, there are 108 kids in foster care in Saline County.
On the evening of April 10, they will be placing 108 pinwheels on the courthouse lawn, one for each child in foster care in Saline County. She hopes the pinwheels will remain up for the rest of the month.
McCreight said they want to educate the community about the problems these children face here.
“We would love to educate them about it, we would love to get them involved or tell them what we know. We want to share that this is not just a national problem but a local problem here in Saline County, a very real problem. We need help,” she said.
McCreight said one of the reasons children slip into foster care in Saline County is commonly related to the drug use of the parents.
“It might just be that they aren’t feeding their children right or not taking care of them,” she said. “Very often its the kids are found to be unsupervised and in neglect, because parents are somehow involved with drugs.”
McCreight stressed that this isn’t the case for all, but it is the most common cause in Saline County.
CASA helps children once the Department of Homeland Security steps in these situations.
“We say that we are the voice for the children. We get to know the kids, we visit them in their foster homes or wherever they are and then we make recommendations to the court about what we think their future needs to look like. The goal is always reunification with the parents,” she said.
McCreight is a retired teacher who loves being with kids and said she finds her job incredibly rewarding because of how she can help children. She said they always need help and if anyone needs information on how to make a difference she would love to visit with them. Those interested can contact McCreight by email at director@salinecountycasa.org or by calling the CASA office at 501-436-6044
