05:43 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 14, 2009

By JIM BERGAMO
KVUE News

April is Child Abuse Prevention month, and Governor Rick Perry has proclaimed Tuesday April 14 Court-Appointed Special Advocates Day.

CASA used the occasion to stress the need for more court-appointed advocates.

The Department of Family and Protective Services reports that last year in Texas more than 14,000 children were removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect, and they fear the numbers could be worse this year.

On the south steps of the Capitol, CASA volunteers clutched cardboard cutouts, representing children in the Texas foster care system.

"The images are cardboard, but the message is real, pay attention to abuse and neglect, listen to us and stand up for us," said Joe Gagen, the executive Director for Texas CASA.

Few have taken that message to heart more than Chadwick Sapenter, who lost his father when he was 7. By 15, he and his younger brothers found themselves homeless and on the streets in drug and gang-infested neighborhoods.

"And one of the local gang members approached us and held a gun to my head. He grew angry and he was going on about a situation that had occurred, and he held the gun, the pistol firmly against my forehead and in the act of rage he pulled the trigger three times," he said.

The gun didn't go off, and Chadwick and his brothers escaped. They were placed into the uncertain world of foster care. Chadwick says that was far more unnerving than a gun to the head.

"That uncertainty can just drive any person into a depression," he said.

But soon, he and his brothers were introduced to their CASA representative who met with them regularly over the years and always preached the same message.

"Out of all the words that he said, four words stuck with us and those words were 'you can do it,'" he said.

Chadwick did it and is now a real estate entrepreneur and an author. But for there to be more success stories, he and others on the Capitol steps Tuesday say there needs to be more CASA advocates, especially during these rough economic times.

"Families are experiencing stress, hardships and frustrations that they have not experienced before, and history tells us that children will suffer as a result," said Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O'Neill.

The Department of Family and Protective Services estimates an average of 275 children enter foster care every week and more than half will not have a court-appointed special advocate.

Justice O'Neill says heavy case loads can prevent government workers from having enough time to gather information about a foster care child, whereas the CASA rep knows foster family, who the kids' friends are and what other influences come into play.

Therefore, O'Neill says those reps can make informed recommendations to the courts on the children's' behalf.

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/041409kvue_CASA_reps-cb.d589dc6b.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor