SAN ANTONIO — "We're seeing younger children damaged like we've never seen before," said CASA CEO Angie White. "And that just breaks my heart," she added. "Imagine being no more than three feet tall and not being able to defend yourself against abuse and neglect. "The people that are meant to love them the most are committing these acts against them."
A few days ago I had the honor of helping with the CASA Child Abuse Wreath Laying And Candlelight Vigil held at the Bexar County Courthouse. And the message was very simple from our community civic leaders. If you see something, say something. And that can never be more true than right now considering the numbers we're seeing from the effects of abuse and neglect.
"We are seeing more babies being injured," said Angie. "We have had fifteen more deaths this year and we have 3,600 Bexar County kids in the foster system."
The laws have changed allowing more children to stay within the family unit with kinship caregivers, but that itself hasn't stemmed abuse and neglect from happening.
"We're still seeing many many cases of abuse. We need people to step in and help sort that out. We can't do it without everybody," said Angie.
It's obvious that no child deserves to be physically abused from any end of the spectrum, and sadly, cases of child sexual abuse are on the rise.
"It is just heinous," said Angie. "I know people have mental health issues, but you just can't not deal with that situation to the fullest extent of the law that we can do," she continued. "These are our community children, and no child asks for this, and they belong to all of us. If we can get it right at the beginning and they grow whole and healthy then that is fantastic."
And again, the message is very simple, and serious. If you see something, say something.