DCFS Can Do Better
	Working for a Kinder, Gentler, Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services If you have reason to suspect that a child you know is being abused, please call the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-482-5964.  Don't stop until you get an answer.

Who Will Look Out For Our Children?

There is a volunteer group called CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) that tries to look out for the child's best interest during court cases and legal proceedings.  Unfortunately, there is no group yet that is in the child's corner from the beginning, with volunteers that go out with the DCFS case workers during the initial interviews and examinations.  How do you think you would feel if strangers took you into a room by yourself, were poking and prodding, asking all sorts of questions and taking pictures of you?  Interrogated?  Violated?  Isolated?  Then, how much more vulnerable, alone and frightened does the little girl or boy feel in a room by themself looking up at several adults around her or him poking and prodding, taking pictures and asking questions that she or he might not even have the vocabulary or understanding to give an answer to, or to know what's going on and why they are doing that to her or him?  Scared and crying, and asking for their mommy, they just want anyone in their corner that they can run to who can comfort them and can tell the other adults to just back off for a minute.  Is that too much to ask?  We certainly don't think so.  THIS IS A MAJOR OVERSIGHT THAT NEEDS TO BE FILLED BY A GROUP OF VOLUNTEERS THAT CARE FOR THESE CHILDREN AT ONE OF THEIR MOST VULNERABLE TIMES IN "THE SYSTEM".

Home     What's Wrong     Please Help     Encounters     New CASA     Investigations     Stories     Laws
Procedures     Goals     Need Information     Acronyms     Group Links     Related Pages     Contact Us

CAKiD - Working for a kinder, gentler, DCFS.