GREAT FALLS — April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and to help raise awareness, Court-Appointed Special Advocates-Children's Advocate Network (CASA-CAN) is planting pinwheels to represent the number of children in foster care.
They planted 224 pinwheels outside the Cascade County Courthouse on Tuesday to represent the children in Cascade County who have experienced abuse and neglect.
“In Cascade County, unfortunately, we have the highest rate of child abuse and neglect per capita in Montana and currently we have 224 children in care,” said Megan Spinler, the training and recruitment coordinator for CASA-CAN.
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According to the Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services website, as of 2022, an estimated 2,600 children are in foster care across Montana, due to abuse and neglect.
“I feel like there's a ton of people in Great Falls that completely get it and know what's going on, but I do feel like there's a whole other majority that doesn't see a lot of it, and they really just don't understand how much is needed to help the kids in the community," said Darcy Schindele, a former CASA-CAN volunteer and foster parent.
According to CASA-CAN, they are only able to serve 50% of the foster children in Cascade County right now, and they need more volunteers in order to serve each child.
“The hope for awareness is that we get enough volunteers to serve every child in Cascade County who needs a volunteer advocate," CASA-CAN director Kim Casey told MTN.
The CASA-CAN volunteers advocate in court for children who are experiencing abuse and neglect. To do this, they rely on help from the community.
“We need funding for places like CASA-CAN, we need help, we need foster families, we need more volunteers to work,” said Schindele.
Click here to visit the CASA-CAN website for details on how to become a volunteer advocate.
