Prevent Child Abuse Awareness is a cause that last through the month of April, but the work done by organizations like CASA of Northeast Georgia is a year-round mission to reach neglected and mistreated children in crisis. CASA’s purpose is to guide these children through the legal system in the midst of such crises.
Like other social service groups throughout the region, Executive Director Melissa Mitchell said the region is seeing a rise in the number of children experiencing neglect and maltreatment. Even as the presence of COVID-19 seems for now to fade from the national psyche, the lasting sociological and psychological effects of the pandemic that experts say have contributed to a greater number of families in crisis only grow more apparent.
“We have eight counties that we serve, so it’s a wide area,” Mitchell said. “But we’ve definitely seen an increase overall [in cases]. I would say for the Mountain Circuit – which is Habersham, Rabun and Stephens – it’s definitely an increase.”
According to Mitchell, the primary reason children enter foster care continues to be substance abuse – which she said remains “very high” in the region.
While stressing that poverty is not the cause of child abuse and neglect, Mitchell said that a majority of families CASA reaches are oftentimes at the lower tiers of the socioeconomic ladder, further contributing to higher levels of stress and anxiety and increasing the likelihood of substance abuse and addiction. A regional crisis in affordable housing, according to Mitchell and other professionals who work with families in crisis, breeds trends of cyclical poverty that also increase the chance of substance abuse in households.
“It’s a common denominator in a lot of cases,” Mitchell said. “It’s something though that all kind of goes together a lot when you have substance abuse and inability to secure housing and maintain housing. It all kind of rolls together for sure.”
Too often, as Mitchell noted, these forms of instability can lead to the displacement of children. CASA’s involvement in the courts and legal system in advocating for these children has also intensified as a result.
“Since we have more kids coming into care, we definitely have had more court hearings and more involvement with the court because of that,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she’s heard numerous accounts from DFCS as of late that cases involving child abuse and maltreatment are bleaker – more traumatic than they’ve seen in years prior.
“The cases are much more difficult than they were a year or two years ago – sadder, just more things involvement with the families,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that while she’s unsure of the reason realities for families in crisis have become more challenging, she agrees with social service workers around the nation that believe the pandemic has spawned a far-reaching and lasting impact on mental health that will be seen for years to come.
The outcome the organization hopes for is ultimately a child’s reunification, if possible, with their family once the legal system is able to determine with confidence that rehabilitated parents are fit to raise that child.
“There’s a whole process where a child can be reunified if the caregivers do what they need to do to remedy the situation,” Mitchell said.
Organizations like DFCS and CASA continue to experience strains in their resources, even as cuts in VOCA funds – set to take effect in October without Gov. Brian Kemp’s intervention – could further complicate the ability to advocate for adolescent victims of abuse and maltreatment.
Mitchell said CASA could see a 26 percent reduction in funding unless the Governor’s Office approves the use of ARPA funds to account for the reduction in federal VOCA funds.
“Being in a rural area we struggle in general of having enough services for the children we serve and also for their parents, so that’s increased just because we have more need,” said Mitchell, who indicated that CASA volunteers might have to drive 100-200 miles to foster families that have taken in children removed from homes.
“They’re not only pulled not only from their parents and caregivers, they’ve been pulled from their neighborhoods – their school, their friends, relatives that live nearby,” Mitchell said. “It really takes them out of their environment, and it can be a real culture shock for the kids who are already experiencing a lot of trauma, just having been removed [from homes] and from what they’ve been through.”
Mitchell said that there is a major lack of foster families in the region, and she encourages more families to open their homes to children in need. CASA has seen an increase in volunteers, stating the organization has around 75 now. To account for the rise in instances of child abuse and maltreatment, Mitchell said her organization would like to have 100 volunteers total.
She called on communities to do what they can to volunteer and spread awareness of child abuse.
“We want [people] to know that everybody can do something,” Mitchell said. “Volunteering in any way – whether it’s mentoring or helping out with sports – helping to recognize abuse, so when you’re in those positions, you can be aware of that and know how to respond appropriately.
“And then helping those kids just have another person in their lives, and helping them develop skills that will help them throughout life.”
CASA is looking for more board members to serve on its board. The organization is also in need of donations.
Those who wish to donate to CASA, a Habersham United Way agency, can do so by going to www.northeastgacasa.org.