CASA of McHenry County participates in National Child Abuse Prevention Month

The blue pinwheels and signs along Route 31 in Crystal Lake are part of CASA of McHenry County’s efforts to raise awareness this month, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Each year, more than 600,000 children in the U.S. experience abuse or neglect, ushering many of them into the foster care systems, CASA said in a news release. A child in foster care often moves homes multiple times, attends multiple schools and is sometimes separated from siblings and friends.

All this chaos and inconsistency has long-term effects, the group said.

Court-appointed special advocates, or CASAs, give children in the foster care system a voice and provide consistency, according to the release. Children in foster care with an appointed CASA volunteer are more likely to graduate high school and less likely to be incarcerated, among other significant factors.

Learn more about CASA of McHenry County by attending an information session at 7 p.m. May 10 or 10 a.m. June 11. Information about the sessions is available at www.casamchenrycounty.org.