CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

People 'Go Blue' to support child advocates, child abuse prevention efforts

Times Leader - 4/8/2017

April 08--WILKES-BARRE -- For Annie Ellis, observances like Friday's Go Blue for Child Abuse Awareness Month are personal.

About two dozen people gathered in Rodano's to celebrate and honor Ellis and other Court Appointed Special Advocates of Luzerne County while raising money for the Luzerne County Child Advocacy Center.

Ellis, dressed in blue, explained that advocates are appointed by courts and are "the eyes and ears" for local judges who are responsibility for ensuring the well-being of children in foster care.

The volunteer advocates offer judges the critical information they need to ensure that each child's rights and needs are being attended to while in foster care.

"The most important thing I do is spend time with that child," Ellis said, referring to a part of her presentation in which she told the group that she recently started attending sporting events for the young boy she is helping, and she saw him earn a new belt in karate class.

Children in foster care are often victims of child abuse or neglect, and the Child Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization in Wilkes-Barre that works with children who have been or are believed to have been abused.

Children are interviewed at the center by professionals in the field, and center staff work with police and prosecutors in investigations of suspected child abuse.

Ellis, who signed up to be an advocate after watching a television commercial about the county CASA program, received training in March 2016 and was sworn in as an advocate in May.

"I'm not a caseworker," Ellis stressed. "I'm not employed" by the program.

John Aciukewicz, executive director of CASA, said the nonprofit is essential to children in Luzerne County because, at any given time, there are about 400 children in the county foster care system.

"It's hard to wrap our heads around that," he said.

Aciukewicz said the Go Blue day began 28 years ago when a grandmother in Virginia tied a blue ribbon on her car antenna.

"It was a simple act of acknowledgement and awareness for her grandson, who died as a result of abuse by his mother's boyfriend," Aciukewicz said.

Bill Jones, CEO of the United Way of Wyoming Valley, said child abuse and neglect are preventable, and all it takes is awareness and education.

"The more we can do to educate the community, (the greater) the probability we can reduce abuse," Jones said, noting that the number of incidents of child abuse is growing instead of shrinking. "It effects too many lives."

"Public awareness is so crucial," Ellis added, explaining that before she saw the TV commercial about the CASA program, she didn't know it existed or that children in her neighborhood needed people like her.

For other local news stories, click here.

___

(c)2017 The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

Visit The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at www.timesleader.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.