The Garfield County Child Advocacy Center has a great way to help abused and neglected children.  Adopt a child!  Well, not really but you can adopt one of several for only $25.00 each and dress them.  They are then displayed on the Garfield County Courthouse lawn during the month of April. 

I spent some time with them before the children were adopted and helped bring the wooden children up from the basement of the Care Campus and prepared them for adoption.  A little physical labor is good for me and I might have burned a few calories.  The children themselves were made by volunteers who cut out the wooden children and then painted them in preparation for the April event. Each one is different – just like real kids.   

This year there were 241 children representing the same number of abused and neglected children in Garfield County alone.  That number is down from 332 last year – progress?  I hope so.  But still a long way to go. 

The Child Advocacy Center https://www.volunteermatch.org  runs on volunteers and people who love what they do. They train volunteers to represent children who might otherwise fall through the cracks.  They are always looking for more volunteers.  Training is provided for ten weeks, sworn in before a judge, and then the volunteer is paired with the family.    They represent them in Court and meet with them once a month to see how their lives are progressing.

Check out the Garfield County Courthouse lawn and see the children in all their spring finery.  They are a sight to behold and guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings to see the number of children they represent.  Check out CASA and see how you can help.  Maybe you’d like to be a CASA volunteer.