CASA Announces 2014 Black Dress Fundraiser

Here at the details of CASA’s February 20th event at the Bull Valley Country Club:

CASA 2-20-14
You can buy tickets here.

CASA of McHenry County is a program that recruit, train and manage Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteers whose primary role is to advocate for the best interests of sexually and physically abused children in court.

CASA foster kids are our kidsCASA volunteers are trained and supervised by their agencies and sworn to confidentiality by the Juvenile Judge of the Circuit.

CASA volunteers gather objective information and report to the court regularly on the status of each child.

This information is used by the Judge to determine if the child should be reunified with their family or prepared for adoption.

The CASA volunteer works as a team member with the casework assigned by DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) and the Guardian Ad Litem Attorney assigned to the child.

Each CASA volunteer is assigned to one case (usually two or three children) at a time and serves on that case until it closes.

Often times the CASA volunteer is the only consistent unpaid adult in the child’s life.

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From an experience in a Crystal Lake situation as State Representative in the late 1970’s, I can affirm that Department of Children and Family Services case workers


Comments

CASA Announces 2014 Black Dress Fundraiser — 3 Comments

  1. You would be shocked how many kids are sexually abuse.
    You would be even more shocked how much of it occurs at the hands of teachers in public schools, and all sorts of educational employees in educational environments for that matter.
    You would be even more shocked how much of it involves female teachers.
    Educator and teacher sex abuse rivals that of the church sex abuse and misconduct scandals in sheer number if not percent.
    There is a very high likelihood there has been such a case in your school and school district.
    The case may or may not have received press coverage.
    Many cases are settled outside the judicial court system.
    One reason for the widespread abuse is there are a lot of teachers and educators.
    In most communities the largest employer, or close to it, is the public school district.
    If you suspect sexual abuse of a minor in an educational environment in Illinois, be it a teacher, aide, administrator, or other personnel, strongly consider first contacting the police, then DCFS, then maybe an attorney specializing in representing victims, then maybe the school.
    Whatever your course of action do not simply trust your school district to resolve to matter in the best interest of your child.
    Just like some churches have done, schools often prefer to settle on the hush hush, often with little consequence to the offender.
    Just Google teacher sex [plus pick a state, county, city, school district, school, etc.] and you can spend months if not years reading all the cases all around the United States.
    It is across the board.
    Big, medium, and small communities, school districts, and schools.
    Rich, middle class, and poor communities, school districts, and schools.
    Public, private, and parochial schools.
    Park districts, day care centers, and private organizations such as YMCA, clubs, and youth sports.
    Here is one such article.
    Chicago Tribune
    Illinois system fails to protect students from abuse.
    Tribune investigation finds numerous factors allow bad teachers to remain in the classroom.
    August 25, 2013.
    By Diane Rado and Christy Gutowski, Chicago Tribune reporters.
    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-25/news/ct-met-teachers-revoked-20130825_1_classroom-students-disciplinary-records

  2. CASA McHenry County
    http://www.casamchenrycounty.org

    Illinois CASA
    http://www.illinoiscasa.org

    Regarding the comment above about how school districts sometimes sweep child sex abuse cases under the carpet.
    Here is an example.

    DuPage County State’s Attorney

    PRESS RELEASE

    Thursday, March 01, 2007

    Former Basketball Coach Sentenced to 32 Years

    WHEATON – DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett announced today that former Hinsdale Central High School science teacher and boys varsity basketball coach Robert J. Mueller, 45 (d.o.b. 3/23/61) of Woodridge, was sentenced to thirty-two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections sexually molesting two female students at the high school who were under the age of 18 between 2000 and 2004.

    On December 18, 2006, Mueller was found guilty by a jury of eight counts of Criminal Sexual Assault, a Class 1 Felony that carries a term of between four and fifteen years in prison. By law, Mueller was sentenced to four years on each count.

    By law, the terms must run consecutively, resulting in the thirty-two year sentence.

    The charges against Mueller and today’s sentence are the result of a 2004 anonymous tip that Mueller had a sexual relationship with a female student.

    The investigation conducted by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the DuPage County Children’s Advocacy Center and the Hinsdale Police Department resulted in the discovery of an earlier pattern of sexual assault by Mueller on another student.

    This earlier incident was investigated internally by the school and never reported to law enforcement authorities.

    Despite the fact that no one, except one of the parents, ever interviewed the victim, the school closed the investigation.

    The internal mis-management of this incident led to an intergovernmental agreement between DCFS, the State’s Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement, which now requires cooperation, planning, policy reform and system-wide education of all school personnel regarding their duties and responsibilities under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (ANCRA).

    “Today, Robert Mueller got what he deserved,” commented Birkett.

    “For four years Mr. Mueller preyed on innocent school girls to satisfy his own desires.

    He betrayed their trust and the trust of their families. With the sentence handed down by Judge Creswell today, Mr. Mueller will spend a significant part of the rest of his life behind bars, unable to victimize trusting young women and their families again.

    Birkett went on to praise the Hinsdale Central High School and District 86 officials for their assistance in this very disturbing case.

    “I would like to thank the current administration at Hinsdale Central High School for their cooperation in helping us build our case,” remarked Birkett.

    “With their assistance we were able to put a sex offender behind bars where he belongs.”

    http://www.dupageco.org/Content.aspx?id=30558&terms=teacher

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