Child abuse cases on the rise in West Texas

WEST TEXAS (KOSA) - Child abuse cases are on the rise in West Texas. According to CASA of West Texas, they’re up about 25% over a typical year.

CASA - which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, says it’s currently trying to care for around 500 children. That’s 100 more cases than a typical year.

To make the problem worse, CASA says it has about 50 fewer volunteers than usual, so it can’t handle all of its cases.

CASA is only able to serve about 96% of its cases right now.

The staff tells CBS7 that economic hardship from the pandemic is largely to blame for the uptick in abuse.

“People that were already struggling took their situations to the extreme. They took it out on the ones that they’re at home with. They take it out on who they’re closest to and unfortunately a lot of times that is the children. A lot of times it’s a cycle of abuse as well.”

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. You can find information on how to volunteer with CASA here.