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CASA's Important Work
N
ew Orleans-The issue of child
abuse and neglect is a critical
problem in Louisiana. Each
year, thousands of children in Louisiana
enter into complex social welfare and juvenile court proceedings through no fault
of their own. They are innocent victims of
abuse, neglect or abandonment. They
belong to no one as they sit silently waiting
for the courts to decide their future. Many
of these children become victims a second time, lost in an overburdened child
welfare system that cannot pay close attention to each child whose life is in its
hands. Sometimes a child can remain
adrift in foster care for months, even years.
That is where CASA comes in.
Court Appointed Special Advocates
(CASAs) are trained volunteer community
members who are appointed by a judge to
advocate, on a one-to-one basis, for a
child who has been abused, neglected or
abandoned, or who is otherwise at-risk.
The volunteer gets to know the child
and then lets the judge and others in the
system know the child’s perspective and
the child’s needs. Recent studies have
shown that the presence of one stable,
supportive adult in a child’s life can profoundly affect that child’s future for the
better—underscoring the effectiveness of
the CASA concept.
The challenge in the most recent year
examined, almost 3% of all children in
Louisiana were reported abused or neglected.
In Louisiana:
* Once every hour and 3 minutes, a
child is confirmed neglected
* Once every 3 hours and 36 minutes,
a child is confirmed physically abused
* Once every 10 hours and 37 minutes, a child is confirmed sexually abused
* 106 children died as a result of
abuse or neglect
* Once every 29 minutes, a child is
born into poverty
* Once every 14 hours, a child dies
before his or her first birthday
* Child abuse and neglect contributes
to numerous other social problems such
as poverty, crime and alcohol and drug
abuse.
The Good News!!! Child abuse and
neglect can be prevented and stopped,
and families strengthened, by proven programs that work!
For more information please contact
Kathy Cheramie or Darrin Harris at
504.367.3500 Ext. 330.
GLAAD Condemns
Offensive "Shirley Q.
Liquor" Character
L
os Angeles-Neil G. Giuliano,
president of the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD), condemned performance artist
Charles Knipp’s “Shirley Q. Liquor” character for promoting and perpetuating ugly
racial stereotypes.
The character, a staple of Knipp’s live
local performances and spoken-word recordings (including a CD entitled Spirit of
Ignunce), is performed in drag and
blackface. “Liquor” is described as a welfare mother with 19 children, and Knipp’s
depiction relies on a stereotypical misappropriation of African American dialect often associated with the South.
Recent email communications by
several community members speaking
out against Knipp’s performance brought
his act to GLAAD’s attention, and local
activists protested a scheduled – and
subsequently canceled – performance in
Los Angeles.
“While our work at GLAAD is about
promoting fair, accurate and inclusive
media representations of the LGBT community, this issue has risen to a level of
visibility and importance that we feel compelled to add our voice to those speaking
out against this awful portrayal,” Giuliano
said. “Based on what we have heard from
community members and read about this
character, we are joining those taking a
stand against Knipp’s offensive caricature.
“We recognize that this performer has
a right to free speech and expression, but
we also have the right to condemn his
performance and speak out against this
harmful depiction,” Giuliano added. “This
performance perpetuates ugly racial stereotypes that are offensive, hurtful and
simply unacceptable, and we are urging
our constituents to visit glaad.org so that
they can express their concerns to the
venues at which Knipp is expected to
perform in the coming months.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and
inclusive representation of people and
events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination
based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Visit www.glaad.org.
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