Today, Justice for Children continues to function as the voice of the abused and neglected child. We remain unique in our purpose to advocate and intervene on behalf of the abused and neglected child at any stage of an abused child's case.

Our advocacy for a child is not dependent on a court appointment. Therefore, our advocacy for the child's safety and protection can become a reality long before the case even goes to court. This distinction is critical when it comes to protecting an abused or neglected child since sometimes by the time the child's case gets to court-it's too late.

Justice for Children cases involve persons trying to protect an abused or neglected child. Individuals call asking for our assistance and guidance through a system that is often overwhelming, especially due to the emotional and traumatic events that are taking place in an abused or neglected child's life.

Often, protective parties have nowhere else to turn for guidance and assistance through the maze of bureaucratic agencies and a legal system that is often stacked against the child. While the full extent of child abuse and neglect in Texas and across the nation is unknown, the magnitude of this problem is undeniable and has never been greater. Most alarming are the statistics, both locally and nationally, that only one-third of verified cases of abuse or neglect are investigated.

Furthermore, of the children who died from abuse or neglect, 40% to 50% were known, by the very system that was established to protect them, to be abused or at risk. As alarming as this information may appear, on federal, state, and local levels, thousands of children are being lost by an inadequate child protective system.

Any programmatic response to the critical problem of child abuse and neglect is immediately challenged by numerous obstacles, including:

1. Serious gaps in knowledge and understanding among key professionals as well as the general public of the legal, socioeconomic, developmental, and medical dimensions of child maltreatment;

2. Dwindling funding sources and decreased public confidence in the child protective service system;

3. Overdue reforms to the agencies comprising the child-protective network (CPS, law enforcement, and the judiciary);

4. Inconsistent definitions, procedures, and data collection standards across institutional and geographical jurisdictions, further undermining the vital continuum of prevention, intervention, and treatment services for abused and neglected children.

The purpose of Justice for Children is to provide a full range of advocacy and services for abused and neglected children; that includes legal advocacy, public policy monitoring, guidance through a complex child protective system, professional referrals, mental health services, court watch, research, education, and emotional support.

The following is a brief explanation of our advocacy and services:

Advocacy --

Justice for Children assists and refers several thousand callers annually through the complicated and unsympathetic maze of governmental agencies established to protect abused children. Advocating for an abused or neglected child takes on many different forms of participation and involvement that include: