Kaufman County Commissioners Court on April 1 adopted a proclamation declaring April 2025 Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kaufman County and invited community partners to an April 28 courthouse observance.

Tammy Pargu, vice president of the Kaufman County Child Welfare Board, presented the proclamation on behalf of local child-welfare partners and thanked the court for adopting the resolution. A representative identified as a CASA volunteer told commissioners the county experienced a 70% increase in children assigned to CASA between March 31 of last year and March 31 of this year and said children placed in foster care in Kaufman County remain in care an average of 22 months.

The CASA representative and Pargu described primary reasons children enter care in the county as substance use and untreated mental-health issues, frequently accompanied by physical abuse, and said the recent transition of some services to a privatized model called EMPOWER has created staffing and implementation challenges. "Shifting an entire system over into a private model is very difficult," the CASA representative told commissioners, adding county partners meet with judges and EMPOWER to try to improve operations.

Judge Jakey Allen read and signed the proclamation, which thanked local agencies and named community partners including the Kaufman County Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), EMPOWER, Kaufman County Childrens Advocacy Center (CAC), Kaufman County Child Welfare Board, Lone Star CASA, REACH Children Placing HC, A Fern Norville Shelter and Bikers Against Child Abuse. The proclamation also noted the Texas House had passed House Resolution 578 congratulating Lone Star CASA on 20 years of service.

The court approved the proclamation by voice vote. No additional funding or formal policy changes were made at the meeting; the item was placed on the agenda as a proclamation and adopted by the court.