Nearly 700,000 children are abused in the United States every year, and nearly 2,000 die. And those are just the cases that are reported.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) is an organization that advocates for abused children, providing legal and volunteer support for all children referred to the Family Court because of the filing of an abuse or neglect petition.

Rhode Island’s program was established in 1978, the second program in the country.

Cheryl Martone is the director of Rhode Island’s CASA Volunteer Program and joins Frank Prosnitz on this edition of The Open Forum on AM 1540 WADK Newport.

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...