CHAVES COUNTY, N.M. – There are too many children across the state working through some sort of trauma, and it’s not just the children who need help navigating it. 

Chaves County CASA works with abused and neglected children and their families. Soon, they could get funding to provide more support not only to children and their families, but to the team that works around them. 

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez says she hopes to bring in $1.2 million.

“The people from CASA who do the hard work of listening to the stories of the children who have been abused, right? Imagine how hard that is to do that work,” said Leger Fernández. 

The congresswoman says out of 140 community projects, CASA was one of 15 she was able to get into a Federal Appropriations Bill. It has yet to pass.

The CEO of Chaves County CASA, Carrie-Leigh Cloutier, says this will help them do so much more for families and the people around them.

“Most of our community is aware that we’re at a crisis point with children, foster children, coming into CYFD. There’s not enough foster homes, not enough services for these children, and not enough prevention so that we can keep kids from having to live in the CYFD office, from living on the streets from getting trafficked,” said Cloutier.

Right now, there is a roadblock to getting the funding. Leger Fernandez says they can’t get the money until they fund the federal government. 

“The Republican leadership has not been able to put on the floor of the House, the budget, the funding, the appropriations bill, which would fund the federal government,” said Fernandez.

The congresswoman says she will work to get CASA the funding not just because of the good it will do our state, but because she believes other organizations across the nation should model themselves after CASA.

“Out of those 140, it’s like, this is it, we need to fund it. We need to champion it,” said Fernandez.