NEWS RELEASE: Texas CASA Honors Judge Laurie Blake for Outstanding Work in Child Welfare Case

GEORGETOWN, Texas – Texas Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) honored Judge Laurie Blake with the Texas CASA Judicial Innovation and Leadership Award for her decades of work on child welfare cases. Texas CASA CEO Vicki Spriggs presented the award at the Judicial Reception of the annual Child Welfare Judges Conference hosted by the Children’s Commission and Office of Court Administration on Monday, October 21 in Georgetown, Texas.

“Judge Blake has an incredible reputation in her community for her work on child welfare cases,” said Texas CASA CEO Vicki Spriggs. “According to her local CASA program, she is known for holding people accountable and, as a result, countless children feel safer and more productive because of her decision-making and oversight. We are truly honored to present her with this award.”

Judge Blake keeps a collection of locally hand-made blankets behind her in her courtroom and at the beginning of every case, she allows parents to pick out a blanket for their children that are in foster care. During each adoption consummation, she also gives adoptees an uncirculated $2 bill to let that child know they are rare, unique and valuable. Given that she is retiring this year, her community nominated her for this award to show her that we also think she is rare, unique and valuable.

Judge Lauri Blake is the elected judge of the 336th State District Court in Fannin County and has served in that role for 20 years. She was the first female elected to serve as a District Judge in Grayson and Fannin counties. She helped form and has presided over the Fannin County Drug Court for over two decades, working to rehabilitate people on felony probation who also struggle with drug and alcohol addictions. Judge Blake serves as Chairman of the Fannin County Juvenile Board, which oversees the Fannin County Juvenile Services Department and was a founding board member of the Grayson County Children’s Advocacy Center. She also participates in two nights of training each time the Fannin County Children’s Center trains new CASA volunteers.

She received her law degree from the Southern Methodist University School of Law. Prior to attending law school, Judge Blake was a Dallas Police officer, graduating at the top of her police academy class. Before she began her service as a judge, Judge Blake was the First Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Grayson County for four years and was an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Collin County for seven years. During that time, she helped establish law and order policies for the prosecution of criminal cases with a special focus on prosecution of offenses against children, drug dealers and repeat offenders.

Prior to presenting Judge Blake with the award, Spriggs updated statewide judges with Texas CASA’s recent milestones — including the addition of a new CASA program in Val Verde County, new CASA Anti-Child Trafficking resources, the beginning of a pilot program to explore what CASA volunteers’ role on juvenile cases could look like and more.

In 2023, more than 20,000 children were served by local CASA programs across 254 Texas counties. Nearly 65% of the 31,475 children in foster care benefited from a CASA volunteer — a percentage we look forward to growing.

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About Texas CASA

La misión de Texas CASA es apoyar los programas locales de defensa de voluntarios CASA y abogar por una política pública eficaz para los niños y las familias en el sistema de protección infantil.

Established in 1989, Texas CASA is the statewide association for local CASA programs. In this role, we support the CASA network by serving as the conduit of state and federal funds, setting and monitoring standards, providing training, leading a statewide volunteer recruitment campaign, advocating for public policy and more. Texas CASA is committed to connecting child welfare stakeholders and the CASA network to support initiatives for children and families in the child welfare system.

Contact: Madi Donham, External Communications Manager
Phone: 281-750-9117
Email: mdonham@texascasa.org