INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A juvenile court judge is asking Marion County residents to help support local children whose parents are addicted to heroin.

Judge Marilyn Moores made a public plea Tuesday for people to volunteer as foster parents and Court Appointed Special Advocates. She and other officials have launched a campaign called “We Care about Indy's Kids'' in an effort to help children in need of welfare services.

Moores said at the press conference that Indianapolis is “drowning in a sea of heroin,'' and children are suffering from the drug use.

Her court saw a 45 percent increase in cases involving abused and neglected children between 2013 and 2014. Moores said many of those cases involved parents who are heroin addicts.

She said she expected heroin-related cases to rise in her court.