CASA program seeks volunteers to help children

It’s not an easy reality to deal with, but our courts and the Department of Child Services are flooded with cases of abused and neglected children.

When those cases reach the court, another team of people is needed — Court-Appointed Special Advocates, or CASAs.

The Putnam County Youth Development Commission CASA program, known nationally as CASA, has been given the mandate to provide well-trained competent volunteers with objectivity and commitment to serve as a voice for these children.

In many local cases, the children are in the system due to substance abuse on the part of their parents.

“Our biggest issue is substance abuse,” CASA Volunteer Coordinator Allison Creekmore-Long said. “With our community continuing to struggle with substance abuse, we continue to have CHINS cases and continue to need CASAs.”

Other common issues that lead to children in the DCS system include abuse, sexual abuse and other cases of neglect.

While the local CASA program currently has about 40 volunteers, all of them are currently working on cases — two or three cases for some of them — so there is always a need for new volunteers who may be a fit for the program.

“We decided to try something different and organize and host a CASA volunteer informational session,” CASA Volunteer Coordinator Allison Creekmore-Long said.

The informational meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21 at the PCYDC office, 10-1/2 N. Jackson St., Greencastle.

Creekmore-Long described it as an informal session to simply give potential CASAs a bit about “who we are, what we do, why it’s important and if it fits you.”

“This is the perfect opportunity for people who have heard of CASA and wondered if it is something they might do,” Creekmore-Long said.

The main responsibility of CASA volunteers is to invest their time and energy to know the needs and wants of the child they represent. The CASA volunteer strives to make sure that each child is in a safe, permanent home, and that the child’s best interest is sought by all individuals involved in the child’s life.

The CASA volunteer represents the child’s interests in all court proceedings.

The moment a DCS case is taken to court, the child involved becomes a Child In Need of Services (CHINS), which means CASAs get involved.

“When the courts get involved, the CASA program gets appointed,” Creekmore-Long said, “but that doesn’t mean we have a volunteer.”

However, the CASA program isn’t looking for just any volunteers, but the right volunteers to see things through for these children in need. In the interest of this, they try to match a volunteer’s strengths with the particulars of a case. Some CASAs are good with teenagers, others with substance-abuse cases, others with small children.

Creekmore-Long said it is important that the program also meet the needs of the volunteers.

“You have hundreds of places you can go to give of your time,” she said. “So if we do not provide a meaningful experience, you’re going to go somewhere else.”

To become a CASA, volunteers must be at least 21 years old, pass a background check and complete 30 hours of training. Beyond this, CASAs come from all walks of life, including young people just out of college, retirees and working people with children of their own at home.

A training session is also coming up beginning on March 3. The 30 hours of training includes courtroom procedure, child development and the juvenile justice system. Volunteers are given training in the general operations of the Indiana Department of Child Services, the state agency mandated to investigate the calls of suspected abuse and neglect of our local children.

Creekmore-Long added that it is important for a CASA to balance what he or she sees as the child’s best interest with what the child desires. Both factors are important. She shared what she tells the children she represents.

“I will be your voice but I’m not always going to think it’s in your best interest,” Creekmore-Long said. “I’ll tell the judge what you say but I’ll also share what I believe is in your best interest. I’m obligated to share both.”

Most of all, the focus should be on finding a permanent solution for the child.

“The focus of CASAs is to monitor the case and always look out for the safety, the permanency and the well-being of the child,” Creekmore-Long said. “We don’t want kids languishing in the system, so permanency is always the main goal, whether that means back at home or in a long-term home elsewhere.”

Anyone interested in the CASA informational session or the volunteer training should contact Patti Harmless at pharmless-casa@pcydc.org, Creekmore-Long at acreekmore-casa@pcydc.org or call the PCYDC office at 653-9342.