The Monroe County branch of Court Appointed Special Advocates is seeking new volunteers to advocate for a child’s well-being in cases under investigation by the Department of Child Services.
Volunteer advocates attend court sessions and report their observations and opinions concerning the child’s welfare.
Anyone age 21 and above is eligible to volunteer after undergoing preliminary training.
“We need someone who is dependable and who has common sense,” Executive Director of the Monroe County CASA Kristin Bishay said. “People don’t have to have knowledge of the welfare system or even of child development, we’re here to be that resource for them.”
Cases handled by CASA volunteers are typically long, which is why the organization asks for at least a two-year commitment from volunteers.
The training process consists of 33 hours and there are two options when it comes to completing it, Bishay said.
The first option is to have the training spread over two weekends — Feb. 19 through Feb. 21 and March 4 through March 6 — with a break weekend in between. The other option is to spread the training over four weeks, which extend from May 16 through June 6.
The training is meant to prepare volunteers for the real scenarios they encounter. It is common for someone to drop out during training because he or she realized that the level of commitment or necessary emotional fortitude was not for him or her, Bishay said.
However, many do complete the training and become CASA volunteer advocates, like Gary Friedman.
“It changes your perspective on life in a lot of ways, at least mine,” Friedman said. “There’s an automatic assumption that ‘what I think is correct’ that we all have in our lives, and to get yourself to the point where you can look at another side of something or remove your own inborn prejudices, it’s sometimes difficult to do. With CASA and seeing people in circumstances, both the parents and the children, it slaps you in the face.”
Friedman said he has been a CASA volunteer advocate for seven years, and has handled a total of seven cases.
He said volunteering for CASA is not for everybody, but one just has to think rationally and know the support system in place is strong.
This is a rare opportunity to do something and to see tangible results, Friedman said, and it has allowed his empathy for others to become practical and useful.
There are approximately 1,000 CASA centers throughout 49 states, according to the CASA website.
“The state of Indiana has the highest threshold to meet to be considered abused or neglected,” Bishay said. “It is easier to be prosecuted for animal abuse than child abuse in Indiana.”
In Monroe County, there are 85 children still waiting for an advocate, Bishay said. When sworn in by a judge, Bishay said advocates are told they have joined an elite group of volunteers.
Monroe County Seventh Circuit Court judge Stephen Galvin said CASA volunteers are often the difference for a child and family between a good outcome and a poor outcome.
Another volunteer advocate, Jennifer McBride, has been with CASA for almost six years. Before volunteering, McBride had an extensive background in social work.
Friedman and McBride are both parents. Friedman said his children have been a helpful factor for his CASA volunteering.
McBride said she knows what it’s like to be a parent and it inspires her to help the kids she has been assigned to.
“The underlying thing with all of this is that, even though there are situations that are difficult and there are decisions that you have to make that are difficult, ultimately you’re making decisions that are in the best interest of the child that you are dealing with,” McBride said.
