4/5/07

By Ashley Wilrich
The University Star

Every day, children experience abusive situations and are forced to be taken away from their guardian. Some of these children are moved many times, without having a permanent home.

Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children of Central Texas extends throughout Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe and Hays Counties. The organization assigns advocates to children who have been taken out of abusive or unhealthy situations. Volunteers are appointed by a judge and assigned a specific child to look after. Norma Castilla-Blackwell, executive director of CASA of Central Texas, works along with the rest of the staff to ensure volunteers are well trained and able to make a difference in the child’s life.

“We advocate for abused children in the court system, by recruiting, training and supporting community volunteers,” Blackwell said.

The CASA volunteer is always present at the assigned child’s hearing to keep the judge up to date about their situation and progress.

CASA volunteers must be at least 21 years old and go through extensive training to learn about dealing with the different cases.

“The potential volunteers have to go through two background checks, an interview by the volunteer coordinator and 40 hours of training,” Blackwell said.

They must be prepared to deal with situations such as abuse or neglect. The training covers what it means to be a volunteer, the court system and CASA’s role in the court. Blackwell said the volunteer must learn to understand children and families, the out of home placement process and the role of child protective services. Potential volunteers are given the opportunity to hear from a current advocate, who explains the importance of CASA. After going through the training, the volunteer must observe in court to see how the actual process works.

When the volunteer becomes an advocate, they are assigned a child to watch over. These volunteers stay with the children throughout the time they are placed in foster care, and up until they are adopted.

Debbie Haynes, volunteer coordinator, interviews and selects the new advocates. The volunteers must visit with the child’s foster parents to see how they are doing in a new household and with the children’s teachers to ensure the educational needs are being met. Haynes said they visit with the child’s neighbors and doctors as well. According to the media kit given to potential volunteers, the advocates offer the children what no one else can: consistency and continuity in the midst of all the chaos.

When a child is up for adoption, the CASA volunteers are present at the court case along with caseworkers and attorneys.

CASA recently organized a 5k marathon, Speak up for Kids.

“The marathon raised awareness and money for CASA,” Blackwell said. “It was also the first to kick off a series of marathons around Texas.”

The staff of CASA has also begun to plan for their annual fundraising dinner event Oct. 13.

http://star.txstate.edu/content/view/3068/