CASA looking for volunteers to serve local children

Local Court Appointed Special Advocates are collecting donated toys for abused and neglected children they work with, but some children will not receive a toy because many many lack a CASA, said Mark Douglass, executive director of CASA of Hill County.

CASA of Hill County, which also serves children in Blaine, Chouteau, Philips and Valley counties, has a shortage of volunteers.

"Right now we have almost 100 kids from Fort Benton to Glasgow without a CASA," Douglass said.

Volunteers are picking up the toys, 500 donated by Toy Industry Foundation, to give to the children, something that allows the children with whom they work to have the childhood experience of play they otherwise might not have. But, Douglass said, he needs more volunteers to give help to more children.

The area has 15 CASAs and 12 between cases, he said, adding that another 10 to 15 are likely needed.

A reason for the lack of volunteers, Douglass said, might be that people are uncomfortable talking about child abuse.

He said that as executive director he often jokes that his job is convincing people to sacrifice fishing time on the weekends to work with broken families.

"It's something that is very difficult, but also very rewarding," he said.

The work CASAs do is important, Douglas said, citing studies that show children who have experienced traumatic events in their lives such as instances of abuse face challenges that stay with them well into adulthood. Douglass said one of the best ways to mitigate those traumatic experiences in children is for them to have an interested adult who can provide them with attention.

"And that is exactly what we do as CASAs, we are there for the child and hopefully we are mitigating those effects of trauma and mitigating the effects to society that come down the road," Douglass said.

Douglass said a CASA will meet with the adults in a child's life including parents, foster families, social workers, teachers and other professionals and then, based on their findings, advise the court about what the best interests are of the children they represent.

"We are asked to get to know a child's specific situation and individual circumstances to the point we can make that kind of recommendation, a fact-based recommendation," he said.

CASAs must undergo training. All CASAs, Douglass said, must go through 30 hours of preservice training and then an additional 12 hours each year.

Volunteers typically exceed those requirements during their first year of service, with many volunteers doing 40 to 50 hours of preservice training, Douglass said.

The only requirements for somebody to become a CASA is that they must be at least 21 years old and not have a criminal record with any child-related or violent offenses.

He said people can fill out an application and register for training by contacting CASA of Hill County by calling 265-6743 or by email at [email protected].

A six to eight week-long training course for people interested in becoming a CASA will begin Monday Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. at HRDC District 4.

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CASAs are distributing and picking gifts to children from a donation of more than 500 toys, through a partnership between National CASA and the Toy Industry Foundation.