The 36th Judicial Circuit CASA /GAL program has been awarded a $40,000 Mentoring Grant from the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem Association for Children.
Funds will be used to recruit, train and assign new volunteers to represent the best interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect, said the circuit’s program director Judith Moss.
Along with recruiting and training new volunteers, program officials have hired Dale Kennedy as a part-time volunteer coordinator, Moss said.
Kennedy was raised in the area and is a retired educator. Moss said she is looking forward to working with Kennedy on the program, which is growing.
Presently, the program has 27 CASA volunteers and a class is being conducted to train eight additional volunteers.
“We have approximately 300 kids in foster care and our goal is for everyone to have a CASA volunteer,” Moss said. “Right now, we are serving a third of them.”
Work done under the mentoring grant will target key populations such as American Indian/Alaska Native, rural and opioid-impacted youth.
There are nearly 950 CASA/GAL programs nationwide, including 48 state offices, supporting volunteers who work on behalf of children in the child welfare system. Their advocacy enables judges to make the most well-informed decisions for each child, according to members.
The mentoring grant will enable the local program to focus on advocating for the needs of at-risk and underserved youth, according to Moss. Volunteers will also mentor youth, helping them increase their level of connectivity with community and family, improve educational outcomes and reach stable placements.
The federal grant funds distributed through National/CASA/GAL are provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, as authorized under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990. In 2018, National CASA/GAL was awarded nearly $410 million in federal grants.
The primary goal is to get the child into a safe, permanent home, while providing the child with a voice in the court system.
Anyone interested in learning more about CASA or volunteering with the program may call 573-776-7830.
Moss said a volunteer gives five to 10 hours a month to advocate for an abused or neglected child. Learn more about CASA at thecrc.org.