CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocates

October 7, 2010

Friends, I try to keep this website upbeat and happy so you’ll be entertained every time you stop by.  But sometimes, I’m alerted to something so important that could have big and lasting impact on children, and I just know it’s the right thing to share it with you.   Many thanks to Dear Reader Sarah F. who wrote the following:

Be the Difference Between Abuse and Hope

“To give a child a CASA is to give them a voice.
To give them a voice is to give them hope,
and to give them hope is to give them the world.”
–Pamela Butler, former foster child

Millions of children in this country lack a safe, permanent home through no fault of their own; they are merely victims of parental abuse and neglect.  If people had to prioritize spending or attention to victims of all kinds in this country, surely most people would place abused children near the top, because they truly have no advocates when their parents or guardians are their abusers.  Nobody to hear their story, to believe them, to fight on their behalf, to explain court proceedings, to make them feel safe in a world that has so terribly let them down already.  Fortunately, there is an organization that can help in such dire circumstances, CASA.  CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates and is comprised of a virtual army of volunteer citizens appointed by judges to serve as advocates for children that have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect.  These volunteers advocate for the well-being and safety of their charges by meeting with them regularly to establish a mutually trusting relationship, bond with them through activities and hold their hands while helping them navigate the court system as they move through it.  A CASA volunteer is a stable, loving someone that follows a child from foster home to foster home and, oftentimes, ends up being the ONLY consistent, trusted adult in an abused child’s life.  Child abuse is a travesty that is easily ignored because unspeakable acts of violence toward children are so difficult to understand and so hard to accept as reality.  It is someone’s reality.  Every day.  Helping abused children helps everybody in their community.  The cycle of abuse from generation to generation is hard to break and any efforts to pull families out of it are really and truly efforts to make EVERYONE safer in a community.  If everyone who is privileged enough to have never experienced abuse as a child helped to fund just one CASA volunteer, in honor of their own luck and good fortune, what a wonderful world it would be.

You can choose to support CASA on a personal level, benefiting children in your own town or city.   Most counties in the country have a CASA organization, search for one in your are on the national website:  http://www.casaforchildren.org You might be surprised by the ways you can help; it doesn’t have to be a monetary donations.  A simple call to the director of the CASA in your area could yield a wish list for tangible, used items for you to help fulfill at your next play date, ladies night out, cub scout meeting, whatever.  Maybe you know someone with an empty nest looking for a way to give back in the community that you think would be a perfect fit for this organization- just reaching out with the suggestion would be a tremendous help.  Your CASA might need manpower for an upcoming event, or simply someone to just help spread the word about the work they do.  There is certainly a way for everyone to help.

The Good Stuff Guide will donate $100 and I hope you’ll consider this organization as part of your year-end giving too.

Many thanks to Sarah F. for bringing this organization to our attention.

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Category: For Kids
Tags: CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates |