Posted on March 17, 2017
Author Mary Perren, WKVI
A longtime Starke County CASA volunteer says working with abused and neglected youngsters has changed her life. Ivyl Wallace first learned of the Court Appointed Special Advocates program when she saw a call for volunteers in her church bulletin. From there she kept seeing commercials and decided to heed God’s call. That was 10 years and dozens of cases ago.
Wallace said drugs are the main issue she sees as a CASA. She believes most parents want to do better, but says some can’t. Wallace says the CASA in those situations works with the children to try and get the best results for them.
She adds children who wind up in the court system and assigned a CASA volunteer are often bewildered at first.
“The best thing to do is just listen. Children like the one-on-one, and if you just shut up and listen they like to talk about themselves and what’s going on.”
Wallace says signing up to be a CASA is the best thing she’s ever done and adds it’s so much easier than what she was afraid of. She credits the extensive training classes volunteers complete and the support of Starke County CASA Director Rhonda Adcock with making the process a smooth one.
The start date for the next CASA Volunteer training sessions has been pushed back to early April. Visit http://www.co.starke.in.us/index.php/casa/ call 574-772-7200 or email starkecountycasa@yahoo.com for more information.
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