Starke County CASA Classes

CASA Training Classes Start in September

Former Foster Child Sworn In as Starke County CASA

Posted on July 7, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI 

Starke County’s newest Court Appointed Special Advocate to help kids at risk of abuse and neglect through the court system is already very familiar with the process. Brianna Fletcher was a foster child herself, not too long ago. “When I was nine years old, I was placed into foster care and taken away from my family and actually bounced around several different foster homes – six of them – until I found my forever family here in Knox,” she says. “And after eight months of living there, I got adopted.”

Now, she’s pursuing a college degree in Behavioral Science, and is considering a career in social work or counseling. Fletcher says the CASA program fits well with her careers plans, while her experiences as a foster child mean she’ll have a unique perspective, “I’ll be able to relate to the kids differently than some other CASAs will, and I just look forward to having my first case and being an advocate to the program.”

Fletcher was sworn into Starke County’s CASA program during a ceremony Wednesday, after reaching the required age of 21. Starke County CASA Director Rhonda Adcock says Fletcher will be put to work straight away, due to the rising need for advocates. “The last time I counted, we had 116 Starke County children in care,” Adcock says. “Now, we have 28 CASAs, and they’re spread among all of those children. We have a few that are on the waiting list. We’re probably three months behind on children who need a CASA that don’t yet have a CASA, which we hate to be in that position.”

As their primary duty, CASAs make recommendations to the court, based on the wishes and best interests of the child. Each volunteer attends a nine-week training class and goes through several rounds of background checks.

Adcock says the program is currently taking applications for the next CASA class, which will start in September. For more information, visit the Starke County CASA web page or call 574-772-7200.

Starke County CASA Receives National Certification

Posted onJanuary 29, 2016AuthorMichael Gallenberger

 

A program to help abused and neglected kids in Starke County through the court system has gotten national certification. The Starke County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program is made up of volunteers who give of their time to help these children.

Director Rhonda Adcock says the advocates help the court make the best decisions. “As CASAs, we have two concerns, and these two concerns are always our priority and our only priority,” she says. “First of all is the wishes of the child. Whatever the child wants, it’s our responsibility to report that to the court. Now sometimes, that’s the same as our second thing, which is the best interest of the child. So, if their wishes and best interests are the same, then we report that. If not, we report what the wishes of the child are and also what we believe is in the best interest of that child.”

That often involves going out and gathering information by spending time with the child and possibly talking to parents, foster parents, or teachers. Adcock says CASAs then use all that information to compile a report for the judge, “The judge takes those very seriously. He reads each of them and considers them. They carry a lot of weight because this is a volunteer who’s not getting paid for what they’re doing. The volunteer is just in it for the benefit of the child, so the CASA report can be a very powerful thing in the life of a child, as far as making a difference.”

As proof that the Starke County program is providing a quality advocacy for these children, Adcock says it’s now been certified by the National CASA Association, “They have a long series of standards that we have to meet. They’re pretty high, and even though Starke County’s kind of remote and a smaller county, we believe that the children that we serve are worthy of the best volunteers, the best volunteer CASA program that we can get them.”

She says to keep the certification, the Starke County program will have to go through all of its policies and programs every four years to make sure they continue to meet the national standards. Meanwhile, the organization continues to be certified at the state level.

For more information or to volunteer, visit casaforchildren.org or contact Starke County CASA at starkecountycasa@yahoo.com or 574-772-7200.

Help a Child and Serve Your Community Simultaneously with CASA

Published: June 10, 2015

By: Jacque Ryan, WKVI

Neglected and abused children across Starke County are frequently removed from their homes because their parents cannot or will not properly take care of them. The Starke County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program provides those children with caring volunteers who serve as a voice and guiding hand in the court system. The advocates work to help find safe and permanent living situations for the child they’re assigned to. Right now the program is short staffed and looking for some extra helping hands to join up and attend their instructive course this fall.

The director of the program Rhonda Adcock said unfortunately they have more kids than helpers at the moment.

“Right now we have 25 CASAs serving in our community and we could probably use another ten more. For the first time ever in our program in the last three months we’ve currently started holding a waiting list. Which means a child doesn’t get a CASA just as soon as they come into court. That’s what we like, we like for the CASA to be in there right from the beginning, to be at the very first court hearing and be able to advocate all the way through and now we’re running probably about three months behind. So it’s really a critical time for our current CASA program to have this class to be able to recruit more helpers”

The process to get involved is fairly simple and essentially free when you dedicate a year to the CASA program.

Adcock explained, “In order to be part of our fall class we would need whoever is interested to get an application, that’s the first process and we can email that out our send that out which ever they prefer and they return the application and then we start the background check process which probably takes about three weeks. The only thing that costs money is the finger prints which is about I think $35 and that is reimbursed to them after one year of CASA service”

You can receive your application by either calling the office at (574)-772-7200 or sending an email to starkecountycasa@yahoo.com. The deadline for application submission is July 28. They are searching for ordinary people who want to do extraordinary things. Be the guiding light in a child’s life and contact CASA today.