More volunteers needed. Let’s strengthen our community by advocating for abused and neglected children in Tama County and surrounding areas.

Right here in our local communities, abused and neglected children live in the shadows. She may be the little girl in your son’s kindergarten class who had to move homes and change schools three or four times in the last year. He may be the lonely child at the park who doesn’t join the game.

The foster care and child welfare system is full of compassionate lawyers, judges, social workers and foster families who are challenged by the high number of children in the foster care system and sometimes the child’s voice gets lost in the process. For example, the little girl who is suffering from an abusive home and enters the foster care system might have three or four different placements in just a few months. Or a set of siblings losing their mother to incarceration, might be separated and end up living on different sides of the same county. These children are unable to defend their own rights. But a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer can!

The Iowa CASA Program trains and supports volunteers – people like you and me – to speak and act as advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children. They are trained to work within the child welfare and family court systems and are appointed by judges to individual cases. With the help of a CASA volunteer, a child is half as likely to languish in foster care, and that much more likely to find a safe and permanent home.

As of October 2018, over 30 abused and neglected children in Tama County were under DHS supervision and in an out-of-home placement. Only 13 percent of these children currently have the benefit of a CASA. By dedicating about 10 hours a month, a CASA can help ensure the safety and well-being of a child going through the juvenile court process.

The CASA program is making it a priority to increase the number of trained citizen volunteers who will be a voice for children and advocate in their best interest. Local training sessions for new advocates will be held in February 2019.