CASA of South Central Kentucky in need of volunteers

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – In south central Kentucky, there’s a growing need for people willing to advocate for abused and neglected children.

CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, recruits and trains community volunteers to work with children, many of which have been removed from their home at no fault of their own.

This may include cases such as a police raid at a home where children are removed from their parents’ care.

“As long as you care about kids and want to help these kids, be a constant in their life, because sometimes our volunteers are more of a constant in the life of these children than their own biological parents – which is an unfortunate reality, but it is reality,” said Steve Jones, Advocate Development Specialist at CASA.

Volunteer numbers have declined since the pandemic. In addition, since children were at home more with stressed parents taking on multiple roles of care, abuse cases skyrocketed, said Jones.

Volunteers’ primary job is to be the voice of that child in courtroom hearings, practically all things representing them. They can have more of a direct focus on the child’s case compared to a lawyer or social worker, who may have multiple cases to worry about. Volunteers are assigned one case at a time.

Jones said there are three big myths about volunteering.

The first is that there’s a big time commitment. However, it takes 30 hours to train over several days and only takes 6 to 8 hours a month to volunteer. The second is that background is needed in social services or welfare, but you don’t need this to volunteer since training is provided. The third is that volunteering will involve dangerous situations. However, the child has already been removed from the home and is no longer in danger once a volunteer is involved, said Jones. The parents may be in long-term incarceration or have signed over their parental rights, so there’s normally little contact.

If you want more information or wish to volunteer, you can call 270-782-5353 or email steve@casaofsck.org.