CASA Highlights
CASAblanca - August 27th, 7-11 pm - Click Here for Details.
8-27-11
CASAblanca - CASA of the Heartland is excited to announce the details of our second annual Casablanca evening. This exciting event is our major fundraiser for the year, and we expect a large crowd. Please contact the CASA office or Kelly Emerine at kellyemerine@gmail.com to reserve your tickets!
Date: August 27th
Time: 7-11 pm
Location: The American Legion, Post 113
Attire: Formal or Period Attire appropriate for the Casablanca Era
Details:
Heavy Hors d' ouerves and a Cash Bar
Entertainment-Live music from The Derek Monzon Trio for dancing
Casino Night
Silent Auction
Cost: Tickets are $40 each
We hope to see you there!
Nolin RECC donates $1,000 from Operation Round Up
Nolin Operation Round-Up Grant - awarded $1000 to CASA for a projector to use for volunteer training.
Successful Daylily Sale - click here
June 25, 2011
Our CASA daylily sale on June 25 yielded $1,500 towards helping CASA advocate for abused children in Hardin County Family Court.
Many thanks to all of you who donated your considerable time, energy, and resources to dig, shake, cut and separate fans, snip tops, pack lilies in bags, secure our market venues, transport the lilies to market, and sell the lilies. If you bought lilies, many thanks to you as well.
The Hardin County Farmers' Market, the bowling alley flea market, and The News-Enterpise donated sales space to CASA, plus The News-Enterprise ran an ad, which many people sited as their way of learning about the sale.
I'm proud to live in a wonderful community of compassionate, hardworking souls who care about the future of our children.
New Advocate training classes - click here.
7-11-11
New Advocate training classes are scheduled for August 22nd - September 1st. Contact the CASA Office at 270-982-2272 for more information.
National CASA awarded CASA of the Heartland $34,500 for the 2011-2012 grant period. This is the second year in a row we have received this competitive grant! Click for Details
On May 24, 2011, we were notified that we had been approved for a National CASA New Program Development grant award in the amount of $34,500. Since we are required to provide paid professional staff to support our volunteer Advocates, we have been able to increase the number of children we are able to serve at this time.
CASA receives United Way Grant in the amount of $20,000
In March 2011, CASA of the Heartland was notified that we had been approved for a United Way grant in the amount of $20,000. We were told that the Community Investment Team and the Board of Directors of United Way of Central Kentucky had unanimously agreed that CASA represents a strong investment of donor contributions.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is Child Abuse Pevention Month - PLEASE support CASA and donate!
New CASA Advocates Sworn in
New Advocates sworn in by Judge Addington & Judge Hall.
Column: Reach out to Hardin County kids
Justin age 12, is wearing a long-sleeve shirt and long pants on a hot day. His whole body aches, especially his right hand, and he's extremely tired. He slouches at his desk, dozes and watches the clock on the classroom wall. The teacher calls on him to answer a question. He has no idea how to respond; he's not interested. He's missed a lot of school days, been held back a grade, is behind in his studies and he's moved from school to school.
His temper flares and he gets in a fight every day. He has no friends and no outside activities. All he can think of all day is the dread of going home to his parents drinking, yelling, cursing, throwing things, hitting each other and his Dad going into his little sister Emily's room late at night.
Justin told his new neighbor, Mrs. Johnson, about what goes on in his house, but either she didn't want to get involved or didn't believe him. He's torn. If he tells someone else about the problems, he and Emily will have to go into foster care again- for the third time. Emily might have to go back to the crisis center and the institution she's been in several times before.
He wants to stay with his family even though he doesn't feel safe. He does not want them to be angry with him.
Justin and Emily are ficticious children, however elements of their stories are real and exist in Hardin County. These children become numbered court cases. Their lives and their fate rest with Child Protective Services, our Family Court and Family Court judges.
Court Appointed Special Advocates - CASA- for children is a national organization with state and local affiliates. CASA trains and supports volunteers who are appointed by family court judges to advocate for the best interest of children like Justin and Emily. CASA volunteers act as an extra set of eyes and ears for judges, advocate for safety, stability, and permanency, and serve as the child's voice in court. Children under Family Court protection may change schools, teachers, foster homes, therapists and social workers. The CASA volunteer remains the constant adult in the child's life throughout the court process until the child is in a safe, loving, permanent home.
Because CASA volunteers are sworn in and court-appointed, they are issued court orders that allow access to all records pertaining to the child. The CASA volunteer spends time with the child, researches all available information about the child and the family, interviews persons in the child's life, works with social workers, teachers, foster parents, day care providers and anyone else who is closely involved. The volunteer puts together the pieces of information, writes reports of findings for the judges and makes independent recommendations to the judge based on the findings.
Kentucky is No. 1 in the nation for child deaths related to abuse and neglect, according to a study by Every Child Matters Education Fund, a Washington-based child advocacy group. Yet state and federal budget cuts have reduced social services for children in Kentucky. Tight family budgets leave children like Justin and Emily even more vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
In addition, Kentucky is one of six states that does not fund CASA programs. The current economic downturn and budget shortfalls make CASA volunteers even more vital as a safety net for Hardin County's at-risk children.
CASA of the Heartland can help children like Justin and Emily, but we must have community support. We must raise at least half our annual budget of $67,000 in order to be eligible for grants. For every full-time staff member, CASA can support 30 volunteers and 45 children. At any given time, Hardin County Family Court dockets include between 300 and 400 children.
Please help CASA of the Heartland fulfill the goal of providing a CASA volunteer and a voice for each child in our family court system. The need is critical and you can help. Here's what you can do:
- Donate $1,000 to give a child a voice in Court, and receive quarterly updates on your child.
- Donate any amount of financial support to CASA of the Heartland. Every dollar counts towards ending child abuse in Hardin County.
- Volunteer to become a child advocate.
- Volunteer professional services or products.
- Invite CASA representatives to present a program to your community organization or business.
For more information call the CASA office at (270) 982-2272 or send donations to:
CASA of the Heartland, P.O. Box 6065, Elizabethtown, KY 42702
The Rev. Alice Nichols is a chairwoman of CASA of the Heartland's board of directors and rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Elizabethtown.
CASA vols return to Hardin courts- Absent for years, oversight welcomed behind closed doors
The needs are great, but when children's lives can be significantly improved, potential rewards are even greater.
Having been absent from courtrooms in Hardin Family Court for most of this decade, the Hardin County chapter of Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, now has volunteers appointed to children whose families have legal proceedings underway.
The volunteers' mission: observe the child's family relationships and home life, then present the court with an unbiased opinion on what steps might best suit the child's needs.
Acting like the eyes and ears of the court, a CASA volunteer can make recommendations about who cares best for the child and where the child is best nurtured emotionally, physically and mentally.
Ellen Mink- vice-chair of the Hardin County CASA chapter, said the group currently has 10 volunteers, but confirmed that many more are needed. Volunteers advocate for one child at a time, so for each child in need of an advocate, an additional volunteer is needed.
The need is plentiful, according to CASA reps.
"While the number of chicldren in the system fluctuates, it's always large," Mink said. "Ideally we'll be able to have volunteers available to serve nearly 100 percent of the need. This is the vision of our strategic plan."
To fully meet the need, Mink said the chapter's goal is to increase its advocate base by 80 percent. An upcoming training cycle, in January and February of 2010, should help attract and train more volunteers, she said.
The more volunteers CASA has, the more children can be served.
Advocates receive no pay, and part of the reasoning behind that is to ensure CASA volunteers stay true and unbiased about what's best for the child.
Judges said prosecutors rarely have an opportunity to witness the lives of the families they deal with in court.
To enable the court to make more informed decision, CASA volunteers spend time with the children and get to know the family.
The aim is to help children live fulfilling, nurturing, happy and healthy lives.
Oversight welcome in Hardin County. Multiple reports from governmental and non-governmental, non-profit groups show Hardin County, like other Kentucky counties, is in need of help to ensure child welfare.
Since doors to family and juvenile courts are closed to the public and media, oversight of child welfare cases can only be conducted by persons allowed in the court, such as CASA volunteers.
Child welfare has been a sore issue for Hardin County, and most of Kentucky, in recent years.
In a July 2007 letter to Kentucky's Cabinet for Health & Human Services, NICYF's director David Richart pointed out even more problems with child services. The letter accused social workers of "demonizing" families, having no accountability and denying the trauma children suffer when removed from their parents.
That same year, another nonprofit child welfare group, The National Assoication of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies, ranked Kentucky 49th in its annual "We Can Do Better" report on child services.
Last month, a new report from the same group ranked Kentucky worst in the nation for frequency of child abuse.
CASA was absent from Hardin Family Courts when reports claimed Kentucky and Hardin County child welfare services failed to serve families and protect children for years. A previous Hardin County CASA chapter folded prior to those reports being released. Current volunteers say the previous chapter died becuase of financial mismanagement.
An outspoken proponent of opening family and juvenile cases to public scrutiny and oversight, Hardin Family Court Judge M. Brent Hall said in a recent interview that children in the county's court system should be able to benefit from CASA volunteers.
Two and half years ago, Kentucky's Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated ethical and administrative problems within Hardin County's Department of Community-Based Services (DCBS). A report on that investigation substantiated some alarming problems.
The OIG investigation followed a scathing January 2006 report about child welfare in Hardin County entitled "The Other Kentucky Lottery." The report was compiled by the National Institute on Children, Youth & Families, Inc. (NICYF).
"The Other Kentucky Lottery" accused Hardin County social workers and their supervisors of fast tracking adoptions and removing children from their parents without cause.
CASA of the Heartland holds fundraiser at Cali's Burritos
From right, Cordelia Ball, secretary; Marie Colasanti, chair; Stephen and Jennifer West, owners of Cali's Burritos; Terri Thomas, board member; Carol Cantwell, treasurer; and Lucy Dunford, board member.
CASA of the Heartland recently held a fundraiser at Cali's Burritos. A percentage of the profits went to help the non-profit organization. For more information about CASA of the Heartland, 982-2272.
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