Court Appointed Special Advocates
I cant say that I was really aware of this organization until I got an email from someone at CASA-Nashville yesterday. I did want to bring them to your attention though, if you live in the Nashville area:
I work with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Nashville, Tennessee. We are a nonprofit organization that provides trained community volunteers as Special Advocates for abused or neglected children whose cases are currently in the court system. As you know, it is a huge challenge to serve all the children in our area who need a voice in court and a caring mentor. Last year, we were able to serve over 600 children, but 2300 cases of abuse and neglect came through the Davidson County court.
To raise awareness of child abuse and recruit more dedicated volunteers, we recently began a fundraising campaign in partnership with Network for Good.
We have a donation “badge” online for individual donors (http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=108465), and we are entered in a contest to recruit the most unique donors to our badge, for the chance to win $50,000. This would make a huge difference in serving many more children who badly need a safe, permanent, nurturing home!
If you are interested in assisting our effort, or simply in learning more about CASA, please visit our website at www.casa-nashville.org.
If you don’t live in Nashville and want to make a donation to your local group you can check the National website for a group near you. I never had to go through Family Court or Protective Services myself, but I can only imagine how difficult that would be to deal with at such a young age. It’s nice to know that there are people out there willing to help kids in that situation.
the GAL (Guardian Ad Litem) program is the “sister” type program of CASA – very similar. I was trained in that in law school and involved in several cases. They really value their volunteers and I’d encourage people to get involved however they can.
Thanks for listing us, Mike! And yes, I would encourage those interested in finding and contacting their local CASA program – they are all over the country. As both a staff member and a volunteer Advocate, I have found CASA to be an incredible resource and a great way to really make a difference.
I was a CASA here in Colorado for about a year and a half. I was very impressed with the CASA and GAL people. They’re doing their best to help within a system that can be frustrating and frightening to navigate, to say the least.