Children need you to serve as their advocates

To the Editor:

April has been designated as the Month of the Child, and many agencies and groups have held activities to celebrate and raise the awareness of the issues affecting children in the community throughout the month.

It is my sincere hope that we can view the other 11 months of the year as the same and never allow children to be far from our hearts and minds. As times get tough for adults, children are affected more. Poverty and the inability of families to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing for their children often result in more stress and violence, abuse and neglect.

Jackson County is served by an organization, Advocates for Children, which recruits and trains volunteers, better known as Court Appointed Special Advocates, to work directly with and for the children who become caught up in "the system" as a result of that violence, abuse and neglect. A CASA volunteer serves as the single solely dedicated voice for the child's best interest and assists the courts in getting crucial information to help resolve these cases. The volunteer also helps the child understand what is happening. The CASA volunteer is a caring adult, not a lawyer; just an ordinary, caring, trained individual assigned to a case and supported by professional case managers. CASAs spend about 10 hours a month on their case after the initial 40 hours of training. Jackson County has 70 children being served by 17 CASA volunteers but also has 52 children on the waiting list - waiting for a caring individual to help them make sense of what has happened to them.

So in this month where we traditionally focus on the importance of eliminating child abuse and neglect, let's also take the time to thank those persons in the community who have already signed up and are working for our community's most precious resource, our children. Please consider celebrating the child all year long by becoming a CASA volunteer.

For information on this opportunity to serve the children of Jackson County, contact the staff at Advocates for Children, (877) 604-9402 toll-free. The whole community needs you.

Lin Montgomery
Court Appointed Special Advocate, volunteer and board member
Seymour, Ind.