CASA of Gila County
The CASA of Gila County program is in dire need of additional volunteers to serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates for children in Gila County communities. Currently, there are eighty children in out of home care in Gila County. This means there are eighty children who have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care, kinship care, or a group home. These children were removed from the home they know due to abuse or neglect at absolutely no fault of their own.
Actively, the CASA of Gila County program has 11 Court Appointed Special Advocates serving twenty children ranging from newborns to teenagers. That means that we are unable to serve sixty children in Gila County. Our program goal is “an advocate for every child” and we need members of our community to step up to make this goal happen!
As a Court Appointed Special Advocate, the volunteer gets to know a child and their needs. Volunteers meet with the child, the child’s current caregiver, therapists, teachers, and others who directly interact with the child. The CASA learns what is currently going on in the child’s life and forms an objective opinion about what is in that child’s best interest. That opinion is then shared with the judge who oversees the child’s case while they are involved in a dependency case. This gives the judge an opportunity to learn more about what is happening in this child’s day to day life and assists in sharing information with the whole team on what will best serve this child and their future.
A volunteer does not need to have experience in social work or law. The CASA of Gila County will train advocates and provide ongoing support throughout the case. For more information on what a CASA does and how you can be a part of making the difference visit www.CASAofGilaCounty.org today!