CASA gains three volunteers, but needs more
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Children-Texarkana appointed three new Bowie County advocates on Monday, but they are still in need of many more volunteers to reach the amount of children who are in need of service.
Bridget Mata, Sandra Johnson and Eden Young were all appointed as CASA advocates by Bowie County Judge Craig Henry earlier this week after going through a screening and training process. They will now be assigned a case where they will assist a child through the journey of foster care.
Executive Director Brandy Eldridge said she is thankful for the time and effort these new advocates are willing to put in, but that the children they serve still far outweigh the number of volunteers they have available.
“We have 92 children without advocates right now,” Eldridge said. “We have 177 children that we’re serving, and we have 84 volunteers. We need at least 27 more volunteers.”
CASA serves children in both Texas and Arkansas, but the majority of the children currently in need of advocates are in Arkansas counties.
Eldridge said they’re seeing an uptick in local child abuse right now, so committed volunteers are in high demand.
“What we really look for is someone who has the time to do it and has the capacity to do it,” she said. “It takes people from all walks of life. There isn’t a certain person we look for. We have people who are attorneys, teachers, stay-at-home moms and people who are retired. We have people who are married, single or widowed. We just look for someone who wants to do this and can make the time that it takes to work with that child and all the related partners.”
On average, a case can last about 18 months. And CASA looks for their advocates to spend about 10 hours a month checking in on kids, their foster families and their schools, in order to get all the information they need to be of the utmost assistance.
“It’s a different type of volunteering because it’s longterm volunteering,” Eldridge said. “It’s ongoing, and it’s emotional. You’re working with children who have suffered from abuse or neglect and trying to give them these opportunities to thrive and make it through some of the most horrific circumstances that a child did not deserve.”
Eldridge said she is hopeful that CASA will find more people to help because the community is giving and aware.