The Carmi Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed CASA to White County Wednesday afternoon with a ribbon cutting in the main courtroom of the courthouse. Chamber members, city officials, and Second Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Melissa Morgan along with Resident Judge T. Scott Webb joined with CASA staff for a photo opportunity. Mariah Hayes, the Executive Director of the 11 county program says she’s glad to have been able to expand into White County and explained the mission.
We are very grateful to be here in White County kicking this off as a ribbon cutting. I’m thankful for the Chamber and the court, especially for the chief judge to join us because I know she’s got a busy schedule. So, CASA…we advocate for children who are abused and neglected. We need volunteers to help us in this community; we’re looking to partner with people to help us through that time.
Learn more about CASA in White County at Open Line ON DEMAND – CASA Comes to White County – WRUL-FM
Webb had this to add saying he was looking forward to seeing the relationship make a difference for youth.
Honestly, I’ve watched CASA in other counties, even other states…I think it’s pretty well nationwide and I often times wondered why we didn’t have it. It was always a resource I was always hoping to get someday. Chief Judge [Morgan]…I don’t remember, when was it…last fall some time approached me and I was all for it. It gives the kids that voice. We have a lot of juvenile neglect cases where sometimes we don’t even see the kids. They have a Guardian ad Litem and they meet with them, but it gives them an extra special voice in the system that they wouldn’t ordinarily otherwise have. It’s been good. We’ve worked well together. We’ve enjoyed having them in court and we look forward to having others in court as well as we move forward. But, as she says, it takes volunteers. It takes people willing to…I mean you find these kids in not the best situations. It’s probably the worst situations of their lives. You have to kind of know that going in. It takes a special kind of person to work with that sort of young person. They do a very good job and we’ve been very well pleased in what we’ve had so far and look to have a continued great relationship with them.
You can learn more about Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children at https://casa4change.org/.
