Become a
CASA Volunteer!

Nobody longs for a safe and loving family more than a child in foster care. As a CASA volunteer, you are empowered by the courts to help make this dream a reality. You will be the one consistent adult in these children’s lives, vigilantly fighting for and protecting their fundamental right to be treated with the dignity and respect every child deserves. You will not only bring positive change to the lives of these vulnerable children, but also their children and generations to come. And in doing so, you will enrich your life as well.

What Do CASA Volunteers Do?

CASA volunteers listen first. Then they act.

Volunteers get to know the child by talking with everyone in that child’s life: parents and relatives, foster parents, teachers, medical professionals, attorneys, social workers and others. They use the information they gather to inform judges and others of what the child needs and what will be the best permanent home for them.

Who Can Be a Volunteer?

You do not have to be a lawyer or social worker to be a volunteer. We welcome people from all walks of life. We are simply looking for people who care about children and have common sense. As a volunteer, you will be thoroughly trained and well supported by professional staff to help you through each case.

You must pass a background check, participate in a 30-hour pre-service training course and agree to stay with a case until it is closed (a year and a half on average).

Call 884-2272 or email us for a packet diana@interconnect.net  or visit us on our CASA Web Page. 

March Class:         

Evening Class: Monday/Wednesday

Mar. 4, 6

Mar. 11, 13

Mar. 18, 20

Day Class: Monday/Tuesday/Thursday

Mar. 4, 5, 7

Mar. 11, 12, 14

In picture left to right Judge Brent Chesney, Jesse Avila, Jennifer Knapp, John Cook, Veronica Rippel, Romeo Ramirez, Denise M. Lozano.
February 12, 2013 we welcomed the newest 2013 voices for children in foster care as they graduated from CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) training. County Court at Law #5 Judge Brent was present to swear in the volunteers.  Our children are in need of many more volunteers.  February 2012 we had 27 new volunteers become CASA’s this year we are at 19.   Please help us by sharing this information with friends and families.   Training classes are available monthly for additional information call 884-2272 or visit http://www.casaofthecoastalbend.com
You may also email diana@interconnect.net for an information packet.

What is the Role of the CASA Volunteer?

*Independently investigate the child’s case

*Determine the child’s needs

*Explore Family and Community Resources to meet the child’s needs

*Make recommendations to the court

*Monitor the case

I am for the child who’s had seven addresses in a single year.  Because she’s in foster care.  Because her father abused her.  And because her mother couldn’t believe her.  This is the child I am for.  Because if I am she will be half as likely to languish in foster care, and that much more likely to find a safe permanent home.  I am a Court Appointed

Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer.

Who am I?

I am YOU!

Lift a Childs Voice.  A Child’s Life.

STAND UP FOR A CHILD TODAY!

www.casaofthecoastalbend.com

I am for the child who’s had seven addresses in a single year.  Because she’s in foster care.  Because her father abused her.  And because her mother couldn’t believe her.  This is the child I am for.  Because if I am she will be half as likely to languish in foster care, and that much more likely to find a safe permanent home.  I am a Court Appointed

Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer.

Who am I?

I am YOU!

Lift a Childs Voice.  A Child’s Life.

STAND UP FOR A CHILD TODAY!
Trainings available monthly.  Call 361-884-2272 or email diana@interconnect.net

Picture it.  I am in a surgical office last week with my 16 year old CASA kid.  The sequence of events is: remove 4 wisdom teeth, get braces back on in July, get jaw broken upper and lower in 4 months to fix it.  Sounds easy until you spend 3 million hours with Doctors and Medicaid to get it approved.  But here we go…step one.  She acts like she is going in for a manicure.  I am unglued.  I go into the room after she gets her gown on.  The nurse asks if she had any previous operations.  “Just child birth” she says (at age 14).  The nurse tells her she is about to stick the needle in her hand for the IV.  My heart is pounding.  As the needle goes in, I feel it.  My eyes fill with tears.  I think, “Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip.”  About 30 seconds later she looks over at me and says, “Are you tearing up??”  I say, “No, don’t be silly.”  She says, “Yes you are!  You are tearing up!  What’s wrong??”  I say, “I just don’t want you to feel any more pain…ever.”  She says, “But it doesn’t hurt!  Look!” as she waves her hand.  Then she becomes the adult and says, “You and me gotta have a talk when we get outta here!” 
After the surgery she bounces out like nothing happened; we return to the group home for teen moms and we watch movies all afternoon.  I was exhausted and slept forever.  She stayed up until 4:30 am scrapbooking. 
 I asked her if she planned to put her wisdom teeth under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy.  I wondered if she’d put all 4 or just one. She replied, “I don’t believe in the Tooth Fairy.”  I said, “Don’t be silly….everyone believes in the Tooth Fairy.”  She said, “When I was growing up, I always put a tooth under my pillow.  In the morning the tooth would be gone….and there was nothing under the pillow.”  This kid was raped, sexually assaulted, gotten pregnant, called the police when her Mom was being beaten, and has been in Foster Care for 2 years.  And now this.  No Tooth Fairy. Seriously?
But now for the punch line.  She added, “But my baby will have a Tooth Fairy.”  There it is in a nut shell.  This is what CASA is all about.  It’s about being around to make things go a little smoother in a life most of us can’t even imagine.  It’s making kids believe that there is a better life for them and their own children.  They can break the cycle.  They can change the hand they have been dealt.  They can make a difference in the course of their own life.  They have the power to re-write the end of their story.
We talked about her future plans, with graduating for the first time in her family, with going to college, with future careers.  I told her she could even become President.  She rolled her eyes.  I said, “And when you do, just so you know now…I get my own room at the White House.”  She said I was nuts.  But then about 10 minutes later she said, “If I did become President…we could have an entire room….filled with shoes.”  I laughed out loud.  It was pretty funny.  But the point is, it made her think it was possible.  Even if she only thought that for a minute…it’s a minute of possibility.  That’s what CASA’s do.  Give hope.  Esperanza.

Page Hall

Happy New Year CASA peeps!  I am so excited about beginning our 2013 journey together.  I wish for each and every one of us a prosperous and productive new year filled with family and friends.

 As we set our goals and begin our New Year resolutions, let’s all concentrate on each of us bringing one new face to CASA.  If every single one if us in the CASA family did this, we would double our number of volunteers and would probable triple or quadruple the number of children we help.  What an awesome goal that is!  Seriously, if we each bring in one new volunteer we would serve ALL the children in our tri county area.  I think this is a goal worth setting!

So join me, and let’s double our family in 2013!  Every child deserves a CASA who will be their rock and will make their world better by focusing on helping him or her to find a forever home, and halting the cycle of abuse. 

Together we are a force to be reckoned with.  Together all things are possible.  Thank you all for the amazing talents you bring to the table, but most of all thank you for your hearts:  loving and giving hearts; hearts that know no bounds.  I am truly amazed and humbled by you all. 

Page

CASA 2012 Holiday Photo Album

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
~Franklin Delano Roosevelt

]]> http://coastalbendcasa.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/casa-2012-holiday-photo-album/feed/ 0 dianawcasa CASA 2012 Holiday Photo Album volunteer pic heart of community http://coastalbendcasa.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/day-of-giving-november-13-2012/ http://coastalbendcasa.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/day-of-giving-november-13-2012/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:19:45 +0000 Diana Booth http://coastalbendcasa.wordpress.com/?p=819 Continue reading →]]>

Thank you to the community and fifteen South Texas Foundations  for participating in the 2012 Coastal Bend Day of Giving!

 

Fifteen South Texas Foundations joined forces to create a $310,000 matching grant. On November 13, online gifts to 30 participating non-profit agencies were matched, up to $10,333 per non-profit agency.! On 12/12/12 CASA of the Coastal Bend received $11,700.00.   Thank you to the foundations below for your support.

• Coastal Bend Community Foundation
• Estill Foundation
• Paul and Mary Haas Foundation
• Laverne and Thomas Howell Foundation
• John G. & Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation
• Dr. & Mrs. Hugh Kennedy Foundation Morris L. Lichtenstein, Jr. Foundation
• Larry & Pat McNeil Foundation
• Blanche Davis Moore Foundation
• Prichard Family Foundation
• Margaret Sue Rust Foundation
• Earl C. Sams Foundation
• Trull Foundation
• Lawrence Wood Foundation

We would also like to “Thank” the community for their generous donation of over $23,000.00.  Please know that with your help children will have a volunteer who can say “I am for the child.”    Please take the time to watch our 2 minute campaign video below.

I am for the child video

Day of Giving Home Page

Day of Giving Non-Profits

 Day of Giving Fact Sheet

FAQ’s

For additional information you can contact Page Hall – CASA Executive Director at 361-779-5497 or page@interconnect.net
If you have questions about becoming a volunteer or have an organization, church, committee etc…  interested in a CASA presentation please contact Diana Booth at 361-779-3664 or diana@interconnect.net