Posted by Anne Decker on Dec 02, 2022
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is advocating for the best interest of abused, neglected, and dependent children.

CASA was started by a Seattle judge in the 1970s to provide an unbiased third party in child welfare situations, according to CASA Program Manager Becca Peckinpaugh. "There are representatives for Children Services, representatives for the mother, representatives for the father, but nobody that he felt was there specifically from the child's perspective." CASA of Allen and Putnam Counties was started in 2009 as a program of Crime Victim Services. They currently have more than 80 active volunteers and have served more than 700 children since 2009. In Allen County, CASA volunteers are appointed to dependency and neglect cases from the Juvenile Court. In Putnam County, our CASA volunteers are appointed to divorce and custody cases from the Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court. Volunteers who want to help children go through extensive training and then are assigned to children who find themselves in court. They learn everything they can about the children, their families and their situations and then they act as the advocate for the children for the duration of their case. Becca told us that even though they have 80 volunteers, that enables them to serve only about half the children who could use CASA's help. To volunteer, contact 567-940-2272.