Spouses Team Up to Serve Children as CASA Volunteers

CASA of Lexington volunteers Ava Crow and Anne Flynn

Ava Crow and Anne Flynn both found ways to advocate for others in their careers: Crow as a lawyer representing children and adults with disabilities in civil rights cases; Flynn as a nurse in adult protective services.

But after the couple entered retirement, they found a new way to keep helping others — by serving as CASA volunteers. Now, after seven and a half years of volunteering and serving a combined 16 abused and neglected children, Crow and Flynn have been named CASA of Lexington Volunteers of the Month for December.

This isn’t the first time they have won the honor — they also earned it in April of 2016.

Crow and Flynn’s Volunteer Manager Jenifer Bahr said each case they have taken on has been more challenging than the last.

“They have traveled all over the state to stay connected with their children, never letting distance be a hindrance,” Bahr said. “Their reports and recommendations have been invaluable to the court. They truly have been the only constant in every single one of their cases.

“Their ability to connect with the children on their cases speaks volumes to the kind, compassionate, amazing individuals they are.”

Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers are trained community members who are matched with abused and neglected children in the local family court system. Each CASA volunteer visits their assigned child monthly, talks with adults involved in the child’s life, reviews records and makes recommendations to the judge on what actions would be in the best interest of the child.

CASA volunteers help identify educational and medical problems that are being overlooked, connect families with resources and get children back into safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible.

CASA teams are pairs of CASA volunteers — spouses like Crow and Flynn, parent-child pairs, or even best friends — who are matched together to cases involving multiple children. CASA teams are often invaluable on these larger and more complex cases.

Crow and Flynn said they originally discovered CASA of Lexington through a newspaper article, and it seemed like the duties of a CASA volunteer meshed well with their abilities.

“There are three things that keep me coming back as a CASA volunteer, year after year,” Flynn said. “One – the kids are terrific! We don’t always know them long, but they always leave a place in my heart. Second – the other CASA volunteers are great people and several have become my friends over the years. Finally – I really like working with Jenifer. She is dedicated to the job and has a great sense of humor, which helps a lot when the job gets difficult.”

Crow seconded Flynn’s endorsement of Bahr and the support provided by CASA of Lexington staff to its volunteers.

“The staff at CASA are amazing,” she said, encouraging anyone curious about becoming a CASA volunteer to sign up for the next volunteer training. “Go to the training and see if it seems like a match for you. If it does, give it a try. You’ll get incredible support and you’ll feel good about whatever you accomplish.”