13 new CASA volunteers will improve outcomes for neglected children in central Kentucky
Family Court Judge Ross Ewing, top center, swears in new CASA volunteers May 30.
CASA of Lexington added 13 new volunteers Tuesday, who will now go to work advocating for abused and neglected children.
“Thank you for giving of your time and energy this way,” Fayette County Family Court Judge Ross Ewing told the new volunteers as he swore them in at the CASA of Lexington office.
Ewing said people ask him how CASA volunteers help improve outcomes for children.
“How do they not help?” he said. “It’s everything.”
The new volunteers join more than 200 others who are gathering information and making recommendations for children in the local family court systems. These 13 newest volunteers may help improve outcomes for as many as 32 children in just their first year.
CASA Board Member Zach Brien speaks to new CASA volunteers during the swearing-in ceremony on May 30.
“It’s unbelievably important work,” said Zach Brien, a CASA board member who attended the swearing in. “I have seen firsthand how big of a difference your role plays in saving kids lives, in making kids’ lives better.”
The new volunteers are Debbie Birdwhistell, Susan Bukowski, Jamie Butler, Brian Collins, Kelly Davis, Hope George, Mary Gould, Bailey Hume, Brooke Kuerzi, Candye Pinkston, Rachel Davidson-Stebbins, Olivia Turner and Dan Wu.
Now that they have completed their 30 hours of training and been sworn in, they will each be matched with the case of an abused or neglected child in family court.
Each volunteer will visit their child monthly, talk to adults in the child’s life and review records. Then, they will provide all the information they gather back to the judge on the case. The work requires volunteering for about 5-10 hours a month and every volunteer has committed to serving for at least two years.
Judge Ewing said as a relatively new judge who just inherited hundreds of cases, CASA reports have been especially valuable in learning what’s going on. CASA volunteers provide a level of detail in their reports that is simply unavailable from anyone else on the case, he said.
“The CASA volunteer is so valuable because more information means better decisions for the children,” Ewing said.
CASA of Lexington currently serves about one out of every five children in the family court systems of Bourbon, Fayette, Garrard, Jessamine, Lincoln, Scott and Woodford counties. The organization runs training classes for new volunteers 4-6 times a year in order to boost the number of volunteers and serve more of the children in need.
The next CASA training class is scheduled for June 26-30; it is a “condensed” training that takes place during the day and fits all 30 hours into a single week. CASA of Lexington has also scheduled a training specifically for those interested in serving in Garrard and Lincoln counties, which begins on June 12. And there will be a fall training on nights and weekends in Lexington that begins Sept. 7.
More information about volunteering and full training schedules are available at www.casaoflexington.org.
