New voices for area children

By MIKE FLETCHER
Tribune staff writer

June 13, 2009 10:59 pm

— Children who find themselves in the court system for one reason or another will now have 19 new voices representing them and helping them through the legal process.
Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray swore in 19 of the new Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteers Friday in her courtroom.
“I want to help protect kids and be a voice for them,” Suzanne Leisure, a mother of two, said at the swearing in ceremony.
In Howard County, there were 118 children in the system in need of a voice, a statistic that worries Leisure.
“It’s very concerning,” she said. “I have children of my own so if I can be a voice for them, that’s great.”
“This is absolutely fantastic,” Murray said of having that many volunteers signing up at once. “We’ve never had this many in the time I’ve been here. They are the voice for children who find themselves in the legal system.”
CASA is an organization dedicated to supporting children who’ve entered into the court system through no fault of their own. These children are in the system because of abuse, neglect, parents in jail or extreme divorce situations.
“I’ve always been interested in helping children,” said Etiwanda Beard. “All of the pictures on my walls are of children.”
Despite the new volunteers, the non-profit organization still needs more.
The program now has 44 volunteers, but they still have 17 kids on the waiting list.
Leisure and Beard were joined by Debra Cave, Shane Chapman, Sharon Cripe, Mary Cunningham, Denise Dundas, Lori Fountain, Othello Bach-Grant, Tara Grant, Tami Greene, Phyllis James, Jamie McKinley, Anita Miles, Corrine Miller, Cheryl Pittman, Michelle Sanchez, Amy Shemoel and Nicolette Wilson as the new volunteers.
Nationwide, more than 500,000 children are currently in the court and child-welfare systems. Last year, nearly 60,000 CASA volunteers served more than 240,000 abused and neglected children across the country. CASA volunteers have helped more than 2 million abused children since the first program was established in 1977.
Volunteers must be over 21, pass a criminal background check and be able to give five hours a month to a child. Volunteers undergo a 30-hour training program to prepare them for their first assignment.
Duties of volunteers include meeting with the child and his or her biological parents and foster parents to gather information and determine whether the child’s needs are being met.
• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at (765) 454-8577 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.

You can help:
To volunteer, call (765) 454-5575. CASA is located at 104 N. Buckeye St., Room 100, Kokomo, IN 46901. To learn more about CASA, go to www.nationalcasa.org