Volunteer Child Advocates Needed in Franklin, Hart Counties

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

And according to Court Appointed Special Advocates or CASA, every day, 32 children in Georgia are the victims of confirmed abuse or neglect and 174 incidents of child abuse and neglect in the state are reported daily.

Melissa Mitchell is the Executive Director of CASA.  Mitchell said CASA is an all volunteer program that gives victims of child abuse and neglect a voice in the judicial system.

“The CASA is there to represent to the child and that is so critical to have someone there because that’s what the court proceedings are about –  to speak for the child,” Mitchell said. “Having a volunteer do that when they don’t have dog in the fight to advocate for that child is really important.”

Mitchell said right now, the Northeast Georgia chapter of CASA is in need of more volunteers especially in Franklin and Hart counties.

“We always need volunteers in all of our member counties, but in Hart County if we could have at least another five or six volunteers that would be helpful and another three or four in Franklin County,” Mitchell said. “We need them within the next few months because folks always do move on so this would help us maintain an active level of volunteers.”

Some of the duties include checking on the child to make sure they are getting their needs met, working with the child’s parents on monitoring their progress, and then speaking for the child in any court proceedings.

While the duties are varied for a CASA volunteer but no special background or education is needed, just a love for children.

“The main thing is to have a passion for helping children,” Mitchell said. “It’s also good to have the time, because there is a time requirement involved in helping these children. We do require volunteers be 21 years of age or older and of course we do also do background checks.”

And if you can’t be an advocate for a child, Mitchell said they need volunteers in other areas as well, such as fund raising and awareness.

According to Mitchell, you don’t have to live in Franklin or Hart counties to be a CASA volunteer there.

Anyone interested in becoming a CASA volunteer, should contact Mitchell at: 706-886-1098 or email [email protected] or go online to the CASA Web site at www.casa.org.