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What It Means To Be A Volunteer
Webster’s dictionary defines volunteer as “an unpaid worker; one who enters into or performs of his own free will.” But to be a CASA of Franklin County volunteer guardian ad litem (GAL) means so much more than a couple of sentences in a dictionary. There are benefits for the individual volunteer, to the children being served, and to the community at large.

“Being a CASA volunteer gives me an opportunity to get beyond myself and my own insular world. It enables me to see the “big picture” in terms of human relationships in a diverse society,” says Sharon Givan, a CASA volunteer for 5 years.

“Being a CASA/GAL means a lot to me,” says Tawana Lawrie, who has been a CASA volunteer for 7 years. “Children need a CASA volunteer to determine what’s in their best interest through investigation, and sometimes with difficult decisions. As a CASA volunteer it is rewarding knowing that I can make a difference in a child’s life by protecting that child and determining what is in the child’s best interest.”

What does the involvement of a CASA Volunteer mean to the children they are serving?
“I am never certain of the impact I have on the kids I have worked with other than for them to know that at some time in their life, there was a person whose sole purpose was to work for their well-being. That might be enough—I can live with that,” says CASA volunteer Jack Kirby, who has been with the program for 8 years.

What does the service of a CASA/GAL mean to the community?
By law, a child in the juvenile court system must be assigned a GAL. In Franklin County, these children receive either a CASA/GAL or an Attorney GAL. CASA volunteers focus their attention on one or two cases at a time. Attorney GALs usually carry a caseload of more than one or two cases at a time.

Nationally, research shows that children who receive an attorney GAL re-enter the child welfare system more than 16% of the time. If a child receives a CASA/GAL, less than 9% of them re-enter the child welfare system.

In 2008, CASA of Franklin County served 15% (736 children) of the 2,300 cases of abuse and neglect in the Franklin County Juvenile Court system, or roughly 1 in 6 received the best possible advocacy.

“We’re helping to keep children safe, and in turn, this will help keep the community safe as the children grow up to be productive members of society rather than continuing the cycle of abuse” reflects Nancy Heller, a CASA volunteer for 14 years.