Program offers help to victims of child abuse

CASA is an organization that reaches out to children from birth to 18 years old who are being neglected and/or abused (in any manner).

And, really, neglect is its own form of abuse.

In Shreveport, the CASA program is connected to Volunteers for Youth Justice and depends on a network of volunteers to provide services for children who are in need of help due to parental neglect or abuse.

If the child does not report their own continuing abuse (which is often the case), the process starts when a neighbor, doctor, teacher or any concerned citizen reports that they suspect a child is being abused. After a “triage” assessment, the case is brought before a judge, who then can mandate CASA involvement.

According to the organizations printed material, a CASA is “a trained volunteer appointed by a judge to represent the best interests of the child in court.”

These volunteers then advocate for children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.”

The CASA volunteer will then provide a detailed report that has been meticulously researched to help the court make a reasonable decision regarding the future of the child.

To make an educated proposal for the child’s future care, the CASA volunteer will speak with the child and their parents, other family members, school officials, the child’s medical team and anyone with pertinent information to the child’s history. They will be granted access to all records pertaining to the child’s school, medical and caseworker reports.

Volunteers must be at least 21 years of age and be able to pass a background check.

A volunteer must also undergo 30 hours of training by a certified facilitator, and they are asked to make a one-year commitment of service. VYJ CASA volunteers serve six Northwest Louisiana parishes: Caddo, Bossier, Webster, Bienville, Jackson and Claiborne.

As of 2014, the VYJ CASA program had 120 active volunteers serving about 600 children. “As you can easily see from these numbers, we are in need of more volunteers,” said CASA volunteer coordinator Vickie Ricord.

Ricord herself has taken guardianship of a child who has been through the CASA system.

Desirie Horan has been a CASA volunteer for over five years now and has served in well over 20 cases.

“I had done some volunteer work earlier in my life: in the Ukraine when I was 17 and in Africa when I was 19. I was watching ‘Dr. Phil’ one day and saw a piece on CASA and decided I wanted to make a difference and speak up for children that had no one else to speak up for them,” Horan said. “I like having the ability to be involved in every aspect of the child’s life and work for their best interest.”

Alana Davis was removed from her parents’ home due to abuse and placed in the CASA system when she was only 11 years old. Traumatized by the sexual and physical abuse she had suffered, Davis initially had trust issues. It was hard for her to trust anyone, and it took time for her to be trusted by her foster parents.

In guardianship since December of 2013, Davis believes CASA has had a significant, life changing impact on her life.

“It has given me a strong support system, which I never had before. It has certainly given me hope, strength and courage,” Davis said. She now wants to have an impact on others and make sure they never give up. She is even doing public speaking and writing to tell her story.

“With more than 60 children on a waiting list for CASA services locally, I cannot emphasize how important it is to us to get more volunteers. We have simply got to break the cycle of abuse,” Ricord said.

Statistics show that a child with a CASA volunteer is more likely to be adopted, half as likely to re-enter foster care, substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care and more likely to have a workable plan for permanency.

“The ultimate outcome is for a child is to be reunited with their parents as long as we are returning them to a safe and nurturing environment,” said Volunteers for Youth Justice Executive Director Kelli Todd.

For more information, call 425-4413.

–Karl Hasten