SMETHPORT –– McKean County President Judge John Pavlock conducted the swearing-in ceremony for the sixth class of the CASA Volunteers of McKean County Friday at the courthouse.
Barbara Carney, Bob Miller, Carol Newman, Darla Oaks, Kimberly Pollock, Carol Ryan and Annie Wolfe completed the nine-week long training curriculum and are now community members appointed by a judge to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children during a dependency case.
According to CASA’s mission statement, the volunteers are committed to supporting the local court as advocates of abused and neglected children and toward breaking the cycle of child abuse so that children can thrive in safe, permanent, nurturing homes.
CASA of McKean County’s Executive Director Kristin Tim offered opening remarks. She gave a special welcome to the staff’s Advocate Supervisor Jessica London, who completed the training requirements and was sworn in alongside this class of volunteers.
“Jessica joined CASA at the end of July and has been a welcomed addition to our program,” Tim said. “She will be co-facilitating our future volunteer trainings, the next one beginning Thursday, March 15, 2018.”
Of the six classes, this by far, has been the most dynamic, said Tim.
“We have had many lively and productive discussions over the nine weeks and have seen this group clearly bond with one another as they traversed their way through the content-eventually identifying themselves as the ‘Magnificent Seven.'”
There is still a very real need for additional CASA volunteers, Tim said.
“While we have grown as a CASA program in McKean County, we don’t have the luxury of being able to appoint a CASA to every child in our county’s dependency system,” she said. “This year the court’s new caseload of children who have been removed from the homes by no fault of their own has nearly doubled that of last year. This sixth class of volunteers brings our total McKean County community members trained as CASAs to 32 who have been trained and then sworn in by the court, touching the lives of approximately 50 children over the last three years, recording more than 2,500 hours of advocacy.”
Pavlock expanded on the great increase of dependency cases, many of which have a drug and alcohol issue at their core.
“Routinely, way too routinely, both parents have long substance abuse and criminal histories. Of course, this isn’t every case,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s a mental health issue, sometimes mental health with addiction, sometimes a physical or mental limitation that prevents proper parenting. But whatever the underlying reason, these cases are often just heartbreaking and emotionally draining.”
After repeating the CASA oath, the class members answered four individual questions, regarding timely investigations, confidentiality of proceedings, advocacy for the children to have a safe, loving and permanent home and acceptance of their duties willingly and in accordance with CASA standards.
Tim then presented the volunteers with a document bag that can be locked to protect confidentiality, a lanyard and CASA pin.
In addition to families and friends of the new CASA volunteers, others attending the swearing-in program included Court of Common Pleas Christopher Hauser, Juvenile Hearing Officer Christa Schott, county commissioners, Human Service and Children and Youth Services representatives and Bob Esch, president of CASAs board of directors.
