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The mission for Canadian County CASA is to provide community volunteers to serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates and represent the best interests of abused and neglected children who are wards of the court as provided in Title 10 A, Oklahoma Statutes.
Every year, thousands of children in Oklahoma are removed from their homes because of evidence of abuse and neglect. They are uprooted from the only family they’ve known, taken out of school and away from friends. In short, their worlds are turned upside down. Going through the child welfare system is scary and no child should do it alone. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and speak up for abused and neglected children to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service systems or languish in the foster care system. CASA volunteers stay with each child until he or she is placed in a safe, permanent home and the case is closed. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer is the one constant in their lives and often, the one adult who cares only for them.
CASA volunteers visit with the child(ren) they serve a minimum of monthly if not more and often take them for fun outings or activities to get to know them. As these children move from home to home their CASA visits them wherever they go and make sure their voice is heard and that they are always provided for and not forgotten. CASA volunteers are appointed by the judge to cases where children are highest risk of repeated abuse or neglect. CASA volunteers serve as a direct source of current case information by providing recommendations for the best interests of children directly to the judge through written and verbal court reports, including needs such as: medical, educational, emotional, and permanency. CASA volunteers have advocated for things such as a child getting a therapist, being provided with school clothes, having long missed doctors’ appointments, having visits with family, getting a tutor or an individualized education plan, and so much more. CASA volunteer advocacy makes sure a child's needs are taken care of no matter how big or how small.
According to Oklahoma Human Services' Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report Tables, there were 468 children that were substantiated victims of abuse and/or neglect in Canadian County alone. Throughout 2023, our program served 106 of these abused and neglected children with 45 volunteers that donated 2,675 volunteer hours. Our volunteers represented these children at 161 hearings and helped 41 of them achieve permanency. We also trained 8 new volunteer advocates. We have a continued devotion to serve more abused and neglected children from our county and provide them with advocacy so they may achieve higher outcomes. A child’s time in foster care is faced with constant change including homes, schools, families, countless service providers, and case workers. These abused and neglected children are trying to adapt to changes while they are in the most critical developmental stages, which can affect their ability to learn and develop. This state of flux is often extended because the permanency decisions for these children are placed in the hands of an overburdened system. According to the National CASA Association, the average child will spend 2 years in foster care and each child has an average of 3-5 different homes or shelters. The advocacy of a CASA volunteer alleviates or reduces these outcomes, but according to statistics provided by the National CASA Association, it has also been found that children appointed a CASA will find a safe, permanent home up to 25% faster, they are half as likely to re-enter the foster-care system, and they are proven to stay several fewer months in foster care, which helps increases their likelihood to succeed in school. Canadian County CASA, Inc. provides training, supervision, and support for our volunteers to make sure the abused and neglected children we serve have educated and trauma informed advocacy. The action taken by these advocates reduces the overall amount of time that victimized children spend in uncertainty and increases their odds of finding permanency. The services our program provides are vital to the advocacy and long term well-being of the children we serve that are victimized by this systemic problem.
