Michael Abbott gives a voice to the growing number of children looking for a place to call home.
When a child is removed from a home or lands at the center of a custody dispute, a judge appoints a trained community member to represent the child until they are reunited with a parent or adopted.
“I’ve seen that child, you know, three hours after they were removed from a really bad situation and I think we may have saved that kid’s life or, if we didn’t save that child’s life, we at least made it impossible for it to get worse,” Abbott said.
The court-appointed special advocate program trains volunteers to speak for children who are victims of abuse and neglect. A new group of advocates will be trained beginning Feb. 24 as the need for volunteers is ongoing.
Last year, 52 local volunteers advocated for 219 children, according to data from the Montgomery County Youth Service Bureau, which coordinates the program. Of those children, 96 found a permanent home through parent reunification, adoption, guardianship or collaborative care.
Nearly 30 children remain on the waiting list, with up to five new child welfare cases being filed every month fueled by the drug crisis.
“You just can’t keep up with that,” said Jane Christophersen, Montgomery County CASA director.
Certified CASA programs operate in all but eight of Indiana’s counties and more than 1,120 new volunteers were trained statewide in 2018. During each case, advocates attend sessions with Department of Child Services caseworkers, meet with the child and parents and submit reports to the judge.
“It can be a roller coaster of emotions and you can’t let yourself get too high or low,” said Abbott, a theater professor at Wabash College. “You can’t get too hopeful, you can’t get too despairing because if you do, the ride is too rough.”
Abbott said he draws on his own childhood experiences with an abusive father when working on a case.
“I think probably for me back then, I didn’t even understand that there would be help or there could be help, so maybe just discovering that there’s a system now and it’s full of people who really care… it’s just a way for me to sort of fix that a little bit.”
Of the children placed in permanent homes in Montgomery County last year, more than two-thirds were reunified with a parent. Five children aged out of the system.
Advocates do not have the same role as DCS caseworkers or attorneys who juggle multiple other cases.
“I feel like I am unleashed in a way that you can see the relief sometimes on a case worker’s face when you say the thing that is just plain common sense and they’re not allowed to say it,” said Kelly Nelson, who joined the program after becoming pastor at Christ Lutheran Church.
“It’s another person who’s keyed in to and understands this is a really uniquely sad time,” Nelson added about the role of advocates.
For more information about training to become an advocate, call CASA volunteer coordinator Kate Doty at 765-362-0694 ext. 106 or kate@mcysb.org.
