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FROM STAFF REPORTS

After five weeks of intensive training, five new Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers have been sworn in by Judge Erin Welborn as official officers of the court.

As Court Appointed Special Advocates, they will oversee court cases of abused and neglected children in the Shelby County Court System.

Depending on the court orders Judge Welborn gives them, they may make home visits, provide supervised visits with the children and their families, write court reports and much more.

“The information I receive on each case is only as good as the information I receive from the CASA Volunteers,” Welborn said. “The court reports they provide contain valuable information for me to review based on their observations, research and the work they have been trained to complete.”

CASA Volunteers are trained to go through the court process with abused and neglected children. They are not required to have any specific degrees or credentials, only the CASA training program, a background check and a caring heart.

“We make sure they have everything else they need,” Executive Director Beth Chapman said.  “Their training is very thorough, and they are managed and overseen by trained members of our staff as well.”

The five new members are Latrecia Durrough, Jules Hamer, Stephanie Bradley, Jana Duckett and Mary Howard.

CASA of Shelby County is funded in part by the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama and a Shelby County Community Grant. For more information on how to become a CASA volunteer visit Casaofshelbycounty.org.