Hillsdale and Branch counties are teaming up to host Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteer training sessions.

Volunteers must be 21 and older and pass criminal background checks. The volunteer training will take place every Monday and Wednesday from 5:20 to 8:30 p.m. starting on Oct. 18 and ending on Nov. 15. The training will take place at the Hillsdale CASA office, 59 N. Broad St, Hillsdale County CASA Director Heather Upton said.

CASA is a nonprofit organization of volunteers who work with children in foster care and advocate for them in court. 

Upton said the training will cover everything volunteers will need to know to be successful.

“We have a lot of curriculum that we cover from national CASA, but then I also have guest speakers that come in to supplement the curriculum,” Upton said. “I usually have a prosecutor that comes in just to explain the system and what is considered child abuse. So you could literally just know nothing about any of it and then know quite a bit.”

Volunteer Katie Griffiths said the small-group training sessions were a big help.

“Trainings were followed with lessons that included hypothetical and actual case examples to be worked through collaboratively,” Griffiths said.

Once volunteers complete the training, they are assigned a case and Judge Michelle Bianchi swears them in, Upton said.

Branch County CASA director Emily Katz said she wants CASA volunteers to stick with their assigned child for the entire time that the child is in foster care, since the volunteer is a secure person for the child.

Volunteers are required to write court reports every 90 days to provide supplemental information at  review hearings. CASA reports are valued because volunteers meet with the kids every week, Upton said.

“Judge Bianchi reads all the court reports. When she sees that there’s a CASA volunteer assigned to a case, she goes to the CASA report first because she feels like the meat and bones of the case is going to be in that report since we see the kids more than anyone else,” Upton said. “We’re in the home every week and seeing them in that environment that they live in and how they do talk.”

Volunteers who are apprehensive of report-writing will receive help from Upton, she said.

“I have no problem helping a volunteer write a report,” Upton said. “There are a couple of volunteers that don’t like to use computers, so they’ll just come in and tell me what they want me to type up, and I’ll type it up, and we’ll work on rewording a few things just so that it sounds like what we’re trying to say.”

Upton said her biggest role is to mentor and advocate for her volunteers. 

“I help the volunteers to work through things because they have to sign a confidentiality agreement,” she said. “So, they can’t just talk about their frustrations of a case with their friends or neighbors, but they can talk to me, and so I’m very happy to be that sounding board for them when they need it.”

Julie White said she has been a CASA volunteer for five years. 

“It’s very hard to accept what some parents can do and will allow to happen to their children,” White said. “It is heartbreaking. You have to be able to work through that and not let it bring you down and control your life. You have to be able to understand that now they’re in a better place.”

Upton said the program aims to reunite children with their family.

“But sometimes that just doesn’t happen,” she said. “So then the next biggest success is finding that home that’s going to be able to adopt these children as their own and as they deserve.

Griffiths said that volunteers must do their best to advocate for the children in their case.

“While CASA volunteers all come from different walks of life, it is important that they be open-minded, committed and able to make decisions that are in the best interest of the children they serve even if they deviate from one’s own beliefs,” Griffiths said.

CASA volunteers must be willing to serve, White said, but can be reimbursed for gas mileage if they have to travel.

“You need to have a heart for children of all ages,” White said. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Katz said the group has a large need for volunteers.

“I think in the world we live in today and how difficult times are, I know it’s very hard for people to do things for free. I think volunteer work is kind of pushed to the wayside,” she said. “However, it’s so important to bring back volunteer roles and we desperately need people who are compassionate and who have a passion to help others.”