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CASA of Johnson County Vendor Booth Information At one show we raffled off 3 children's play houses to raise money for CASA Johnson County. CASA plays an important role in child advocacy issues within our community. Please visit our web site to learn more about CASA. "Kids Helping Kids" Local High Schools, businesses and the Sheriff’s office help build CASA playhouses. The Playhouse Project is one of two fundraisers CASA does each year to raise funds to help abused and neglected children in Johnson County. This year, area High School students and organizations have volunteered to build and decorate playhouses to be raffled off. The “Castle” was built by the Godley High School Ag department under direction and supervision of Troy Wells. Materials were donated by the Sunshine Circle EE Farms. The “Princess Playhouse” and trailer were built by the agricultural science department of Joshua High School under supervision of Brandon Neal. Materials were donated by Best Homes/ Fort Worth Lumber. The “School House” was built by agricultural students at Alvarado High School under direction of Brad Bransom. Materials were donated by the F.A.C.T. Foundation. The “Little Red barn” was built by Cleburne High School students under direction and supervision of Barney McClure. Materials were donated by Fort Worth Orthopedic Surgery. The “Jail house” was built by Johnson county inmates under direction and supervision of Sherriff Bob Alford. The materials were funded by Barbara Yoder. Lastly, the “Swiss Cottage” was built and funded by CW Design Group, Inc. under the direction and supervision of Brian Irvin. Materials partially donated by Lowe’s and transportation provided by Ulrich. Grandview High school also contributed by building a trailer to help with transportation of the playhouses. The Playhouse project has served as a great opportunity to get local High School students and businesses involved with raising money for children CASA advocates for daily in the courts. The money raised is used to recruit and train CASA volunteers to help insure that Johnson County CASA kids are placed in safe, loving and permanent placements that will be in the child’s best interest. Business Information , Texas 76050 Business:                       Fax: Point of Contact: Website: http://www.casajohnsoncounty.org Email: info@casajohnsoncounty.org In the United States, over one half million children are in foster care because they cannot safely live with their families. CASA volunteers work to ensure that these children do not suffer further abuse due to the overburdened court system or at home. Mission Statement: The mission of CASA of Johnson County is to recruit and train community volunteers to speak out for abused and neglected children in court proceedings so that they can be permanently placed in a safe, nurturing environment as quickly as possible. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) are volunteers trained to be advocates for children who have been abused and neglected and are under the protection of the court. They are appointed by the judge to meet regularly with the child, review records, and talk to family members and professionals involved in the child's case. They report information to the judge, make recommendations to promote the child's best interests, and monitor compliance with the court's orders until the child has been placed in a safe, permanent home. But there are more children in need than we have the volunteer or financial capacity to handle. We need more resources, but your help can make an important difference. The number of children in CPS care continues to increase and CASA needs your help. We need people in the community to become advocates for these children. The CASA Volunteer application form is now online. Please visit our web site where you can download the application. Make a donation to CASA of Johnson County online. To report child abuse, neglect or abandonment, contact the Texas Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-252-5400 or online at: https://www.txabusehotline.org How CASA Volunteers Help Foster Children The benefits that a CASA volunteer provides a foster child have been well documented. A recent audit conducted by the US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General demonstrates that once a CASA volunteer is assigned, approximately: 95% of children do not languish in long-term foster care. 90% of children do not reenter the child welfare system. Texas CASA is part of a national volunteer movement that began over 25 years ago, when a judge in Seattle decided he needed to know more about the children whose lives were in his hands. The solution he started was using community volunteers as a "voice in court" for abused and neglected children. These Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) provided him with the detailed information he needed to safeguard the children's best interests and ensure that they were placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. The program was so successful that it was copied around the nation. In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA with passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Today, the CASA movement has evolved into one of the largest volunteer organizations in the country. There are more than 900 CASA programs in operation - at least one in every state - and more than 52,000 trained volunteer advocates nationwide. In fiscal year 2005 in Texas, 4,636 CASA volunteers advocated for the best interests of 18,949 children in 194 counties. The first CASA program in Texas began in Dallas in 1979. Texas CASA, which was formed in 1989, serves the 63 local CASA programs currently operating statewide by providing: funding; training; technical assistance; coordination for program expansion and development; and tools and strategies for raising public awareness of child abuse and the need for volunteer advocates. CASA of Johnson County was founded February 20, 2003 when Judge John Neill saw the need for a CASA organization in our community. Volunteers took their first cases in July 2003. Since then, CASA has been assigned to over 100 cases and served more than 180 abused and neglected children in Johnson County. We currently have 56 trained volunteers and two office staff providing a powerful voice for 315 abused and neglected children in Johnson County. We believe that all children have the right to a home with loving people to care for them. But each year in the United States, children are abused, neglected or abandoned by their families. They are removed from their homes and placed in foster care or institutions. Eventually, they end up in court. Their only "crime" is that they have been victims. It is up to the judge to decide their future. Should they remain in foster care? Be reunited with parents? Or be adopted? In these cases, many children also become victims a second time, lost in an overburdened child welfare system that cannot pay close attention to each child whose life is in its hands. That's where CASA comes in. CASA volunteers are Court Appointed Special Advocates for children - trained community volunteers appointed by a judge as Officers of the court to speak up for children in court, and to help to humanize the often frightening and confusing child welfare and legal systems for these children.