Amity Study Club awards CASA with $1,000 check

Amity Study Club met at Amigo Juans Friday at 6 p.m. for a special meeting to award the local CASA, or court-appointed special advocate nonprofit with a sizeable donation to help local children who need a leg up or are in dire straits.

Mandi Nack, CASA coordinator, advocate, and recruiter humbly accepted the Amity Study Club donation from Club President Judy Cook and Vice President Donna Bird before giving a rundown about what CASA is and does.

CASA vows to “Change a Child’s Story,” by working on cases in which there are family problems and parents may need a reset before their children can come back home.

Nack said the local CASA got started in 1990 with Judge Jack Carter in Bowie County, who saw that it was a good program to help overloaded caseworkers and judges make better decisions for children by training court appointed advocates to help intervene and help children and many times, their families.

Over the next few years, CASA spread to Cass County and nearby Miller County, which is located in Arkansas, Nack said.

Nack said they are very fortunate to be able to work with and nearby CAC, or Child Advocacy Centers because not all CASA organizations have that.

Nack said CASA supports overworked case workers to give judges a deeper dive into each child’s case to make sure the children are getting everything they need.

“We talk to the teachers, find out all the services they could need,” Nack said.

Sometimes they may come across a child that needs glasses, special education or some sort of therapy, she said.

Nack said the goal is always reunification with the family if possible.

“Some parents just need a reset, sometimes they just need some tools to overcome,” Nack said. “We’ve seen so many really great success stories where the parents do a complete turnaround.”

Unfortunately, sometimes rehoming a child is necessary.

In those types of cases, Nack said they try to find a grandparent, older sibling, or sometimes even a teacher to rehome a child.

Teachers provide a great service to children, by making phone calls when it seems something is going wrong in a child’s life, the group agreed. CASA advocates always consult with teachers to find out how to best serve a child.

Nack said CASA’s goal is to give a child consistency in what may seem like an everchanging world, especially when a child constantly moving school districts, changing therapists, teachers, schoolmates, and more.

On average, cases last about 18 months, Nack said, with Cook adding that many of her CASA cases lasted about one-year Nack said her executive director, Malenda Cree, has had a case that lasted for ten years.

Cook said it’s the consistency that matters so much for the children she’s worked with.

Janet Patillo, Amity Study Club treasurer, and retired East Texas primary school teacher said that throughout her career it was heartbreaking to see children in the classroom who were obviously in need of help or weren’t getting proper care at home.

Once a case is over, contact unfortunately ceases betweed CASA advocates and the children or families, but sometimes families who are reunited have parents who will send photos and show their progress as a family. As a child ages out and becomes of age, they might also reach back out to their CASA advocate.

When working a CASA case, Nack said they do monthly visits, or 30 day rotations. If parents are trying for reunification, they check in with them once a month as well to make sure they are getting what they need.

“If the parents are involved or around we are trying to see them once a month as well, so thats the two face to face visits you’re doing,” Nack said. “Again, if we are trying to unify this family we want to be checking in on Mom and Dad if they are trying to do drug and alcohol (treatments) or need help getting their home up to speed.”

“We want to check to see if they need beds, maybe they need help getting food stocked, things like that.”

Volunteers put in about 8-10 hours a month with the visits, Nack said, including contact made with case workers, attorneys, therapists, teachers–Anyone else involved in the case.

Right now, only 55 percent of children in Arkansas are getting the CASA volunteership they need, so they are in dire need of volunteer advocates.

To become a volunteer, Nack said they have a screening via zoom and then in-person training of five consecutive weeks with four hours per class, then 30 hours of flex training in the field.

“Then, once you are done with that you are sworn in, in front of the judge in your county and you are now officially with CASA,” Nack said. “Then you get to go with your advocate coordinator and have field training to figure out what case is best for you.”

Advocates do attend court hearings, which are generally every three months, Nack said.

To inquire more about becoming a CASA volunteer, please visit their Website at casatexarkana.org or call them at 903-792-1030.

CASA is able to provide support to children and families through grants and donations, like the one made by Amity Study Club, which is part of the Trinity District of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. GFWC is not only local but nationwide and even international, with women’s clubs meeting in war-torn Ukraine to this day.

Often, club members pick areas of the community that they can work with or improve, such as helping out nonprofits like CASA, Cook said.