Desperate for Help - KAUZ-TV: Newschannel 6 Now | Wichita Falls, TX

Child Advocates is in need of your help to continue to serve and help kids in need. The Wichita Falls CASA office is working with 49 volunteers and staff is stretched pretty thin.

CASA is working with 170 cases of children who have entered the court system because of abuse and neglect. Staff is struggling to keep up with Texoma's children, and they expect those numbers to increase after the holidays.  

A judge appoints a case to a CASA volunteer and that volunteer is required to check in once a month with the child. The volunteer is also responsible to attend court dates communicating with a judge, describing your opinion of what's the best interest for the child.

Lauren Sullivan, Outreach and Education and Specialist, said, "Hopefully we get enough volunteers to take care of that, if not we have to start looking at what do we do."

Sullivan added, "There's options of not taking cases, which means these kids are not getting that one-on-one attention they deserve. There's also the option of putting it on our case workers."

CASA hopes to sign another 20 volunteers before the new year to continue making a difference.

CASA said to become a volunteer you have to be 21 or older and pass a background check. If you qualify, each volunteer goes through a 30 hour training course.

January 15th is when CASA starts their training course. If you are interested you can download an application and apply. Each volunteer is encouraged to stay with CASA for at least a year.

Natalie Garcia,  Newschannel 6