Owensboro CASA volunteers are moving to more virtual methods of staying in touch with their case assigned children amid COVID-19 concerns.
CASA of Ohio Valley Director Rosemary Conder said directors from national and state networks have advised volunteers to limit face-to-face interaction with the children but still fulfill their duties.
“Our volunteerism hasn’t stopped. It’s just on a new normal,” said Tina Wolken, a local volunteer. “The only thing that’s changed is our method of trying to stay in contact with our children.”
CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. The organization is made up of volunteers who support and advocate for victims of child abuse and neglect in the Kentucky family court system.
“Up until now we would meet out and have lunch or dinner,” said Thiela Thomas, another volunteer. “With everything closed down we don’t know when the court hearings are going to be. So we’re just working on basically staying in touch.”
In light of the State of Emergency declared by Gov. Andy Beshear in response to the COVID-19, the Supreme Court of Kentucky determined last week that all in-person appearances for civil and criminal court dockets, with the exception of emergency and time-sensitive matters, will be canceled.
Conder said temporary removal and emergency cases are still being heard in family court, however, most other cases have been postponed to limit the number of people at the Daviess County Judicial Center.
“Those cases have been pushed out, so that means those kids are going to be languishing in the system longer,” Conder said. “It just upsets the entire balance of the court system.”
Condor said there are usually 30 to 40 cases heard in family court for any given week.
“We may not be filling out a court report and filing that or sitting around at courthouse waiting for our case to be called, but we are still doing the essence of our job which is building that relationship and gathering information about our children,” Wolken said, with an end goal to present this information to judges and officials who will determine the child’s fate.
Both Wolken and Thomas said they have slowed in-person visits with their child and have turned to text messaging, FaceTime or calls to check in almost every day.
“What I’m probably going to do is to call, or I don’t know, see them through the door,” Wolken said. “It’s up to us. But we have to be safe and also we have to make sure the family we visit are safe. There are just so many unknowns.”
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