By Hamilton Richardson
Elmore/Autauga News
Top Photo: Words of love and support were written on the small paper boxes that were later sent out onto the pond at Pratt Park.
Saturday night was lit with love and concern as many local residents and supporters of Autauga County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) came together at Pratt Park to recognize and emphasize Child Abuse Prevention Month and to send messages of love out onto the pond.
People who came to support the cause of child abuse prevention took small lights and placed them inside square paper boxes designed to float and wrote encouraging messages on them. Later in the evening, all of the boxes were sent out onto the pond in a group effort to support CASA’s mission.
Pam Tindal, Executive Director of CASA of Autauga County, said her organization believes that preventing child abuse takes everyone in the community.
“We want to encourage families to be lights in the darkness of child abuse by being aware of what is going on around them and standing up to help children who are in difficult and harmful situations,” she said. “So much can be prevented if people come alongside each other. Our event is a way for people to commit to working together to better our community from within.”
CASA of Autauga County was founded in December 2017, according to Tindal, and the court swore in the first volunteers in April of 2018.
“We are a volunteer service organization,” Tindal explained. “Our volunteers are recruited from the communities of Autauga, Elmore, and Montgomery counties and trained with a National CASA Volunteer Pre-Service curriculum. Our volunteers are sworn in as Juvenile Court Volunteer Officers in the Autauga County Juvenile Court and are appointed to serve on juvenile abuse and neglect cases and are tasked with making recommendations to the court that promote best interest for the children in care.”
Tindal said that the Autauga County CASA is a part of the Alabama CASA Network and the National CASA/GAL (Guardian ad Litem) Association.
The director said that CASA works in the community to get to know everyone involved with the children they serve, which means going to homes, schools, to therapists, activity providers, family members, and to court.
“We are an active member of the Prattville Chamber of Commerce and the Children’s Policy Council,” she went on to say. “Our volunteers live in the community, and we support our children’s families by connecting them with services and people who can help with strengthening the family. We work alongside the Family Support Center and Butterfly Bridge in the community and our mission is to provide a trained volunteer for every abused and neglected child in the child welfare system.”
Tindal, who started the organization in Autauga County five years ago, said one important aspect of the work CASA volunteers do is to act as eyes and ears of the Judge, since the Judge can’t be involved in the cases outside the courtroom.
“We work closely with the child’s attorney and coordinate with DHR caseworkers to make sure that our children who have suffered already are getting everything they need while they are in care,” she said. “I laughingly, but seriously, call us the ‘squeaky wheel’. Our volunteers have only one or two cases compared to the DHR social workers who have many more, so it only makes sense that we have the ability and opportunity to check in on our people more often.”
CASA is always looking for volunteers to come alongside the organization to support hurting children but they also need donations as well as community support and spreading the word through social media.
To learn more about Autauga County CASA, or to get involved, go online to www.autaugacasa.org
