The nine volunteers sworn in were Kathryn Balzano, Davie Burk, Kim Creedon, Mark Daudistel, Pam Daudistal, Sarah DeLong, Tracy Keigher, Bob Lewis, and Haresh Siriwardane.
Judge Niehaus wanted to ensure abused and neglected children in Butler County were represented by a trained, concerned community member bringing first-hand information to his court regarding the child’s best interest, Flynn said.
Judge Erik Niehaus, son of Judge Niehaus, continues in his father’s footsteps to make an impact in juvenile court, improving the lives of children and families, Flynn said.
She said there are too many children in Butler County Juvenile Court for the number of case workers, who can be assigned five to 20 kids at a time to represent.
To combat that, CASA volunteers are assigned one child or family and they follow the child throughout, Flynn said.
Those volunteers work with the kids to determine their needs and whether it’s appropriate to unify them with their parents, though that’s almost always the case. The volunteers “investigate” what’s the best case scenario for the kids, she said.
“Unification is the goal, but is that the best place for the child to go?” Flynn asked. “These cases are hard.”
Flynn said there are 75 CASA volunteers and more are always needed after the numbers dropped during COVID-19.
Over the years, PARACHUTE: Butler County CASA has trained 616 volunteers who have advocated for 2,885 children and dedicated over 179,000 hours, said Tonya Buchanan, executive director of PARACHUTE.
In Ohio, a child is abused or neglected every 17 minutes. Last year nearly 3,000 Butler County children were investigated as victims of abuse and neglect, according to CASA.
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