CASA Program Notes: June 2021
By Marilyn McQueeney, CASA Program Director
Ice Cream Social and Donation of Summer Toys
It amazes me that we are already headed into summer. It was fantastic to see so many Advocates at our Ice Cream Social in May. We received a wonderful donation of summer toys from Insperity for you to share with your CASA children, so if you were not able to come to the social, please stop by the office and pick out a few things to take to your next monthly visit.
Office Schedule and Supervisor Changes
Our office is open every day now and we look forward to seeing you. If you want to see your Supervisor when you come in, please be sure to coordinate a time with them when they are in the office and available. Also be sure to introduce yourself to our new Office Coordinator, Stacey, when you come by. You’ll love how she has redecorated the front room – she has us looking good!
We are very busy on the Program side of CASA. Linda retired in April and Lily and her family are in the process of relocating to Virginia. We wish both Linda and Lily the very best and we will miss them.
As a result, we have a few additions to our Supervisor staff. We are very excited to welcome Kristy O’Neal, Trish Gunn, and Christina Bridgett to our staff as new Supervisors. They all come to us with wonderful backgrounds in education and social work, and they will be awesome additions to our already incredible staff.
Advocate Continuing Education and Gatherings
Please continue to watch for the Training newsletter that comes out each month. We have a number of great trainings available to you over the next few months. Just a quick reminder that you need to have 12 clock hours of training each year to remain in good standing as an Advocate. Please be sure you are documenting your training hours in Optima. The Program year ends August 31st so let’s get those hours completed to meet minimum standards with Texas CASA. Thank you!
In addition to the virtual training opportunities, we continue to host the Advocate Gatherings every two weeks on Zoom. These have been a great way for Advocates and Staff to connect and to respond to questions and concerns with their cases or to discuss advocacy in general. If you have not had a chance to join us for one of these, please check your training email or the website for the Zoom link. Our June gatherings are June 10th and June 24th at 2 PM. We’d love to “see” you at the next gathering.
Thank you, Advocates!
We are currently serving 398 children in care in Montgomery County. So far this year we have served a total of 563 children. I am so deeply grateful to each Advocate who is visiting their CASA children, writing the court reports, attending case meetings, attending virtual court, and most importantly making recommendations and following though to ensure the best interest of each and every one of those 563 children. It only takes one person to believe in a child and to make a lifelong difference in that child’s life. Thank you all for being those “difference makers”.