CASAs, we are thankful for you and the difference you make in the lives of the children in Tippecanoe County. We appreciate your dedication to our organization and changing a child's story.

Message From The Director

A Letter From Our Director:

Thank you for generously volunteering your time at Tippecanoe County CASA. Your willingness to give your time and service has an immense impact on the positive outcomes of our children and our community. Because of your dedication, we were able to serve over 300 children in 2023. We truly could not achieve our organization’s goals without you, our volunteers.

Because our mission is volunteer-based, we rely heavily on your compliance with CASA’s policies and procedures. To continue having positive outcomes for our children, it is crucial that all advocates adhere to the expectations of their role with our organization:

Court Report Due Dates: All court reports must be submitted to your Volunteer Coordinator within the time frame determined by your Volunteer Coordinator.

As a reminder, court reports are due to the courts seven days prior to the court date. Submitting a court report to your coordinator within your assigned time frame allows you and your coordinator time to proofread the report. This ensures that a well-written and factual report can be filed on time.

Child Contacts: It is a state requirement that all children being served by CASA must be seen every thirty days.

We rely on you to be the voice of our children. This can only be done by seeing and understanding where the children are, what they are doing, and the implications of both. Seeing children on this consistent basis helps you to build a rapport with them and make recommendations that are in their best interest.

In-Service Training: All volunteers are required to complete 12 hours yearly of in-service training.

A well-trained volunteer is invaluable to our mission and children. Being trained on the nuances of this role ensures you are prepared to be the best advocate for abused and neglected children. Trainings are available through State GAL/CASA and many other entities. Any training that provides an educational component geared towards work with abused and neglected children will be considered towards your training hours. If you have questions on this, please do not hesitate to reach out to your volunteer coordinator.

With your diligence, we can continue to serve our children in the way they best deserve. As always, if you struggle to meet any of your goals, your assigned Volunteer Coordinator is willing to jump in and help. Our organization truly thanks you for all the work you put into the success of the children we serve.

Thank you,

Hilary

Up Coming Event!

CASA Day at the Statehouse

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Be a part of the volunteers, lawmakers, and former CASA youth to celebrate advocacy for the children. More information will follow, but please register now to take part in what will be a very exciting day. If you want a T-Shirt the deadline is February 5th using the link below.

Training Opportunities

January 2024 State CASA TRAINING ACADEMY

TITLE: Understanding & Responding to Kids with Emotional & Behavioral Challenges Using a Positive, Trauma-informed, Strength-Based Approach.

WHEN: January 31, 2024

TIME: 2:00 PM-3:15 PM (Eastern)

WEBINAR

Description:

Strength-based practice is an emerging approach to guiding kids and in particular - those with emotional & behavioral challenges - that is exceptionally positive and inspiring. Its focus is on strength-building rather than flaw-fixing. It begins with the belief that every young person has or can develop strengths and utilize past successes to mitigate problem behavior and enhance social and academic functioning. This webinar will highlight some of the key principles and techniques of this transforming approach. Areas to be covered include: What is strength-based practice & the power of a positive attitude & culture; the effects of trauma and positive emotions on the brain; strength-based communication principles and techniques - including reframing, positive-predicting and using inspirational metaphors for motivation; encouraging growth vs. fixed mindsets; self-esteem building & activities and some creative cognitive behavioral strategies.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FROM PREVENT CHILD ABUSE INDIANA:

Each year, Prevent Child Abuse Indiana provides a significant professional development opportunity in order to share information, resources, and cutting-edge content. As you know, the work of child abuse prevention cannot effectively take place in silos or by select individuals in specific roles alone but must be a collective and collaborative effort by every citizen. 

Please consider joining them for one, two or all three webinars for a great learning experience and ideas for implementation in your community. (You can click on the link below to visit our website.) 

Here are the titles and dates of upcoming trainings:

• TURNING DISTRESS INTO JOY—February 2, 2024, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (Eastern)
• MORE THAN WORDS:  THE EMOTIONAL MALTREATMENT OF CHILDREN—February 9, 2024, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (Eastern)
• POSITIVE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (PCE)—February 16, 2024, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (Eastern)

Visit their website at Prevent Child Abuse Indiana - Primary Prevention for Child Maltreatment (pcain.org) to learn more about the webinar series!

Prevent Child Abuse Indiana - Primary Prevention for Child Maltreatment

Our mission is to be the voice in Indiana for preventing child abuse of all forms. Prevent Child Abuse Indiana works to stop child maltreament before it begins.

2024 Pre-Service CASA Training

If you know of anyone thinking about becoming a CASA volunteer now is the time! It's a new year and the Spring 2024 training will be starting on April 1. Interested parties can apply to become a volunteer by going to our website on the county webpage.

https://www.tippecanoe.in.gov/443/Court-Appointed-Special-Advocate-CASA

Donations

We would like to thank you Kevin Carazo and Rent A Center on Beck Lane in Lafayette. They held a toy drive for CASA and gave us some really great toys for our children. If you are looking for a nice gift for your child stop by the office.

CASA is Hiring!

Staff Advocate Outreach Coordinator - Regular Part Time

Incumbent serves as Staff Advocate Outreach Coordinator for the Tippecanoe County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Department, responsible for managing cases that would otherwise be unassigned to a CASA, while cultivating and sustaining diverse community partners and program participants. Incumbent is a sworn officer of the court.

For more information about this position please click the apply button below.