Alone.

Abandoned.

Abused.

Many in Greene County don’t know how well these words describe children in their community. With an opioid epidemic that affects thousands in a total population of around 37,000, Greene County families face poverty, separation and abuse. These situations frequently yield critical cases of child dependency each year, as the children’s parents may not have the resources or the ability to care for them properly.

With such uncertainty, community members ask a number of questions.Where will these children sleep, go to school, eat their breakfast? What will they eat, and how will that food be provided for them? How much will change in their lives?

Child dependency cases often place children in the temporary care of foster families or relatives until suitable permanent homes can be found.  In this process, children may be moved from place to place during that time, constantly uprooting from all familiarity—friends, school and family.

Volunteers of the Court Appointed Special Advocates nonprofit organization serve to alleviate some of the difficult and disorienting aspects of these cases.

CASA volunteers visit children in their foster or kinship homes after the dependency case is first decided, and then advocate for children in subsequent court hearings. The stated purpose of CASA volunteers: to make sure the children have a voice.

“We take on the more critical cases so our resources are best utilized. Critical cases are those with severe abuse and neglect which can involve sexual abuse and/or substance abuse,” said Matchett, director of CASA of Greene County.

After only a year in the county, CASA of Greene County has a director and a board of 11 community members that work closely with President Judge Farley Toothman. The community location of the organization is serving 20 children involved in dependency cases, Matchett said. Greene County. Children in the most critical situations will each be paired with one CASA volunteer, whose full attention goes to the child.

In some cases, CASA volunteers may be the only constant these children have, Matchett said.

“We try to be that consistent person with the child throughout the dependency case,” she said. “We try to be there for every part of that process, and that trying time of the trial is them being involved by no fault of their own.”

To do this, Matchett said volunteers are asked to commit to the case for at least 16 months, if the case isn’t settled before then.

Since CASA cases are confidential, people often don’t hear these children’s stories or even know CASA exists. Volunteers must contact the children’s caretakers directly, to let them know the child they are caring for has been paired with them.

When a volunteer steps into the child’s home, they speak to the caretakers—either foster parents or kin—then, they spend time with the child.

“We just kind of want to build a bond with the child, let them know that they have someone there who’s going to give them a voice and who’s going to listen to them,” Matchett said.

Emily Stout, a board member and volunteer for CASA of Greene County, said it’s important to establish a bond with the child, even if it means simply talking to them, sitting with them and being present.

“I’ve been in a couple resource homes, meeting with the kids and being in the kitchen, playing a game with them,” Stout said.

CASA volunteers also act as the “eyes and ears of the court,” Matchett said, making sure the child’s needs are being met properly in their home and school. When the time of the child’s next permanency review hearing arrives, CASA volunteers hand in a written court report with information gathered and are given the opportunity to stand and speak on behalf of the child. They may even state recommendations on where the most beneficial place for that child would be.

“Their testimony and their recommendations sometimes carry more weight than the agency’s, because they just have a way of obtaining information and communicating with the parties,” said Attorney and Greene County Board Member Christina Demarco-Breeden.

Of all the critical child dependency cases in Greene County, Matchett said roughly 65 percent involve at least one parent struggling with substance abuse. If a parent conquers that abuse, their child may be able to return to their natural parents. This decision would also be made at permanency review hearings.

“I love to see when parents are able to be reunified with their children. That is certainly everyone’s goal going into a case,” Demarco-Breeden said. “When that happens, it is special. The other thing that’s really special is when a child is finally adopted. They finally have that permanency. They’re finally able to have real parents.”

Demarco-Breeden, who has a graduate degree in law, said she first decided to go to law school because of how passionate she was about advocating for children. She said the hardest part about her work is learning about and prosecuting cases where children were physically and sexually abused.

“It’s really hard, trying work, that’s for sure,” she said. “It’s very stressful at times.”

Although she doesn’t go into the homes of children as a CASA volunteer, because she doesn’t want it to clash with her work as an attorney, Demarco-Breeden believes CASA volunteers do invaluable work.

“I think there’s a lot to be said about individuals who blatantly give their time to abused and neglected children,” she said. “They’re not paid for that.”