11 New Advocates & 1 New SEPT Facilitator Join CASA

July 24, 2020 (Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Eleven new Court Appointed Special Advocates were sworn in as officers of the court by Fourth Judicial District Judge Jill Brady during a CASA of the Pikes Peak Region swearing-in ceremony over Zoom on Friday.

The swearing-in ceremony was the final step for these community members to become Court Appointed Special Advocates. The new advocates took the oath before the judge following their completion of a five-week online training course which covered topics like trauma, resiliency, poverty, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, and the role of the CASA volunteer.

These volunteers are now ready to advocate for abused and neglected children in the Pikes Peak Region during their time in the child welfare system. Each volunteer will be assigned to an open Dependency &

Neglect case so that they may speak up for and advocate for the child or children on that case.

Congratulations new advocates Dallas Atkinson, Adriana Batres, Debra Bormanis, Jacqueline Dilemuth, Tracey Dinnel, Alice LeCount, Teri Midgyett, Jeanette Nelson, Kathleen Piggot, Cindy Tobin, and Stacie Tshabalala

In addition to the new advocates that were sworn in on Friday, we also congratulate community member Qintella Barnes who was sworn in as a new volunteer in CASA’s Supervised Exchange & Parenting Time program.

CASA continues to work on behalf of the most vulnerable children in our community, work that has become even more important during the global health crisis. In the Pikes Peak Region, CASA is seeing an increase in the number of children entering the child welfare system with an average of 49 children per month entering the system now compared to an average of 20 children per month before COVID.

Community members who are interested in helping these children are encouraged to visit www.casappr.org, submit a volunteer application, and complete the CASA volunteer training which is currently being offered online. To learn more, one can also attend a Volunteer Information Session. Dates for those sessions are listed here.

With the addition of Friday’s 11 new advocates, CASA has now sworn in 42 new advocates virtually since COVID began in Colorado.