Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #242 - Voices for the Vulnerable: How CASA Advocates for Children in Crisis
In this episode, we’re honored to welcome Molly Petrie, Executive Director of CASA, to share the vital role Court Appointed Special Advocates play in the lives of children navigating the court system due to abuse or neglect.
As we explore pressing issues like child homelessness and the growing need for volunteers, Molly highlights how CASA’s work directly impacts the lives of those walking beside you today—children who need guidance and support. With over 650 children in Shawnee County requiring care, the need for community involvement is more urgent than ever.
To learn more about TRM Ministries: Click Here!
To support TRM, Click Here!
Father, you're good to us. God, we're just so thankful for this time just to spread information. God, just to inform the people about what's going on in the city. God, that they would know the hard work people are doing everyday. God, and that we would just be a space to highlight that. God, we're just so thankful for everything you do in our lives. We pray that you just work in the lives of those listening to this and those that aren't listening to it. God, we're just thankful for who you are and who you've been. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, thank you for listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. This is your host today, barry Feaker. I'm here, past director of Topeka Rescue Mission, with the executive director, lamanda Broyles.
Speaker 3:Good morning.
Speaker 2:Good morning, lamanda. Our supportive person is not with us today Marion Crable, Deputy Director of Supportive Services. So what are we going to do without support?
Speaker 3:We already need support. We're only 20 seconds into this, it's because she's not here.
Speaker 2:I know We've just been a little challenged with the music today and those kind of things.
Speaker 3:Oh, we have it, you have that, let's just be that.
Speaker 2:Well, this is a partnership here. Okay, sorry, I'm with you. Anyway, thank you for joining us. This is podcast number 242 on October the 9th of 2024. Well, amanda, do you know what our next podcast is going to symbolize, other than it being number 243 on October the 16th?
Speaker 3:I have no idea.
Speaker 2:You don't do you?
Speaker 3:No, it's been a while, since I've gotten a Barry quiz.
Speaker 2:Okay, All right. Well see, this isn't even written down for you, I know. And I didn't know about it until our research and development department, which we will get into here in just a minute, informed me today. That will be the fifth anniversary of our community, our mission Five years. Really On October 16th Yep next week, Wow. So stay tuned for that one. That'll be a doozy. That is neat.
Speaker 3:That doesn't even seem possible.
Speaker 2:I know, I know you were in preschool, weren't?
Speaker 3:you Five years ago, I was yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, you were teaching preschool, that's right, yeah, what's the difference? So anyway, Lots of change. We have a special guest here, but before we get into our guest today, we do have those very special things that we want to mention that are recognized every year on this day, October 9th, and it is International Top Spinning Day. Do you know what that is?
Speaker 3:Yes, I do what is top spinning, but I feel like this is what we talked about several times ago, about how you had a jack set. That's what you guys always say Playing jacks and all yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what you guys always say.
Speaker 3:That's what you guys always say. But yes, I do know how to spin a top.
Speaker 2:It was my only toy, so talk to me about it, I know correct.
Speaker 3:So it's been a while, but I have spun a top before and I would say it balances.
Speaker 2:I do pretty good. Did it make you feel better? No it didn't. How long did you do it?
Speaker 3:Probably not long enough.
Speaker 2:If you need help, I'll show you. Okay, thank you. So it's also and this one you can probably relate to National Bring your Teddy Bear to School Day.
Speaker 3:You used to do that didn't you in school? Teddy bear yeah, I don't know. Growing up I was a pretty big tomboy.
Speaker 2:So I'm not sure. So you didn't have a teddy bear.
Speaker 3:No, but I did have an Urkel doll. Do you remember Urkel?
Speaker 1:No, like Steve Urkel.
Speaker 3:Steve Urkel yes, and you would pull the string in his back and he would say got any cheese.
Speaker 2:Missed that one, missed that one.
Speaker 3:My mom probably still has it in my baby box, to be honest.
Speaker 2:My kids were trying to do cabbage patch and that kind of stuff. Oh, were trying to do cabbage patch and that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah, so anyway, until they became evil, or whatever that's Care Bears, that's not cabbage patch.
Speaker 3:Was that Care Bears?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know. Anyway, they're all gone now and I had a teddy bear. Did you, I think I still do somewhere.
Speaker 3:You know what his name is? No.
Speaker 2:Yogi, yogi, yogi, bear yeah.
Speaker 1:Wait, yeah sure enough.
Speaker 2:He looked like Yogi, and that was a popular cartoon back in the 1900s.
Speaker 3:And so, anyway, yogi, okay, last, one Is the teddy bear Is it the one in?
Speaker 2:that picture over there?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, the big one.
Speaker 2:No, it's not a picture, it's a real thing. It's a real thing. You can carry him around, oh.
Speaker 3:We should have had your teddy bear when we transitioned in April of 22.
Speaker 2:We could have had it on the memorabilia table. I think it kind of relates to the next and last thing we're going to talk about for the special day today. Okay, national Moldy Cheese Day. I think Yogi's a little moldy by now.
Speaker 3:Okay, I thought maybe you were saying you were moldy so you had to get out.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't go there. But yeah, there's someone that would say that. And so this is National Moldy Cheese Day, and so why would they have a National Moldy Cheese Day?
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:All the I don't know, all the weird people that like blue cheese.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I really don't know, I don't know, I cannot stand that stuff, is that?
Speaker 3:really is blue cheese really molded cheese? Yeah. Yeah yeah, yeah, I don't normally like it, but when I go to Red Robin, they have an avocado salad and that's what I get every time avocado, because it's really avocado, but it's avocado hey, listen.
Speaker 1:I know my Red Robin menu it's a Cobb salad with avocado in it, barry yes, but it's blue cheese and I'm like, oh man, this is.
Speaker 3:You know why they serve that?
Speaker 2:don't you saves money and tell you it's really good stuff. It's blue cheese and I'm like, oh man, this is so good. You know why they serve that, don't you? No, Saves money. You have to throw it out. So we just have to go and tell you it's really good stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm never going to look at it the same again. You didn't know.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Molly Petrie is here today, the executive director of CASA of Shawnee County.
Speaker 4:Molly, I hope that you're okay all of this with us today. I am good.
Speaker 3:You're good. I'm still trying to visualize the Urkel tall. I know I'm going to have to ask mom if she still has that. It might be worth money now, who knows?
Speaker 2:Oh, molly, thank you for joining us today. We do this most every podcast, just to kind of make sure everybody really is into it. And so now we're really going to get into something very important and that's Casa of Shawnee County, and so you're the executive director to get into something very important and that's CASA of Shawnee County, and so you're the executive director, and how long have you been executive director now?
Speaker 4:So I took over in May and so still fresh enough.
Speaker 2:but getting the feel.
Speaker 4:So what is CASA? So CASA stands for a Court Appointed Special Advocate. So CASA started actually with a judge. That is community to partner with these kids and let me know what's going on with these families. And it caught on and it spread, and so now what happens is with CASA, all of our workers are unpaid volunteers that we train and these children find themselves at no fault of their own in the court system due to abuse or neglect or both, and then we utilize these volunteers from the community to be their advocate and make sure their voice is heard and through all of the changeover and transfer of positions and all kinds of other things, because in social work and child welfare it's common that people aren't in it forever, so these kids can be in long cases and they get to know all these different people and people talk over them and around them instead of to them about what they want.
Speaker 2:Explain to us in just a second, when we're talking about these kids in court, what's going on in their lives, what was happening there. But first of all, is CASA a national organization?
Speaker 4:Yes, so it is a national organization, but then there is a state level that oversees the chapters of different counties across the state.
Speaker 2:So we had a local judge, shawnee County judge, who thought it would be good here. Is that how that happened here in Topeka, Kansas, shawnee County, or was this broader than that?
Speaker 4:So it started nationally and then within Kansas. I believe Sedgwick was the first county. And then here it was. Junior League was kind of one of the defining features.
Speaker 2:There was a judge nationally that saw this and got it going. Okay, not local, nope. And so why did it start here? What was? I know you're new as executive director. You've been involved for a little bit now, beyond just being executive director, but what is your recollection? Who decided it would be good? Junior league, yes, but you know the why. That was what were people seeing that they felt that there needed to be volunteers working with these kids.
Speaker 4:Sure. So really, the main reason is we were noticing the disruption in families. We were noticing that there were quite a few kids in foster care. We were noticing that children were needing this help due to broken family systems and all kinds of other internal within the home issues, and they weren't necessarily getting fixed and it not everybody knew what all was going on. Um it, they came to court. There was a lot of them.
Speaker 2:um come to court? For what purpose?
Speaker 4:Abuse or neglect.
Speaker 2:Okay, Um, so not child committing a crime like shoplifting or anything. This is children. Are they removed from the home at this time? Generally?
Speaker 4:Often yes, okay, so juvenile court-wise, there are two different types of court.
Speaker 4:You've got child in need of care court, which is those children that are facing abuse or neglect at no fault of their own, and then the other side of that is the juvenile offender court.
Speaker 4:So that is your crime committing. But for the most part, most of our work is in the child in need of care court. But, with that said, we are starting to see more crossover, where kiddos are impacted by abuse or neglect within the family system and then they find themselves getting a charge and becoming a juvenile offender because of this generational repeat, if you will, or that's kind of the only thing they know, or that's how they have found to cry for help, or whatever that might be. Or, on the flip side, they find a charge first and then, once we start bringing the family in and stuff like that, you then find out that there's some broken family system there as well and it can cross over into the child in need of care because that the crime they are committing. Maybe it was just a cry for help or there's some really crazy stuff going on at home.
Speaker 2:So there's a child that is in the court system neglect or abuse who identifies that child needs some volunteer to step into their life. And then how do you get connected CASA-wise with that child and how does that work?
Speaker 4:Sure, so there's a couple different ways. The bottom line is it will always come down to a child in need of care court, so we call it SYNC.
Speaker 2:The SYNC judge is Judge Penny Moylan and she We've had on podcaster before Board President, speaker, rescue Mission, exactly.
Speaker 4:And she will be the ultimate decision maker of if we are able to take on a case and assign a volunteer. But we have people reach out to us from all over. It can be a foster parent or a foster placement, it could be a therapist, it could be a caseworker, and they just say we need some more eyes and ears on this because something just isn't quite making sense or this is taking a long time, or there's a lot of moving parts and we just need something more. And the part that is very cool, that brings CASA in, is number one. Our ratios are very small. Any caseworker could have, you know, 50, 75 kids on a case and that you can just only be so deep and personalized case worker with who?
Speaker 2:um with the foster system any of that not a cost of worker.
Speaker 4:Nope, okay, um, but when it comes to Casa we can um. Our limit, unless we make an exception, is is two cases, two children, because each child is their own case. So if I was the Casa volunteer, each child is their own case. So if I was the CASA volunteer unless an exception was made usually, which would mean we want to keep a large sibling group together for consistency or something like that, but other than that it would be I am only working one or two cases at a time and that's my only focus.
Speaker 4:So the depth and the rapport and the trust and the connection that can happen can really open the eyes of the child where they're much more willing to share. We also get to know all entities. We're getting to know the school teacher, the bio family, the foster family. We're talking to the therapist. We're getting to know all those aspects to really see what would be the best interest of the child and we're also recognizing their wishes too. So when they feel talked past or talked over, we're talking to them and raising their voice up to hopefully expedite the process but get them in the best permanent situation we can.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like a judge then says this is a more complicated case, needs this additional eyes and ears to be able to do some more kind of assisting the case managers? The case workers. But it's beyond that for the kid, isn't?
Speaker 4:it Always, well, almost always. The really cool part is that these volunteers number one they are able to say they're just that they're a volunteer. We are so thankful for all aspects that we have in this network of child welfare, but even down to foster homes, there still is a payment happening there of some kind and a wage being earned. But these CASA volunteers are not. They don't earn any money and they're there simply because they want to be and that's all. So telling these kids that, number one, I'm here because I want to know you, I want to help you and I want to be that trusted adult for you. But, number two, they care about them and they go to their games, and it's also so this is a mentor.
Speaker 4:Oh, 100%. And it's teaching these children, too, that often haven't experienced it, that you can have a bad day, or you can be mad at me, or whatever that might be, but I'm not going anywhere, I'm still going to be here. And even if you do have to change foster homes 20 times, even if you do have to move and things don't make sense to you, you can call me and I'm here for you.
Speaker 2:So this volunteer enters into this child's life. They build a trusting relationship, they become a mentor. But it's not like 90 days, it's like for how long.
Speaker 4:So that's a great question. It varies greatly, but if we're looking at just the state of Kansas, the average child in need of care case right now is four years, and that would be from the start of when they're brought in until they either get adopted, they reintegrate home or maybe they age out if they hit that 18-year-old mark. So four years is about that. With that said, there are cases that go on much longer than that and there's some that get figured out sooner.
Speaker 2:It just varies greatly. Could be that the cost of volunteer is in that child's life for the entire duration of that case, or even afterwards possibly. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Um, that, that depends a little bit. Um, on occasion, there might be an adoption situation where, um the family just says you know, we are so thankful for everything you did, but I think we just need a fresh start, and so we're going to thank you and move on. So that does happen sometimes because it could be just memories are triggering, but there's a lot of times that even after that case is done they're just that child's person and they'll be it.
Speaker 2:So this is an official action of the court. It's not something that somebody says, hey, I want to get in this kid's life. It's not something that somebody says, hey, I want to get in this kid's life. It's an appointment by the court. Court appointed special advocate, which means some training Lamanda you and I have had the privilege of going to some CASA annual meetings.
Speaker 2:TPD Sergeant Matt Rose is board president of CASA. He's also behavioral health, CIT, street outreach great partner, been on our community, our mission before. There's stories that are revealed at these annual meetings that are pretty powerful. What have you learned? And maybe you were familiar with CASA before you came to the rescue mission, but I know that since you've been director, maybe even before that, you started going to some of these annual meetings and hearing these stories of people who are adults now, who were impacted by this mentor, this CASA volunteer. What do you come away with when you go there?
Speaker 3:Well, they're always just one, well-organized, well-done, and I just look forward to them in anticipation. And I have to be honest, I'm not sure that every meeting I go to I'm looking forward to, sometimes very you know I mean, cause these are early in the morning too.
Speaker 3:These are first thing in the morning, uh, but I just know um one children matter to the Lord, and so to me, I need to be a part of CASA in some capacity, whether it's personally, whether it's professionally, and so I look forward to the meetings every year. From how it's done, the intentionality, the stories, intentionality, the stories. Um, one of the things you know to be vulnerable that I take away from each year is especially now being um in this position with the rescue mission is I can't help but look at the faces of some of the people we served and think, man, could there have outcome been different if they would have had a Casa? And so to me, no maybe you're adults now.
Speaker 3:Yes, and I see that Um and I I took that away too. You know, previously when I was a principal um, I mean a principal school size can be anywhere between 120 to a thousand, depending on what school they're responsible for Um, and one of the first schools I was responsible for, we had over 500 children in just the elementary side, and just seeing how positive a CASA individual can be in the midst of such a sticky situation, that, yes, that person is there to advocate on behalf of the child. But so often you see, the CASA volunteers just have a heart for redemption. You have a heart for some type of restoration, whether that means with that family in a different family, whatever the outcome can be just a beautiful mixture to me of almost just a warrior but also someone who is just so tender as well, because I can't I've never been one, but all I can think about is, man, you're there for the child, but you've got to also want so much change and so much restoration and stuff for the family members involved too, and so to me it takes a special person to do that, and so I look forward to the meetings.
Speaker 3:I walk away there just thinking, man, I wish we had more. I know they do a great job, but when I look at all of the hurting adults that are on the streets and then when we are able to walk alongside them and get to know many of their stories and we recognize they weren't always this 30 year old female selling her body to this. She was once a three year old who was molested and it wasn't caught, and things like that. To me, those annual meetings with Casa just puts it back in perspective that every adult now that we look at that it's not as easy for us to have an empathetic heart to many of them were once a child that really needed something like this. So it's just a connecting piece for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's a good one. I know, molly, when I've gone to these meetings, these annual meetings, you have oftentimes adults who were part of the court system as a child and they've come through this and how impactful that volunteer was in their life and it seemed like it was one of those situations where it made such a tremendous difference in their life. Some are parents now themselves, some have got college degrees. Those mentors meant a lot and what's really awesome is sometimes that mentor, that CASA volunteer that helped that person when they were a child, is in that same room and they get recognized. I mean that's pretty cool stuff to be able to see that link and then to have some judges talk about how important this is, judge Moylan being one of those that has spoken, how valuable this is to the whole court system. So that's the pretty shiny stuff.
Speaker 2:These are kids in hard places. These are kids who have seen things and experienced things that they've had to be. There, had to be an intervention in their life, a legal intervention in their life, and so you just don't do that just because it's a kid. This is part. What kind of person does it take to become a CASA volunteer? What kind of attributes or personality. Why would somebody want to do this? Because they're going to hear about things. They're going to maybe witness some things. Things are going to get revealed to them that they're going to have to share, that are horrendously painful. Certainly don't want somebody in there who's not stable. So how do you find the right person to get into that mess, to try to guide that child through the mess?
Speaker 4:Sure. So first and foremost, I want to say thanks for bringing to light that often some of the adults you run into are kids with a past that weren't advocated for, weren't found, because I think that's something I really like to hit on and like to bring to people is number one. The kids that we're talking about are kids in our community. It doesn't matter how affluent the neighborhood, it doesn't matter how fancy the stuff None of that matters. It impacts anyone and everyone. But also you can't just ignore them, because these kids grow up to be adults in your community and it's an investment in your future to invest in these kids now. But when it comes to the volunteers, at the core of everything is you care about kids and you care about the well-being of people. So that would be number one. You're a caring person and you want what is best for kids and families in their life.
Speaker 4:From there, we have our simple rules of you need to be 21 or older, you need to pass your background checks. So we run anything and everything of a background check and then from there we talk about we have a personal interview. From there we talk about we have a personal interview. We talk about how do you feel about interviewing people you've never met? How do you feel about you know? Do you think there are situations where a child can never go back home or what do you see as the difference between poverty and neglect? And we hit on those topics and through all of that usually we get a pretty good feel for the people that could be volunteers. But then from there they get into their training and the topics get a lot heavier and we do a 30-hour training and then within that they also observe child in need of care court for four hours, and so through all of that they get a pretty good feel.
Speaker 4:And there are times where people go through all of that and they say what you guys do is incredible, but I can't.
Speaker 4:And we say you know that's okay, thank you for your honesty, because at the end of the day, if you don't have the time or feel hesitant or unsure, is that child really better off with you as an advocate than without?
Speaker 4:So while I would love to say everybody should be an advocate, it's just not for everybody and that's okay. And the communication and the honesty and really analyzing yourself within is important before you would get started. But I do hear people say it's going to be heavy and I would probably be too attached or too emotional. And I would push back on that and say it would be weird if you weren't emotional, because it's really heavy stuff and it's just showing this child you can be human. And if it's heavy for you as an adult who has a developed brain and can comprehend what's going on, imagine what it's like for the child that doesn't get to go home to your house at night and imagine if their brain isn't formed all the way and that's all they know and they don't have somebody to turn to. So being told that it's too emotional or it's too hard or any of that it's, all of those things are okay.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I know the Rescue Mission has recognized, over a period of years, a lot of people who are in this frontline work is what's called secondary trauma.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so the child in this case has been traumatized in some horrendous ways that the average person probably doesn't know about, doesn't want to know about. But yet we have a person who says you know, I want to help children, I care for kids. You've gone through the training they get out there on the field and now it's real. And so how do you as an organization support your CASA volunteers, who are then dealing with their own trauma that is a result of what they're encountering with the child, and maybe sometimes their own personal trauma comes up that they hadn't thought about for a long time, maybe never did, when they were a child?
Speaker 4:Sure. So even though you can only address so much, we do try and ask about past traumas during our interviews, and before we would ever match a volunteer with a child or a case we ask we give them kind of the scenario of what is going on. So at that point if I have something triggering from my past that would be troublesome to then advocate for, we do our best to not match those. If they think that would be too much, so that would be part of it.
Speaker 2:But from there you don't have the crystal ball all the time to know what's exactly going to happen Not all the time.
Speaker 4:No, um, it'd make everything a lot easier, but um say that often, yeah. Um, we have um staff that oversees the advocates, um the the, the volunteer advocates, the volunteer advocates. So we do the training as staff. We are with them at all of the meetings, we are with them at court.
Speaker 2:We are with them throughout the entire day, so you just don't throw them out there with the kid. No, so your staff actually are the support team.
Speaker 4:Yes, okay, 100%. And whether that is event session or giving some ideas on how to move forward, or helping if somebody is not calling back and they feel like they need to talk to them, but also to the point of you know it's your first case and you're you know, you felt really great in training and now you're like holy moly, this is about to start.
Speaker 1:It's because you got real yeah.
Speaker 4:And that's the point when we say, how about? For that initial meeting, we go with you and for this first log you're going to write of what you did this month. Or for your first court report, or for multiple court reports, we're going to meet you where you're at. And that's what I tell all of our volunteers is at the end of the day, you are an unpaid volunteer. I cannot do, we cannot do what we do without you.
Speaker 2:And they're not necessarily a trained expert, they're not social workers, they're not psychiatrists, they're not they could be but they they don't have those qualifications. They have a qualification of they really believe that they are supposed to work with children, yes, and then you do all the rest of equipping.
Speaker 4:Yes, and then we, if they feel like they're maybe lacking in a certain area, we'll find them resources, we'll find them trainings, and I mean even to the point of we've had a volunteer that just was not the most computer savvy, which is fine, and typing his monthly log of what he did into a Word document was just quite the feat. So at that point he would come in once a month with our supervisor and she would type it for him.
Speaker 2:Well then, I could be a volunteer 100%, you could I was going to say that might be me baby, we don't have to do the computer thing.
Speaker 3:I'm good.
Speaker 4:We have to be appreciative and thankful for all they do, because we can't do it alone, and to say that I'm a paid staff member that is there with them does not have the effect of. I am someone that chose to be here in my own time, without any monetary value, and I am here because I care about you and that's all. So at that point, however, we need to assist. We do.
Speaker 2:Approximately how many SYNC cases, children in need of care cases at any given time, or maybe annually? If you know, those numbers exist in Shawnee County.
Speaker 4:So on average there's about 654 kids at any given time in an out-of-home placement in foster care.
Speaker 2:At any given time. Yep In Shawnee County.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and when you so granted. The figures I have right now are back from July of 22 to June of 23. To June of 23. But back in that time the number of kids that were removed from their home in Shawnee County we were the second highest county in all of Kansas. The only one that beat us was Sedgwick, which is down in Wichita. But if you think about CASA chapters, there is a chapter in Johnson County which is a very large county, but they're also Johnson and Wyandotte put together and we're still beating that.
Speaker 2:Let's pause on that. What's going on? What's going on? Shawnee County, yep, so about three times the population at least, than here. What do you hear when you hear those high numbers of children needing to be removed from the homes in our community?
Speaker 3:You know, our numbers have been high for a long time in Topeka and Shawnee County and I do think that there was some inaccurate information being perceived through COVID Because we started kind of talking even in the school systems hey, it seems like there's less cases, there's less numbers, and I will just continue to caution on that, that I don't believe the need lessened around COVID. I think that it is a no brainer that a lot of people that can identify concerns and needs to advocate on behalf of children. Everything was shut down. You had doctor's offices that couldn't see children. You had school systems that weren't seeing children. You had different school functions, extracurricular activity, all of these different things that sometimes consist of mandated reporters not allowed to see the warning signs, and so you know, I am always curious to see how some of the cases are broken down by zip code.
Speaker 3:I think that's something that's often not discussed a whole lot, and I think that sometimes what we think doesn't always align with some of the data that's out there. The bottom line is families can be broken regardless of what digits you're in. There can be tragedy, there can be violence, there can be misconduct, abuse, neglect in any household, and so these struggles do not discriminate. What family can assist with that? And so I'm not shocked by the numbers.
Speaker 3:What I think is, and has been concerning for me, both as an educator, both as just a mom and just someone who loves children, nobody can really talk about why. And so then I'm thinking you know, has our community done a deep dive into what types of parenting classes are out there? How do we assist in first time parents? How do we assist in those kinds of things? We have a lot that is out there, but I'm not sure it's one of those topics of how often are we really talking about parenting and then, if you really want to get either controversial or in the weeds a lot of times, some of the parenting concerns that are inflicted on children have nothing to do with parenting, and so then it goes to what needs are not met of the adults in that household.
Speaker 2:Sometimes a child might be removed because there's no beds, there's no food, there's no fridge, there's no heat, there's no.
Speaker 3:And you know, very seldom, if at all, can I imagine and I'm not naive A mom, a dad, a grandparent waking up and saying I cannot wait to not be able to provide for my kid today.
Speaker 3:Or knowingly saying I'm waking up today and I can't wait to inflict whatever on my child, right? And so my heart just hurts because, yes, the children have to be the focus and what some kids endure is sickening, it's heartbreaking all of that. But I also just feel like, as a Christian myself, but also now in a role of being more with adults than children, I also think we need to be asking the why of why do the adults sometimes do, or why does some of this happen to the households and what can we do on that? And knowing that redemption can come, transportation, transformation can come, and that we want that for the children, yes, but we also can't just cast aside the adults, because I stand firm and looking at everybody's face when we're on the streets, when we're in the shelter, when we're in courtrooms, whatever the gel cells, that person was someone's daughter or son. So it's heavy.
Speaker 2:Molly, what you just kind of opened up here was, I think, a topic that we're going to talk about another time. Probably have you involved, if we can. Why are we having this kind of need for our children in our community? Amanda, we've been talking for some time about ending chronic homelessness. Well, this is homeless production If we don't have a way to intervene. Not everybody that's a child in need of care is going to end up homeless or chronic, but certainly it's a big contributing factor. If we don't take care of them at the child level, then when they become adults they're going to be more challenged to be able to be successful and not be in that situation.
Speaker 3:And Barry, we hear it all the times on the streets. So, with these surveys that we're doing, as we're looking at, what is this going to look like in 2025,? We're trying to formulate the questions now to incorporate some type of where you in foster care or this, that and the other, trying to figure out what information we want. And the reason why is because when we are blessed enough, sometimes people just out of the chute tell us their story, but a lot of times that doesn't just happen. It takes time to build trust. But what we've noticed and it's not just female, it's male as well when we really start getting information regarding to the first time you experienced homelessness, or when we're asking them now what do you feel are contributing factors to how you have gotten here, to where you were?
Speaker 3:Um, it is shocking how many people have said, um, I was a runaway. Well, why'd you run away? I was running away from abuse. I was running away. I had to find a job, I had to start getting food, I was stealing in the schools, those kinds of things. Or, we hear well, I fostered out, I was in the foster care system and then aged out, had nowhere to go, so I began selling my body. I started doing this.
Speaker 3:The men a lot of times will say, well, doing this. The men a lot of times will say, well, I was doing little crimes because I was basically homeless as an older child or a teen and I was couch surfing, and then that couch surfing turned into I had availability to drugs. The drugs then turn into addiction. The addiction can turn into crime.
Speaker 3:We're seeing that, and so that's one of our focuses in 2025 is to say, yes, this is what, in regards to homelessness, my responsibility as the executive director, here's the data that's showing it. But we can't just take that for face value and really taking a step back to say how much can we find out about what has happened to these people so that this group of people we can help go upstream and do preventative measures? But, man, it takes time, it takes resources, it takes availability, it takes partnerships. I mean even just sharing of ideas. We at TRM, if we know better, we can do better, but all of that cannot be done overnight. But there is a story whether it's a story and these children's homes, whether it's a story with Molly as the executive director of CASA, whatever the case may be and that are going to be written and it's going to take a lot of us to be game changers in that, to change those stories, and I feel like that is what CASA does, that's what the Rescue Mission does.
Speaker 2:That's what a lot of just incredible groups in our community get to do yes and yes. Molly, you've got all these cases in Shawnee County, which is again topic for another discussion about the why what we do differently. How many requests do you have for CASA volunteers out of that 600 plus at any given time from the court system? And do you have enough volunteers? And if you don't, which probably is the answer is no, you don't. How can we help you?
Speaker 4:Number one you can be a volunteer. Um. So right now, of the um you know, 650 ish that we have in Shawnee County, we're serving 13% with what we have.
Speaker 2:Um, now, you know, it's better than we because, it's good because we, we just don't have enough volunteers. Yeah, volunteers.
Speaker 4:So it I mean it's a cycle like pretty much any um social welfare nonprofit. We need more volunteers and in turn from that we will eventually need more staff to serve those volunteers which means more funds.
Speaker 1:You know it's a cycle, but um the biggest part of it is we need the volunteers which means more funds.
Speaker 4:You know it's a cycle, but the biggest part of it is we need the volunteers and we need more funds. But another part of it is just awareness and awareness of what CASA is, awareness of how to get involved and how to help. But also, people find it so taboo to talk about abused and neglected children or children in the foster care system and instead of finding the more polite ways to say that and to keep it more quiet, it needs to be shouted from the roofs of all the buildings.
Speaker 2:Take the bow and the wrapping paper off this thing.
Speaker 4:Exactly, take the bow and the wrapping paper off this thing Exactly. You know, even if we're not talking about the nitty gritty of the story, it's. These are kids that you see at Dylan's or walking down the sidewalk or anything else, or in school with your own kids that need help and they're not getting it from the people you would assume would give it and the people we would turn to for our own help. So at that point you're a community member, you're a neighbor, you're somebody. You can be that help and a lot of the help we do get you talked about being a teacher and a principal and all that. We always have a big uptick of reports in August and September when school comes back. And I used to be a teacher and I cared a little bit more about my kids that weren't eating or the hotlines I was making than if they knew the history of something or how the seeds fell out of the tree and I realized I'm not going to be the best teacher.
Speaker 2:For our listeners here. There's a significant amount of people in need in the Tepico-Shawnee County area. There are children way more than 650, who are hungry, who are maybe in rough places, to say the least. We're talking about ones that are in the court system here. These are the ones that the authorities have said whoa, we got to put a stop to this right now.
Speaker 2:So you know, there's different youth groups out here that are doing phenomenal work of engaging. You know, church youth groups, young Life, youth for Christ, the list goes on Boys and Girls Club, big Brothers, big Sisters, I mean all of these. But these are a special group of kids who have been deemed and you're still only about 13% of the volunteers that you need to be able to intervene at this level, and so this is a specialty kind of regards to engaging with kids' lives. But you have the understanding, you have the training, you have the support, you have the walk alongside these special volunteers. That's why they call them special advocates, right, yeah, court-appointed special advocates. They're very special. And so, molly, last question, well, two questions. One is how do people get a hold of you and how do they check it out to say, hey, I would like to know more about CASA.
Speaker 4:Sure. So the number one would be to go to our website, and the easiest way, the second you get on Google, type in CASA of Shawnee County and boop there we are. There you go. So from there you can read about what we are, you can read about how to become a volunteer, and within the website you can also just click become a volunteer and your application is right on there and it auto populates the data right to us and lets us know to reach out to get an interview for you. If you don't feel volunteering is your thing, but maybe you have the monetary funds that you can donate. You can do that right through our website as well. Another area is on Facebook. If you look up Casa of Shawnee County, we are on there.
Speaker 4:I try as much as I can to highlight things about the county, but also volunteer stories and showing just how different all of our volunteers are. It's not a certain type of person or a certain type of profession. It's moms of young kids, it's men who have never had kids, it's builders, it's past counselors, it's anything and everything. So those would be kind of the number one way is to get a hold of us but also get involved, and then from there we have our fundraisers. That can be that kind of foot in the door just to get a taste of CASA. So we have our Homes for the Holiday Tours coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving. It's always a fun see the holiday spirit in the homes around town. But you can just that's a slight way to give to CASA. Then our annual breakfast that you guys both attended is a way to kind of get the deeper information but also get a feel for who is following. There's ways to kind of get that initial touch and then touch further from website or Facebook.
Speaker 2:Do you go out in the community and do presentations?
Speaker 4:civic groups we help and some of our data points and factoids but also how to get involved in what that would look like and it's kind of silly. But a great way to get a good feel for CASA is to go to YouTube and it's not going to necessarily be Shawnee County, but just type CASA volunteer experience, and there are videos all over and it's the volunteer perspective, it's the child perspective, it is even sometimes the judge's perspective of how much of a difference it made and completely changed the behavior of a child or all kinds of things, or wrapped up a case that really didn't even need to be a case. We just didn't know. One small piece of information.
Speaker 2:So I think people can learn it better, sometimes hearing it from the source instead of-. I've talked to two judges who work the SYNC cases, judge Moylan being one, and they are so appreciative of what you do Game changer for them as well. Last question for you, molly Okay, what's your why? Why are you doing this? Well, last question for you, molly, okay, what's your why?
Speaker 4:Why are you doing this? I love kids. I'm a mom of two. I used to teach and they had to be, you know, young and shorter than me and want hugs, and that was my niche. Are all?
Speaker 2:teachers that are blonde short.
Speaker 3:Listen.
Speaker 4:some of the best ones are Stopped at second grade for a reason. By the time they hit third they were looking down on me. But I, just I have a passion for family, for children and just for human nature and and I think that every child deserves to feel safe and comfortable and like they are seen and they belong in their home or in their family. But that lead to all of these cases because at the end of the day, almost always there is so much love in these families, even though it doesn't look like it to us. The kids do love the parents and the parents do love the kids.
Speaker 4:But I want these children to feel valued, safe, comfortable and happy. And knowing that there's almost 700 kids right in my county and then you go out to the state and you go out to the nation Like that's just so many kids who don't know what it feels like to just be held when you need it and told how special they are and how great they're going to be one day and how great they already are. I have the mom guilt because I didn't get the right kind of jelly or whatever it is, but to think that on a level that's just so much smaller than what all these other?
Speaker 4:kids or families are going through, and I just want every child to feel the value that it shouldn't have to be earned. You should just. That's just part of being alive is that you should feel valued and special. Being alive is that you should feel valued and special, and so the goal is, one day I'll just be here to talk to you guys instead of talking to you about the need we have for these kids.
Speaker 4:So I just, I just want these kids to feel special and all kids to feel special, because that's just how it should be. So, that's why I do it.
Speaker 2:Molly Petrie, executive director of the CASA, shawnee County. Thank you for being a part of our community, our mission. Thank you for your passion and just really talking like it is. And you're like Lamanda over here. You both are advocates for this. You both are educators from a previous experience, but you also are trying to educate a community and run organizations. You both have big responsibilities here that have immediate consequences of moving the needle forward in the right direction, but also long term. And so, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:If you've been listening to Molly here today, talk about the court appointed special advocates in Shawnee County. You've heard a little bit about the difficulties here in our community over 650, maybe close to 700 children in need of care in the court systems at any given time about 13% of the need of volunteers to step into these children's lives. If you're one of those individuals, yeah, go to Google and type in Casa Shawnee County and you can get a lot of information there. And also, this must might be the day that the Lord touched your heart and said, yeah, I'm supposed to take that next step to check this out, so that I can be somebody in a child's life to help them know that they're important, that they're valued and that they have a future. Thank you for listening to our community our mission. If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to the website at trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg. Join us next time, also for the fifth year anniversary of Our Community Our Mission. Thank you for listening.