Bonney Lake residents Channa Copeland and Susan Ward were honored at Pierce County Juvenile Court’s annual volunteer appreciation luncheon on April 14. The event was held to recognize the important work done by Court Appointed Special Advocates: volunteers who help abused and neglected children navigate the court system.
Susan Ward has been named the “Ken Nelson CASA of the Year.” Ms. Ward currently advocates for 11 children and has served 20 children over four and a half years as a CASA. The CASA program described her advocacy as knowledgeable and unwavering. Facilitating school meetings, networking with adoption recruiters, ensuring that the children’s belongings follow them when they move and that they have documented memories from all of their homes are among the ways Ms. Ward advocates for the children she represents.
“If Susan runs into a roadblock she navigates her way around it and keeps going,” CASA coordinator Julie Lowery said. “She cares about each and every child like they are her own. She is selfless and puts her children’s needs above all else.”
Channa Copeland will be honored for volunteering 840 hours during 2011 – the highest number of volunteer hours among all Pierce County CASA volunteers. She has been an advocate since 2003 and has advocated for a total of 26 children. Her volunteer work was noteworthy for its quality as well as for the number of hours she volunteered. CASA coordinator Julie Lowery cited the case of a child with severe psychiatric problems who was fortunate to have Ms. Copeland as an advocate.
“Channa worked tirelessly in her advocacy for this little boy, literally logging hundreds of hours on his case alone,” Lowery said. “This child’s adoption was finalized in December – something which would not have happened without Channa’s many hours of amazing advocacy.”
CASA is a national program which utilizes volunteers to serve as guardians ad litum (law guardians) for children in foster care. Volunteers visit the children in their case, investigate the facts of the case and make recommendations to the court. They are the voice of children and the eyes and ears of the court.
Pierce County’s program began in 1983 with three CASAs and has grown to 230 volunteers who advocate for more than 650 children. The goal is to provide a CASA volunteer for every abused and neglected child in the Pierce County Juvenile Court system. More than 600 children do not have a CASA, so the need for more volunteers is high. The program continually recruits individuals interested in becoming CASAs and needs individuals who are thorough, logical, and reliable and have 5-10 hours per month available to volunteer. Training is provided nine times throughout the year. For more information call (253) 798-3837 or go to www.washingtonstatecasa.org
