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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Ind. Courts - CASA funding an issue in Bloomington

Bethany Nolan of the Bloominton Herald-Tribune reports:

A local volunteer-driven children's advocacy program says it doesn't have nearly enough money to uphold a new state law.

The Indiana Legislature passed a law in 2005 requiring that all abused or neglected children in the court system be provided a court appointed special advocate, or CASA. But one local official is protesting there isn't enough money available to fulfill that requirement.

CASA director Jill Jolliff said her office recently requested more than $53,000 through a grant process from the state. They received $5,000.

"That's a drop in the bucket," Jolliff said. "We haven't had a chance to crunch the numbers yet, but we'll be able to serve just a few more children."

She estimated the funding would help an additional three to six children. And that's not enough, she said. CASA volunteers worked on about 80 cases last year, she said, pointing out those numbers are down from previous years.

If the numbers go back up, the program will be even further behind, she said. "This is one of those unfunded mandates from the state," she said.

In the future, Jolliff said, she thinks funding shouldn't be awarded competitively but should be based on a state formula for fairness. "I don't think they should make it competitive," she said. "It ties up time and resources that could be used for helping children."

State CASA director Leslie Rogers Dunn said she hopes to ask the Legislature for more money in the future. And as difficult as it was to see some programs receive less money than others, she said, she focused on the fact that about $500,000 was given out this year to help Indiana children, she said.

See earlier ILB entries on CASA here and here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 16, 2006 01:03 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts