The State Office of GAL/CASA held the Seventeenth Annual Indiana State GAL/CASA Conference, entitled “Times of Change” on September 14 at the Wyndham West Hotel in Indianapolis. Over six hundred CASA volunteers, directors and program staff participated in the conference. The keynote speaker, Charlie Appelstein, an author, spoke on the topic, “No Such Thing as a Bad Kid,” and provided tips to advocates on how to work with difficult kids. There were also conference workshops on a variety of topics including working with families in poverty, advocating for infants, trauma informed care, the meth and heroin epidemic, working with difficult parents, sex abuse accommodation syndrome, helping children manage anger, and secrets of highly successful CASA volunteers.
Each year at the conference a volunteer of the year is selected by a committee of directors from volunteers nominated by programs all over the state. This year, the 2013 Volunteer of the Year was Marissa Reed from Monroe County CASA. Reed is a single working mother with two children who chose to volunteer to advocate for abused and neglected children. She accepted an extremely challenging case in which she advocated for a terminally ill child. The child ultimately died and Reed worked closely with the family as difficult decisions were made regarding the child’s care and funeral. Reed was an important part of supporting the family through the challenging time. Reed was nominated by Monroe County CASA with support from Monroe Circuit Court Judge Stephen Galvin. Reed was presented the award by Judge John D. Potter, of the Jasper Circuit Court.
The day before the conference, the State Office held a GAL/CASA directors and staff meeting and training that was attended by 120 people from across the state. Program staff and directors were provided with legal and legislative updates, a DCS update, information about the CHINS timeliness measures project, and other policy updates. At the meeting each year, a director is awarded the Elaine Fuller Director of the Year Award. The recipient of the 2013 Director of the Year Award was Rex McFarren of Allen County. Rex is the longest serving CASA director in the state, having served in that capacity for over 28 years.