On Tuesday, July 24 at 5:30 p.m., the Bloom House at 705 Dallas Avenue will be hosting an event to inform residents on how to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).

CASA volunteers are judge-appointed individuals who watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children. The volunteers go into the homes of suspected cases of abuse and neglect and report back to the judge.

Volunteers are directly involved in court cases.

Volunteer Coordinator Amy Carmichael said she is happy to be part of the event and meet those who are interested in becoming CASA volunteer.

“What we want to do is have an event where anyone who is interested can come and find out how to become a volunteer and what it entails,” Carmichael said. “We are partnering with the Bloom House because they are a really successful organization that offers support for foster families.”

Carmichael acknowledges that some people may not have the finances to adopt a child, she said she feels that by becoming a CASA volunteer, those wanting to adopt will still have an opportunity to assist a child.

“We were thinking that for people who have always wanted to foster or adopt but just can’t financially afford to, this will be something that they can do to help the children,” Carmichael said.

She said the program is worth looking into, and hopes that many people participate in the event and become CASA volunteers.

“It’s such an awesome program; it is really needed,” Carmichael said. “There are so many sad cases that we deal with where we just think, ‘what if CASA was involved in this?’ There could still be abuse going on now if we hadn’t stepped in and made sure that the child was removed from the home. There are so many cases of this. We have way more cases than we have manpower. We don’t have enough volunteers and we really want to get the community involved and let them know what we do.”

This will be the first event open to the public, and refreshments will be available.