Less than a week after being sworn in as a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer, Karen Nedvidek was assigned her first case – a child whose circumstances she had already read about in the newspaper.

CASA of South Central Kentucky recruits and trains citizen volunteers to advocate for abused, neglected and dependent children in Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Metcalfe and Warren counties. Volunteers work directly with the child, social services, the court system, foster parents, biological parents, caseworkers, doctors, therapists and teachers. Through that contact with the involved parties, CASA volunteers report back to a family court judge their observations in an effort to bring about the most positive outcome for the child.

Locally, CASA has 50 volunteers who served 93 children in 2015. However, the number of children who needed a special advocate last year was 1,000, according to Jana Sublett, executive director of CASA of South Central Kentucky.

“We are only serving 8 percent of what needs to be served for CASA,” Sublett said. “That’s due to a lack of resources and lack of volunteers.”

The local CASA office employs 1 1/2 positions. That leaves one direct staff person overseeing 30 volunteers who oversee 75 children, she said.

CASA currently needs more volunteers and is holding training for interested volunteers in mid-July. Volunteers must be 21 years old, and the deadline to apply for the July training session is July 1.

“A volunteer would go through 30 hours training initially, do a monitoring session of family court and are sworn in through the family court system. They are an extra layer of eye and ears for the family court system,” Sublett said. “They would meet the child, build rapport, they are a party to the case similar to anyone else in the court system.

“Children with CASA volunters are more likely to receive therapy, health care, education, more likely to do better in school, less likely to be bounced from one place to another, less likely to get stuck in long-term foster care and significantly more likely to reach safe, permanent homes.”

Nedvidek has been a volunteer for about a year and half.

“It’s been tremendously fulfilling,” Nedvidek said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. I always knew I wanted to do this once our children were out of school. I’m amazed at the social workers, the family court workers, the judges … at what they do for these children. …

“I want to do what I can to help these children and to assist in the court system and anyone working with these children. That’s my goal to assist with their jobs and help these children find happiness, a home, stability and safety.”

The work is not time consuming and could easily be done by someone who also holds down a job, Nedvidek said.

“The need is there and it’s a great group … and everyone is working towards the same purpose,” she said.

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Sublett at director@casaofsck.org or call 270-782-5353 to be sent the application and other forms or visit www.CASAofSCK.org/volunteer to download forms.

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.