Child abuse and neglect knows no season. Every day, children are abused and neglected across the country. When children become wards of the court, their parents are represented in the proceedings. However, there is no one who speaks especially for the child. GAL/CASA volunteers are trained community members like you. Once assigned to a case, these volunteers have sufficient face to face contact with the children involved in order to make fact-based recommendations to the court. They also meet with other parties in the case and write reports to the court so that the court has as much information as possible in order to make important decisions regrding the child's best interest.

There are currently volunteer GAL/CASA programs in 73 of Indiana's 92 counties. While there are nearly 3,000 active volunteers in Indiana, over 2,000 remain on waiting lists statewide waiting for a GAL/CASA volunteer to speak up for them. Do you have time to speak up for an abused or neglected child? If so, contact us and we will provide the contact information for the GAL/CASA volunteer program nearest to you.

Please also visit our website at www.indianachildadvocates.net

• Advocate: Volunteer candidates must be at least 21 years of age, and have no felony convictions. Once volunteers apply in writing, a personal interview will take place. Letters of reference and a complete criminal history check are also required. Candidates then must complete 30 hours of initial training, followed by 12 hours of annual in-service traning after the first year. Volunteers will be required to interview parties in the case, write reports to the court, and testify in court as needed.