June 2010: Ed Kuhlman, Linda Springfield, Kathleen Stevens, Donna Coppock, Theresa Taylor, Debra Kloster, Becky Perkins, Kayla Brown, Amber Hawkins, Jessica Church, Leslie Tillman, Rebekah Taylor, Autumn Butschky, Stephanie Davolt-King, Kerin Gregory, Paulette Rea, Mike Schaffer, Angela Tolbert, Marjorie Aleshire, Kristi Lyon

On June 4th, Judge David Jones administered the oath to our latest class of volunteers. Guest speaker for the ceremony was Assistant Greene County Prosecutor, Jill Patterson.

To get to this point, the volunteers completed 30-hours of intense training on topics of child abuse/neglect, drugs/alcohol, family dynamics, culture competency, the social system, the judicial process, poverty, communication, and several other topics.

These new Child advocates will soon be assigned to the case of a child or sibling group who is in Greene County’s foster care system due to having been abused or neglected.

In this role, the volunteers will conduct an investigation of the case, share that information with other team members and the judge, monitor the case progress, ensure the child’s current medical/dental/educational needs are being met, and make recommendations to the judge in the child’s best interests.

More volunteers are needed. The next training session will be announced soon.

News-Leader article 'Someone to lean on'