PlainsWest CASA Reports Growing Need

Of the many changes that occurred with the announcement of the coronavirus in 2020, the need for children to have an advocate in the court system remains.

Krista Bruns, director of PlainsWest CASA, met with the Cheyenne County Commissioners on Aug. 16 to update the board on the program. She said the need for volunteer advocates has not changed; how the services were delivered sometimes involved creativity.

“We were really creative with COVID,” Bruns told the commissioners.

The creativity is a result of the distancing limits; in-person meetings were all but eliminated during 2020. CASA adapted to the limits by having Facetime meetings and interviews, writing letters and curbside meetings.

She said PlainsWest CASA is also partnering with the Catholic church for the food pantry.

Funding for PlainsWest CASA is a combination of public and private supporters. The Victim Of Crime Act (VOCA) pays salaries for Bruns and Volunteer Coordinator Whitney Whatley. Brun said they hope to hire a third person. She said they would want to hire a person with fluent in Spanish and knowledgeable about LBGTQ issues. She added PlainsWest has been approved to expand into Morrill County. Presently, PlainsWest CASA has more volunteers than Scottsbluff, North Platte or McCook.

Upcoming events for PlainsWest CASA include “Night of Music with Kechi,” also featuring the Aspen County Band. Kechi Okwuchi is a Nigerian-American singer and motivational singer who was a finalist in America’s Got Talent in 2017. She talks motivation after her experience as one of only two survivors of the Sosoliso Airlines flight 1145 crash. She was 16 years of age when she survived a plane crash that took the lives of 107 passengers in 2005.

“Night of Music with Kechi” is scheduled for Sept. 11 at Sidney High School. General Seating is $20 andGolden Buzzer VIP seats are $50, including a back stage pass and photo with Kechi prior to the concert. Tickets can be purchased through the PlainsWest CASA website: https://www.plainswestcasa.org/calendar.

The program is built with the mission of providing “a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) to every child who needs one.” The PlainsWest CASA volunteers work with children in the court system. Needs of children vary from living in a foster home to their role in a court case. In either situation, the volunteers, CASAs, represent the interests of the child or children they are paired with, in the courts. Bruns said in 2020, PlainsWest CASA was able to serve all of the children, and took on some in probation.

PlainsWest CASA serves Cheyenne, Deuel, and Kimball counties.