OSAGE COUNTY — Two years after Court-Appointed Special Advocates expanded into Osage County, 11 local volunteers have completed training and worked with 35 children, and CASA of Mideast Missouri Executive Director Glenda Volmert hopes the organization’s next training class will add to that number. The application deadline for the upcoming class is Oct. 1, with training to begin around Oct. 15.

“This program is across Mideast Missouri; we have 11 volunteers from Osage County who have gone through the training and accepted cases working with children since we opened there in 2024,” said Volmert. “Those volunteers have made an impact with 35 children.”

CASA of Mideast Missouri expanded into Osage County in 2024 after previously serving Franklin and Gasconade counties. All three are part of the 20th Judicial Circuit.

The organization advocates for children who have entered foster care because of abuse or neglect, with trained volunteers appointed by the juvenile court to focus on the needs of individual children.

Volmert stressed that the 35 children served by Osage County volunteers should not necessarily be interpreted as 35 Osage County residents. “All the children that we serve come from … they have been living in one of those three counties when they entered foster care,” she said. “So that’s where their hometown is. Unfortunately, over time, kids may move out of their town to be placed with a relative or in a foster home that’s not in that specific town that they came from.”

That means an Osage County volunteer may eventually work with a child originally from Gasconade or Franklin County, or a child from Osage County may be placed elsewhere.

Sometimes the reason is as simple as finding enough room to keep siblings together. “You may have a sibling group of, let’s say, four kids, and you have foster homes in Osage County that are available, but they’re not available to take a whole sibling group of four,” said Volmert. “But there might be a foster home in Franklin County that can accommodate four kids. So now the move to Franklin is good because they get to stay together.”

Other children may be placed outside their home county because local foster homes are full or because they need specialized services. “Sometimes kids have specific needs, meaning they may have behaviors or mental health issues that means that they need a more particular kind of care,” Volmert said. “Sometimes those homes are in other places, like residential treatment. We don’t have any residential facilities in Osage County.”

She described residential treatment as a setting with staff who can help children deal with behavioral or mental-health issues and eventually prepare them to enter a foster home or return to their family.

While CASA deals with complicated cases, Volmert said prospective volunteers should not assume they need professional experience in social work, mental health, medicine, or a related field.

“This is the beauty of CASA, that we take everyday, ordinary people who can be advocates for kids by giving them the training they need and the support they need to do that,” she said. “You don’t have to be a nurse, or in the mental health field, to be a very effective CASA volunteer.”

She has seen successful advocates come from a wide range of backgrounds, including engineers and a retired state representative. “So what makes a great advocate?” Volmert asked. “It’s somebody who has time, which is a precious commodity. They can give time and attention because it’s about being a consistent person for this child.”

That consistency can have effects well beyond the immediate foster-care case.

“Having one positive role model for a child to follow can really impact many things in their life,” said Volmert. “It can help us stop that cycle of abuse. It can help prevent substance use. It can improve grades in school simply by having a person that’s there to listen to them and to pay attention to them.”

Another important quality is what Volmert called flexibility of the mind. “When you first meet a family or read a case file, you may come to your own assumptions of how you think this might go,” she said. “Then as you start gathering facts and learning the people, you might change your opinion and recommendations. You have to be open-minded because no family or situation is the same.”

Advocates also have to pay attention.

Volmert used attending a school play as an example. The volunteer may be there primarily to support the child but is also learning about the child’s relationships simply by watching.

“For example, who else is sitting in the bleachers with you to support the child?” she said. “Or after the play is over, who is that child giving those hugs to, meaning, who is important to them?”

The volunteer can also see how the child interacts with their peers before, during, or after the play.

“You’re gaining a lot of information simply by being there and by listening and observing,” said Volmert.

That familiarity becomes more valuable over time because the advocate learns what is normal for a particular child.

“As you get to know the child, you’re going to notice if there’s a change of behavior or if there’s a change in their demeanor, or their attitude, or their mood,” she said. “You know them, and you’re like, ‘Oh, he’s a little off today,’ or, ‘Wow, he’s more outgoing than he used to be. He seems to feel more comfortable in his setting.’ The only way to know those things is to have time with them.”

CASA’s Osage County presence also has support from people who have experienced foster care from another perspective.

Amy and Travis Mitchell were foster parents before becoming involved with CASA. Amy is now a CASA volunteer, while Travis serves on the organization’s board.

“They were foster parents and knew the importance of CASA,” Volmert said. “As foster parents, they’ve had cases with CASA and cases without CASA, and they have told me they could tell a drastic difference in the amount of attention and detail that was happening when they do have a CASA volunteer.”

She added that cases can sometimes progress more quickly “because you have more eyes and ears paying attention to the details of that family and that case.”

CASA has also found a physical home in Osage County through Classic Buildings owner Ken Miller, who has provided office space at his Linn location.

She summed up the arrangement with a fitting description.

“He’s providing a home for CASA while CASA is trying to find homes for kids,” she said.

CASA volunteers are more than mentors or supportive adults. Their formal title — Court-Appointed Special Advocates — reflects their place in the juvenile-court system.

“We are working for the judge,” Volmert said.

After volunteers complete training and screening, juvenile court Judge Ada Brehe-Krueger swears them in.

“The judge is trusting us to vet our individuals, and she’s saying, ‘Yes, you work for me as an officer of the court or a friend of the court,’” said Volmert.

Advocates write reports to Judge Brehe-Krueger and attend court proceedings to provide information about the child they serve.

“We go to court to let her know what’s happening with that child,” Volmert said. “In that court report, we tell them, this is how the child’s doing in school. This is how the child’s doing with their foster home. This is how they interact with their parents.”

Reports can also address development and mental or physical health concerns.

“Those are some of the sections of our court report to help the judge make the best decision that they can with all the information that they’re given,” she said.

Because volunteers work closely with vulnerable children, CASA requires extensive screening.

“Every volunteer does a background screening, both a criminal background and a child abuse and neglect check,” Volmert said. “We also do reference checks, and we do the screening through the training.”

CASA staff continue assessing candidates during training rather than relying solely on formal background checks.

“If there’s something during the training that we observe that seems a little off, or maybe they’re not able to have that flexible mind that I was talking about earlier, then we will screen them out if it’s necessary,” Volmert said.

Once accepted, volunteers are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education each year.

CASA also uses ongoing criminal-background monitoring after the initial fingerprint check.

“If there’s any kind of criminal behavior, then we get notified,” Volmert said. “There are ongoing checks and balances to make sure that we are safe.”

Each advocate is also paired with a paid CASA staff member.

“They’re assigned a paid staff member that works the case with them, meaning that they’re providing support and guidance on how to work their case,” Volmert said. “It’s also a check and balance for us, too.”

CASA volunteers currently do not transport the children assigned to them, another boundary covered during training.

The next volunteer class is expected to begin in mid-October.

Training totals 30 hours and includes six evening classroom sessions, an online component, and court observation.

“You’re learning foster care 101,” Volmert said. “You’re learning about why kids come into foster care, what happens with them in foster care, understanding the juvenile court system, and then understanding how CASA fits into that.”

Training also covers the organization’s expectations and boundaries.

“Understanding the role of CASA, kind of your do’s and don’ts, is what you learn in the training,” she said.

CASA now offers training four times each year, but Volmert emphasized that filling out an application does not obligate someone to eventually accept a case.

“In the training, it’s a great time for individuals to learn about CASA to decide, ‘Is this a good fit for me?’” she said. “We’ll do the same as well.”

Someone interested but unsure is encouraged to continue learning before deciding.

“Sometimes people are saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this or not,’ and we say, ‘Well, come to training, and let’s learn that together,’” Volmert said. “I want them to be comfortable in the role, and I want them to learn the role so they can make an educated decision on whether they want to be an advocate or not.”

The commitment becomes important when a volunteer accepts a child’s case.

“We don’t ask for a commitment or a yes until they finish training,” Volmert said. “Then when they say yes to the child, that’s when we want them to have that commitment because that’s important to the consistency for that kiddo.”

Before training, prospective volunteers complete an application and participate in what CASA calls a “meet and greet.”

“It’s kind of like an interview, but not as stressful as what people think of as an interview,” Volmert said. “It’s a time for us to talk back and forth, one on one, about CASA and answer some of the questions they may have about what they’re walking into.”

The need for those advocates extends well beyond Osage County.

According to figures Volmert provided from the Missouri CASA Association, approximately 12,000 children were in foster care statewide in 2025, and 5,039 of them had a CASA volunteer. Missouri’s 1,792 CASA volunteers contributed 100,531 hours of service to children during the year.

There are currently 24 CASA programs serving 28 of Missouri’s 46 judicial circuits.

Nationally, figures Volmert provided from the National CASA Association show 890 CASA programs operating in 48 states, with approximately 79,000 volunteers serving 214,000 children annually.

The application deadline for the upcoming CASA of Mideast Missouri class is Oct. 1.

Those interested may apply at [www.casamideastmo.org](http://www.casamideastmo.org).