three million that is the number of children reported each year as victims of abuse and neglect in the united states that means about twelve out of every thousand children up to the age of eighteen in the united states were found to be victims of mal treatment hello my name is tammy sullivan a cost advocate for the washington county casa for kid program children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect in washington county over three hundred of these children have been identified as victims of abuse and neglect and declared dependent in the juvenile system these children need your help to give them a voice in the court system him to speak up for their best interest we have the power to make a profound difference for by being in a casa currently washington county casa volunteers court appointed special advocates advocate for only eighty seven of those three hundred children volunteers are trained to work as fact finders then write reports for the judge prior to a hearing working as that extra set of eyes and ears the goal of the casa program would be to have a cost advocate for each child who has experienced abuse and or neglect in washington county the casa staff provide supervision and individual support for the volunteers and advocating for the these abused and neglected children throughout the year casa for kids holds fundraising events to help generate funds to enable the organization to continue training community volunteers so that they can advocate for the best interest of these children april is child abuse prevention month this year we will be holding our annual spring gala fundraiser chefs for casa that is friday april twenty fourth at bella sara event venue it will be our eighth shifts casa fundraising with your help and support we can continue find finding stability in these children's lives so that they can lead normal productive lives my guests today are some of the chefs from the restaurant that helped support this wonderful event they are concerned community members who have taken the time out of their busy schedule to be with us they will be talking about the restaurants they represent as well as the menu for the events we're also fortunate to have with us vivian the south who is executive director for the washington county casa for kids as well as staff member and casa volunteer herself it welcome thank you thank you what kid what can you tell us about this great organization well i'm really proud of her kids in terms of the work our advocates do first of all they have to be trained so they go through thirty hours of training and it's the training is all about abuse and neglect in the issues surrounding abuse and neglect so they get an understanding of how these children end up under the court supervision it's through no fault of their own these children are victims victims of abuse victims of neglect and there's a multitude of reasons for that abuse and that neglect it could be mental health issues it could be drug and alcohol issues but they are not under the proper supervision and care so they get involved in the dependency system of the court and the cases that casa get are cases that the judge  feels he needs an extra set of eyes and ears somebody who can do additional insight for him in making decisions about these children's lives the advocate goes through the training and also court observation and once they do that they're sworn in by the judge and they become friends of the court ok they have a court order that allows them to gather all the information about that child that they advocate for and it can be school information it can be mental health it can be talking to the foster parents reviewing all the files that are part of the children and youth services have our advocates learn about the child and then with all this information they write a very detailed report the update the court as to how the child is progressing and they also make recommendations to the court in the child's best interest ok we also have a section in our casa report that is for the child's wishes and sometimes our advocates don't always agree with the child but we feel it's important to present that child's wishes to the court sure and gives and gives that child an actual voice straight to straight to master or the judge just hearing that absolutely so with that information then the judge makes a decision the judge or master and makes a decision based on that child's best interest and that information that detailed information that the costs advocate brings makes a huge difference sure and many times the judge will take recommendations directly out of the casa report and put it into the court order and the purpose of all of this is to not have a child languish in foster care right or in the child welfare system and we want our children to have a forever home and an advocate helps make that happen very nice very nice and vivian if you could  just draw a clear picture as to your training sessions how many do you do throughout the year how can one if they're listening to us right now and they want to go through your training process and your background check to make that difference in  child's life how many training sessions do you have throughout the year thank you we'll we hold to training sessions a year ok this spring and in the fall our next training training session is going to begin this may and so  about the advocate and make sure they're a good fit for us we train usually monday and wednesday evenings ok from about six thirty or six o'clock to nine o'clock and and then the  at the convenience of the volunteer group many of our volunteers work so we were able to work around that and schedule them to observe court yeah i'm glad that you actually said that so it is possible to be a casa advocate and maintain a life of your own absolute and it's possible to also you know advocate for a child in addition it's easy to fit all that in an average of volunteers work about fifteen hours a month ok and that can change it can be a lot can be more depending upon the amount of time the volunteers able to vest in the research meeting with the child ok we do ask their volunteers meet with their child at least once a month many times are volunteers meet more often and the other thing i want to say is they're not out there on their own each volunteer has a supervisor that the work closely with with their reports and guidance through the best advocacy for the child children and i know you're an advocate yes you are my supervisor and so i believe volunteer feels like they have the support i have i have completely through this process and have you found that your reports make a difference absolutely in fact my last case for this case and i'm on right now there was a recommendation at the last review hearing that had put in the report and the master wrote it in to the court documents for you know the record you know for the benefit of the child and i was a pressed that they actually take the time to look at the other set of eyes and ears on this case for these children that you know can possibly fall through the cracks if there weren't advocates on you know involved so it's an interesting kind of volunteer opportunity it is because i think there's a lot of a wonderful volunteer opportunities wrenching but i think i've seen this work make such a difference for children i've done this for ten years now and we've had we currently have forty two  volunteers and we've trained a lots and lots of volunteers through the years and i've seen what a difference one consistent caring adult can make for these children using the courts in their best interest great thank you vivian thank you so much well you know we are going to take a break and when we come back we will be talking with three of our chefs for chefs for casa  i'm five foot eleven barely five four i weigh about one hundred seventy pounds brown eyes blue eyes brown brain i'm a baseball fanatic i'm a wife a mom a sister and a grandfather i'm a bodybuilder i'm a research analyst small business owner teacher damn spin this instructor film and television actor i'm an office clerk i'm a copywriter i'm a veteran i have a prosthetic leg i have multiple sclerosis i have lupus cerebral palsy post traumatic stress disorder i'm blind and i'm working in a job i love i love because i was given a chance because i was given the chance to contribute my skills and talents to show my disability is only one part of who i who i am who i am at work it's what people can do that matters for more information visit what can you do campaign dot org  making it green starts from the ground up so make sure the air in your home is healthy for your family to bring you test your home for the presence of radar dot gov slash rain on m parents sure and their hands full and they could use an extra hand now every state offers free or low cost health insurance for your sports hero or budding artist kids up to age nineteen can get check ups doctor and dentist visits hospital care prescriptions and more your child's may qualify based on your family size an encounter it's one less thing to worry about call or go online to enroll now why wait  welcome back we're really glad to have the chef sitting here with me today these are the chefs that are preparing the food have donated their time their energy towards our chefs for i think you thank you i'm so sorry i butchered that several times i apologize it's an amazing restaurant why don't we just go in a row here and talk about tim how is it that  family suffered a tragic loss of one of our youngsters ok and even though it wasn't cost that was the advocate voice for for our young one she still had a court appointed advocate and so that was very fresh in our minds and in our hearts when for the carbon came to us and said listen we're going to start this  fundraiser this is what it's about and we're like signed us up here and we're in and as a business and you guys will know this as well you know we're inundated daily with requests to support good causes but as a small business yeah we we don't have a budget to say yes to everyone sure and the reason again that we do this year after year is it is near and dear to our hearts but you know cause also shares those core values that our company and our family holds you know we were underdogs in the community when we opened up you know there's the big corporations but you know peters township first and then wexford and now on the south side you know they've embraced us  and so we have to return that you know it's a give and take if you're going to make it and you know caso represents those underdogs right now they're a voice they're caring they're loving they don't quit they can't quit you know and that's that's the core values of our company too you know we might be the small guy on the street but if you keep pushing and you deliver an amazing product you also i mean if i you know frequent your business on a weekly basis you can't say i'm happy about it all the time when i get on that scale when flyers are short and is there something in particular that do you know what does or you're going to deliver at this completely honest i have no mi second year participating in this great cause so i'm very honored once again to be in it that evening is going to be just as fun as it was the year prior this year we're preparing what i call a  just we're not just the cure in facility we also come to you if needed you know the course the spring is here on the corner thank goodness for that but you know of course we have a lot of events coming up this year we just we just started there for so long and we're just kind of you know continuing the tradition back in that building which is actually really historic too to the old possible school and i'm sure they probably had mass there is well yeah you know it's just it's a great building we're very happy to be there and to put so it's heated we were the only i think restaurant in the south of there like a really truly heated patio and you know when you know even just over the past now that we've had with with all the different windows out there it kind of feels like that you're eating outside in this winter wonderland  a new new parent some of the things that these kids have to fortunately go through and it's what a wonderful cause and just like with them said we're always in a day which is so many different things and this is absolutely one of the it seems to be going pretty well and people seem to like the sauce a lot so we're just going to kind of marry the two together and we'll do the course of the the macaroni so nine sounds amazing sounds amazing well i just can't asian rehab because you know those buildings are old and i promise to try to make the name a little bit easier to try to say t our community how can you how can you say no to that right yeah yeah and especially being parents you know folks being parents you know stand children in their needs and when they're not being met you know you are there making sure somebody vivien executive director for washington county casa for kids also donating to our dinner who could not be with us today i'd like to thank joe dimmy co owner of franco's to toria joe will be preparing his amazing specialty meat balls michael pass a law owner of angelo angelo's restaurant mike will also be preparing a special entree for that evening chefs for caso will be held friday evening april twenty fourth  venue doors will open at six thirty for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres followed by a full course sit down dinner are returning him see her eighth year with us now will be anchored woman michele wright from w t a channel four news there will be live entertainment by american idol's two thousand and twelve semifinalist adam brock we will be raffling prizes throughout the night and tables of auction items this event filled with fun for everyone but let's not forget our purpose we must raise funds to sustain the washington county chapter casa for kids in order to continue helping children and helpless situations who cannot help themselves live productive lives into their adult hood years we must all pitch in and do our share so please call now and make reservations please share this information and invite all your friends for more for more information on the savannah please visit our