NEWS — First CASA volunteers sworn in here to help children

By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times

The first group of volunteers trained by CASA of Val Verde County has been sworn in,
allowing them to be appointed by local courts as advocates for children.

County Court-At-Law Judge Sergio Gonzalez presided over the July 22 swearing-in
ceremony and welcomed those attending, giving special recognition to two members of
Val Verde County Commissioners Court who joined him for the event, Commissioner
Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw and Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez.

The ceremony was held in Gonzalez’s second-floor courtroom in the historic Val Verde
County Courthouse.

Gonzalez said without the support and financial assistance of county commissioners
court, the CASA program would have not been established here.

Gonzalez said he has been the sitting judge of the county court-at-law for the past 26
years, adding he has been an attorney in Del Rio for 35 years.

“My responsibility with CASA is that they will be working with me in my court. I handle
all the CPS (Child Protective Services) cases. . . The other two judges can assist me if I
have a conflict, but typically, I handle more than 98 percent of the CPS cases here in Val
Verde County,” Gonzalez said.

“The CASA workers will be my independent ears and eyes, and they will be looking after
all these kids,” Gonzalez added, noting he currently is dealing with about 50 CPS cases.

Gonzalez said he has known attorney Megan Martinez, CASA of Val Verde County
volunteer supervisor, “for many years,” adding he was “very happy” when he saw that
she was opening a branch of CASA locally.
Gonzalez also pledged to give the organization whatever support he could.

To the new volunteers, Gonzalez said, “It’s not easy what you’re going to be doing.
You’re going to see some things you probably weren’t expecting.”
He urged them to rely on their training.

Gonzalez then had the volunteers step forward, and he administered their oaths as CASA
volunteers. The volunteers’ oaths allow them to become officers of the court.

The volunteers swore to maintain the confidentiality of their clients, to abide by the laws,
regulations, court rules and orders of the court and to “faithfully protect and promote the
best interest of each child to whom I am assigned.”

Among those sworn in were Martinez, Carmen Abreu, interim executive director of
CASA of Val Verde County; Riley Holt, Rubina Garcia, Karen Perez, Sarah Cline, Iliana
Delgado, Jacqueline Gomez and Dr. Alma Mota.
Gonzalez then congratulated the group.

Abreu said following the ceremony, “On behalf of CASA of Val Verde, we want to thank
you all so much for being here and supporting us. This is our inaugural, very first,
training class of volunteer advocates. We were established last year, and we are eager.
We actually are starting another volunteer class on Thursday.”

After the ceremony, Wardlaw said, “This is a very big deal for us, to get CASA
established in Val Verde County and to have these advocates be able to go out and look
out for these children. . . These are children that are going to be coming out of a wide
variety of situations. Sometimes this involves criminal activity on the part of the adults in
their lives, and the kids, unfortunately, just get left in the wake and need to be taken care
of. Sometimes, the children themselves are the victims of crimes.”
As a former police officer, Wardlaw said he knows that some of the situations the new
volunteers will face will be difficult ones.

“It’s going to be an eye-opening experience for them, I think, and I’m not trying to be
overly pessimistic about it, just like when someone wants to become a police officer, not
everyone is cut out for that type of work, but we’re hopeful that this group will stay,”
Wardlaw said.

CASA of Val Verde County is part of a nationwide program that provides trained
volunteers to be appointed in cases where children have been removed from a home due
to abuse or neglect.

The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com