Case Study of Child Advocacy Services SEGA Inc.

Child Advocacy Services Sega Inc was founded in 2002. Its mission is to “recruit,
screen, train, and supervise volunteers who advocate for the best interests of the abused and
neglected children as well as provide supervised family visitation for children who have been
placed in foster care in the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit” (Posick et al., 2020). The Ogeechee
Judicial Circuit covers five counties in the state of Georgia. Most of these counties are in
rural areas of the state.

How CASSEGA Interacts with the Government

CASSEGA works closely with both the judicial arm of the government. The
organization is the sponsoring agency of for the Ogeechee Visitation Centers and Court
Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). CASA and Ogeechee Visitation Centers not only
serve but also advocate for the best interests of children in foster care facilities (Posick et al.,
2020). As part of court-appointed special advocates, CASSEGA staff are trained and assigned
by courts to speak on behalf of children and represent their best interests during child neglect
and abuse proceedings in courts. CASSEGA is primarily funded by donations from both
individuals and organizations.

How the Organization has Assisted in Disasters

Covid-19 pandemic is one of the most devastating health disasters that human beings
have faced in the recent past. The virus has infected millions of people and led to deaths of
hundreds of thousands across the world. Efforts by governments to contain the health crisis,
such as stay-at-home and social distancing requirements have created a major economic crisis
that has left millions of people unemployed. Thus, Covid-19 has both a health and economic
disaster.

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The health and economic crisis have put many families under a lot of strain. In the US
and many other countries, there have been reports of a significant increase in domestic
violence as well as child maltreatment and abuse. This increase has been attributed to, among
other factors, worsening financial situation of families and other hardships emanating from
measures imposed to control the spread of Covid-19 infections, such as social distancing and
stay-at-home requirements (Boserup, McKenney & Elkbuli, 2020). Thus, Covid-19 pandemic
has led to a significant increase in demand for foster care services.
Despite the pandemic also affecting its staff and the ability to effectively perform its
work, CASSEGA has stepped up its work of monitoring and reporting cases of maltreatment
and abuse of children during the pandemic. One of the most important work that CASSEGA
performs is organizing and supervising parental visits to foster case facilities where their
children stay (Posick et al., 2020). These visits have severely been disrupted by the Covid-19
pandemic as efforts to reduce the spread of the infection require that people avoid face-to-
face interactions.
Given the importance of having parental visits in facilitating eventual reunion
between the children and their parents and preventing development of behavioral problems
among children, CASSEGA has had to find ways of ensuring that such visitations continue.
The organization has adopted innovative strategies to ensure that children remain in touch
with their parents during the pandemic. One of these strategies has been the use of
teleconferencing systems which allow for both audio and visual communication between two
or more individuals. Such systems include Google Meet, Webex, Zoom, and Microsoft
Teams (Posick et al., 2020).

Why People Volunteer with CASSEGA

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A significant portion of work that CASSEGA performs is done by volunteers. There
are multiple reasons that drive people to volunteer for CASSEGA. Many of the volunteers
decided to volunteer because they were moved by the plight of children who had suffered
from maltreatment, abuse, and neglect. According to statistics, 1849 children in the USA are
abandoned, neglected or abused on a daily basis (CASA, 2020). Each day, 3 children die
from abuse and close to two thousand are forced out of their homes into foster care facilities
(CASA, 2020). A large number of these children end up spending many years in foster care
facilities before a permanent solution about their case is found. Many of the volunteers are
saddened by these statistics and desire to change them. They want to have fewer or no
children being neglected and abused, dying from abuse, and fewer children ending up in
foster care facilities.

Effects of Volunteering for CASSEGA On the Community
CASSEGA volunteers have a major impact on the community. First, they help to
ensure that the children do not overstay in the foster care facilities. Even though these
facilities provide help to abused children, the children are not supposed to stay there for long.
Research has shown that children that overstay in foster care facilities usually have worse
outcomes in life than their counterparts who grow up with their parents. Children who grow
up in foster care facilities are more likely to end up as juvenile delinquents compared to
children who are raised by their parents (CASA, 2020). They are also more likely to commit
violent crime and get arrested. Thus, by helping to ensure that children in foster care facilities
stay there in the shortest time possible, CASSEGA volunteers improve the outcomes of the
children in their later life.
Additionally, the volunteers lessen the burden that caseworkers who look after the
children face. They help to ensure that the children receive all the care that they need in the

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foster care facilities. They also help in ensuring that all court instructions on the care of the
child are followed.

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References

Boserup, B., McKenney, M., & Elkbuli, A. (2020). Alarming trends in US domestic violence
during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
CASA (2020). Volunteer Information Packet. Retrieved from http://casaogeechee.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/11/Volunteer-Application-19- 20.docx
Posick, C., Schueths, A. A., Christian, C., Grubb, J. A., & Christian, S. E. (2020). Child
Victim Services in the Time of COVID-19: New Challenges and Innovative
Solutions. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 1-10.