CASA Director is Dreaming Bigger; Seeking Affiliation w/Proposed Crisis Nursery

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Published on December 9 2015 4:20 pm
Last Updated on December 9 2015 4:20 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

(LEFT TO RIGHT: CASA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LIBBY MOELLER, CRISIS NURSERY PROPONENT MEGHAN REWERS, AND ROTARY WEEKLY PROGRAM CHAIRMAN AMANDA McKAY)

CASA of Effingham County Executive Director Libby Moeller is proud of the inroads made by the organization in the county, and wants to see the agency's impact grow more.

Moeller, who spoke at Wednesday's Effingham Noon Rotary meeting, also discussed a partnership with a proposed crisis nursery for Effingham County.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) represents affected children in court cases where abuse or neglect may be involved. The organization, involving trained volunteers who serve as assigned by the circuit court, has served 142 children since being established in Effingham County since 2008. A typical case has averaged 20 months in length before brought to a conclusion.

Moeller said she is occasionally challenged by those in other parts of the state for the way downstate CASAs handle cases, but she responded that in the years that CASA has operated in southern Illinois, only one second generation CASA client has resulted.

Meghan Rewers is hoping to partner with CASA to establish a crisis nursery. Rewers worked with a similar facility while living in the Champaign area. She told Rotarians the facility could serve people in a variety of situations. Those could include parental stress, domestic violence, home crisis, medical emergencies, job or school emergencies, parental mental health issues, court involvement and matters of grief or bereavement.

Rewers said the goal would be to prevent child abuse and neglect. Options could include a 24/7 hotline and short-term emergency child care for children birth through six years of age. Other services would include scheduled and earned respite care.

A principal need is a location in which the crisis nursery could be housed. Other steps toward establishment of the nursery would follow finding a home.

Amanda McKay served as Rotary weekly program chairman.