CASA

I'm now 12 hours into Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) training. The Guardian ad Litem (GAL) gave her talk today. The GAL is the state appointed attorney for an abused or neglected child. It's inspiring to see someone who is consumed by their job. She has a caseload of 80 and I would be her CASA for one of them. We are covering a lot of situations that lead to abuse and neglect and it gets pretty depressing - a little more sobering than watching cops on TV. Sex abuse was everybody's worst. Our trainer was also quite down on a parent who would leave their kid in a vehicle while going to a bar until closing time, but that was not so high on the list for us students. My homework assignment is to investigate the services of the local Rescue Mission.

The Friday lunch boys dined at Old Chicago. Tom told us that while we were having lunch last Friday, he was in the waiting room while his wife was having gall bladder surgery. Les asked why he didn't join us. He said he thought about it. Tom also informed us he landed a part-time job with an environmental firm. They needed someone with gray hair to give them credibility.