LUBBOCK, Texas – Child Protective Services and Court Appointed Special Advocates, better known as CASA of the South Plains, will continue their much-valued services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Child protective investigations is continuing to go out and investigate the reports that are being called into our hotline,” said Shawn Vandygriff, Regional Director of Child Protective Investigations in Lubbock.
When CPS investigators are notified of alleged abuse of a child, investigators typically meet with that child at school. But with Texas schools being closed until at least May 4, visiting with those children on-campus is no longer an option. This has forced investigators to conduct more home visits in a time when the public is expected to practice social distancing.
“We will have as much sanitizer that we can get our hands on,” said Vandygriff. “When we approach those homes, we are asking have you travelled, are you sick, but any child that’s unsafe, we will go see those kids and we will follow all the CDC guidelines.”
There are nearly 1,500 children in foster care in the Lubbock area. CASA volunteers advocate and represent these children in the court system, but most of their work in also conducted through home visits.
“Our primary focus is to see these kids in their home setting and now we are doing that virtually,” said Jaclyn Morris, Executive Director of CASA of the South Plains. “We’re now doing that with FaceTime and Zoom meetings.”
CASA volunteers are also tasked with making sure these children are keeping up in school, even though their curriculum is now online for most.
“We’re working directly with teachers to make sure they are getting the responses from these children that are in foster care and we are just really a go-between if needed,” said Morris.
Both groups emphasize that amid the current struggles and changes, they’ve learned how to adapt.
“COVID-19 is not slowing us down in that aspect,” said Vandygriff. “We’ll continue to do and be creative about whatever we need to do to find kids permanency and to keep kids safe.”
To donate or learn how to be volunteer for CASA, visit casaofthesouthplains.org
