By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Court Appointed Special Advocates of the High Plains has a new face at the helm.
Jan Johnson was hired earlier this summer to be the executive director of the agency, which is more commonly known as CASA.
The agency, which is headquartered in Hays, provides advocates for children in need of care, many of whom have been removed from their homes for abuse or neglect.
Those advocates serve as voices in court for the children. They also regularly meet with the children while their cases progress through the court system.
Johnson, 47, has lived in Hays for about a year with her son, who will be a senior at Hays High School.
She graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor's degree in anthropology with an emphasis in sociology.
She most recently worked in the human resources department for USD 489 and in its in-school solutions program at Hays High School.
She has experience working for a non-profit grocery store in Brewster, Kan. She also directed the food program in Colby schools and worked with many elementary- and middle-school-age students.
Johnson said she applied for the CASA director position because she believes in the agency's mission to help children.
"Each CASA volunteer speaks for an individual child, what is best for that child as a stand-alone person," she said. ... "I think individuality is the key to personal growth.
"For a kid to feel they are heard individually aside from anyone else's needs or wants or values, I think that is so important for a kids' growth for them to know they count and they matter."
She said the program is very needed in the community.
"Kids who are in the system need someone to speak for them," Johnson said.
Most of the children receiving services have traditionally been from Ellis County, which is the most populated county in CASA's coverage area.
However, the agency also covers Trego, Rooks and Gove counties and she said she would like CASA to serve children in those areas, gain volunteers from those counties and spread the word to those communities about the CASA mission.
CASA is in need of volunteers. The number of children the agency can serve is directly connected to the number of advocates the agency is able to recruit and retain.
One advocate can serve a maximum of five children, often less because of the complexity of the cases.
Being an advocate requires training, a background check and regular visits with the children to which the advocate is assigned. In addition, advocates are assigned to make recommendations to the court on what they feel is the best placement for the children.
The local CASA agency and CASAs across the country lost many volunteers during the pandemic.
Johnson said not everyone may have the time or dedication to be an advocate. However, they can serve the agency in other ways, including being a board member.
Previous board experience is desired and board members also have to pass background checks.
CASA also is in need of volunteers to help with fundraising and events. Johnson said her son and some of his classmates helped park cars at the Ellis County Fair last week, a project which was a fundraiser for the agency.
A volunteer may be needed to do something as simple as set up a booth and hand out information flyers at a community event.
CASA is a non-profit. It is primarily supported through donations.
For more information about the agency, you can follow its Facebook page.
If you are interested in donating or volunteering, you can also call 785 628-8641 or email [email protected].
General information on CASA's mission can be found on the Kansas CASA webpage at kansascasa.org.
"I think this a pretty fantastic community here," Johnson said, "and I think there's a lot of potential to grow this program. There's a lot of people who care about kids and what this program stands for."