DANVILLE — After finishing a 30-hour training course, Juli Thornton-Busby began working her first case as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate this fall.

As a CASA, Thornton-Busby serves as an advocate for children who are wards of the court system by ensuring sure they have everything they need as foster kids.

The children have been taken out of their homes because of abuse or neglect.

At first, putting everything she’d learned in training to use was daunting.

“The first case is a little scary,” she said. “After you get your feet wet, it goes pretty well, and we have a great support system.”

As an advocate, she was responsible for making sure that children saw a doctor when they needed it, had the proper clothing and were getting enough to eat.

“It’s the kind of thing most of us take for granted,” she said.

She’s had to learn to see the world through the eyes of children who grew up in a very different situation than she did.

“A lot of it is learning to re-think and set aside my own prejudices,” she said, in terms of lifestyle or culture.

The children in Thornton-Busby’s first case are now back at home with their parents, in what she calls a “picture book ending.”

“I really lucked out,” she said.

Now, she encourages anyone interested in becoming involved to look into it.

“It’s an awesome program. You really get to interact with the kids and family … I had the opportunity to interact and make sure things were working well.”

The program will begin its third year this summer, but in order for it to continue, the local CASA chapter needs the community’s backing.

A fundraiser next weekend can help the program continue, but it needs its own support.

CASA will host an evening called “Casablanca” Saturday.

So far, the dinner needs more attendees in order to go forward, according to CASA board member Lois Gholson.

“If we don’t get more people, we may have to cancel,” she said in an interview last week.

“The ticket prices are a little steep, but considering what people get for their money, (it’s worth it),” she added.

The catered dinner will be complete with music, and Danville Gardens will be decorated for the occasion in a Casablancaesqe Moroccan motif.

“Every penny we take in goes right into our budget,” she said.

The event is supported by an anonymous donor, so CASA isn’t putting any of its own resources into it.

The live and silent auctions will feature a variety of unique items, including a gourmet Italian dinner prepared in a prominent Danville home and various businesses — like Carmack Car Capital and Todd’s Auto Body — have donated gift packages.

The program’s 26 advocates, with eight who will finish training this month, currently serve 44 children of the 340 who are wards of the courts.

More than 90 percent of children who have a CASA don’t go back into the foster system, Gholson said.

Many from other areas who’ve grown up have said that if it weren’t for their advocate they wouldn’t have made through childhood, she said.

The CASA system is a program that shows results, and for what it does accomplish, doesn’t cost much, she added.

The program must have outside support because the grant money that funds it runs out this year, and Illinois, unlike other states, doesn’t fund the program.



COMING UP

Court Appointed Special Advocates of Vermilion County hosts “Casablanca: An Evening of Elegance,” at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Danville Gardens, 1307 Cleary Ave. Tickets are $50. The event will include live entertainment, food and wine from Applewood Foods Catering, Sleepy Creek Vineyard and O’Leary’s Pub. Live and silent auctions will be available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.casavermilion.org or call 446-5975.