Alarming numbers are being reported from Montana and the Havre area.
According to Child Trends, Montana was ranked second in the nation for highest percent of children in foster care with a rate of 16.8 children per 1,000 in foster care in October 2017.
A nonprofit in Havre is working to advocate for foster children. Chamene Plum the executive director of the nonprofit CASA explains more.
“CASA is a nonprofit, court appointed special advocates, we find volunteers in our community to serve as advocates for the best interest of the children that have entered fosteer care. It’s to make sure that they are safe in finding a permanent home in a relatively short amount of time.”-Chamene Plum
Unfortunately, according to Chamene the number of kids in foster care from the Havre area has increased drastically last year.
“In our CASA cases was 18 removals in 2021 and now 72 in 2022.”-Chamene Plum
Chamene continues to explain that because of the drastic rise in cases CASA is short on volunteers.
“We’re really short on CASA volunteers to advocate for the kids and foster homes in the area.”-Chamene Plum
If anyone is interested in volunteering with CASA Chamene explains the process.
“So, to become a CASA volunteer you have to be 21 years old. You have to fill out an application which you can do on our website which is www.CASAofHillCounty.org, there’s an application on there, or you can reach out to us at the office here and I’ll get you a paper application.”-Chamene Plum
