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Making a difference
CASA volunteer puts a premium on child advocacy
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Jay Kahn
The particulars
Age: 57
Resident of Keene since 1988
Married to Cheryl Kahn since 1973
Two adult children
Education: B.A. in communications, 1972, Northern Illinois University; Masters in public administration, 1976, University of Illinois, Springfield; Ph.D. in public policy, 1988, University of Illinois, Chicago.
Employment: vice president of finance and planning, Keene State College
Volunteer affiliations
Board member: Cheshire Medical Center, Monadnock Economic Development Corp.
Six year member of the board of directors: CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of NH, Inc., 39 Central Square, Room 303
Keene 03431; 358-4012
www.casanh.org
More than six years ago, Jay Kahn was asked to join the leadership board of Court Appointed Special Advocates. The nonprofit, generally known as CASA of N.H., provides volunteer advocates for more than 1,500 neglected, abused, and abandoned children who annually wind up in the New Hampshire court system.
Kahn, who lives in Keene, is vice president for Finance and Planning at Keene State College. He was already involved in numerous professional organizations, served on a state workforce development council, and he volunteers for local nonprofit groups. Beyond that, he’s an outdoor enthusiast who regularly runs in the annual Swanzey Covered Bridge Half-Marathon.
Still, he agreed to join the CASA effort, and he helped launch the Keene office of the statewide organization, which itself is part of a national group.
“The work of this organization is something that anyone interested in children, and especially any parent, would want to contribute to,” he said. “It’s such a serious issue in society that the most vulnerable in our society become parties in legal cases that involve their neglect and abuse.”
“We don’t usually read about these cases, but child abuse and neglect occur in our own backyard,” he said. “There are people who can actually help these children,” he said, referring to CASA volunteers.
Each volunteer is trained and supervised as a guardian ad litem (guardian of the case) — an advocate with the court for the child’s best interest. Assigned to the child for the duration of the court case, the volunteer regularly visits the child, interviews family, school professionals, social workers and the like, writes position papers, and recommends child placement to the court.
Currently, there are 430 guardians ad litem statewide. Locally, 47 trained volunteers represent 103 abused or neglected children in Cheshire, Sullivan and Western Hillsborough counties, in court cases that often take as long as three years to resolve.
“For a child to be without a secure home for that period of time is very disruptive to the development of the child,” said Kahn. “Guardians ad litem help the court make those decisions quicker. Parents have attorneys representing them in court.” He added, “This is a cost effective way for the state to insure that each child has his or her advocate, advocating just for them to the court.”
Kahn said, “Over time, there’s been great recognition of the value that our trained volunteers bring to the quality of court decisions that need to be made in a timely manner. For the court to have timely information about the child from an individual source is crucial for the court to decide child placement.”
Besides his board service, Kahn helps generate public support and volunteer enrollment for the organization.
“Jay’s been a wonderful asset to us,” said Marcia Sink, the organization’s president. “He’s involved in a lot of things in the Keene area, and CASA is one that’s very important to him. Over the years, he’s held a number of community receptions, gathering folks from the community together, getting the word out about our organization. He’s been really key to helping us get volunteers.”
The organization is funded, in part, by state and federal sources. The remaining 50 percent comes from individual contributions, private foundations, corporate gifts and fundraising events. In 2006, the state wide agency provided guardian ad litem representation to 70 percent of abused and neglected children in the New Hampshire judicial system. Additional funding recently was allotted to increase services to 90 percent of children within the next two years.
To that end, nearly 200 additional volunteers are urgently needed across the state, including the Keene area. Community members from all walks of life are encouraged to apply through the organization’s Web site: www.casanh.org.
Soon, Kahn envisions an end to his CASA career. He now hopes to recruit his successor.
“Sometime in the next two years, I’ll cycle off the board,” he said. “It’s very important to identify someone in the Keene region who wants to continue to advocate for CASA in this part of the State.
The community is invited to the nonprofit’s annual meeting, a volunteer recognition event, at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17 at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester. Anyone interested in Kahn’s spot on the board can call him at 358-2114.
~ Joan Geary
“Making a Difference,” a weekly feature, is a collaborative project of The Keene Sentinel and Giving Monadnock, which seeks to raise public awareness of the role of nonprofit agencies in the Monadnock Region. For more information, e-mail info@givingmonadnock.org or call 357-7171.
Kahn, who lives in Keene, is vice president for Finance and Planning at Keene State College. He was already involved in numerous professional organizations, served on a state workforce development council, and he volunteers for local nonprofit groups. Beyond that, he’s an outdoor enthusiast who regularly runs in the annual Swanzey Covered Bridge Half-Marathon.
Still, he agreed to join the CASA effort, and he helped launch the Keene office of the statewide organization, which itself is part of a national group.
“The work of this organization is something that anyone interested in children, and especially any parent, would want to contribute to,” he said. “It’s such a serious issue in society that the most vulnerable in our society become parties in legal cases that involve their neglect and abuse.”
“We don’t usually read about these cases, but child abuse and neglect occur in our own backyard,” he said. “There are people who can actually help these children,” he said, referring to CASA volunteers.
Each volunteer is trained and supervised as a guardian ad litem (guardian of the case) — an advocate with the court for the child’s best interest. Assigned to the child for the duration of the court case, the volunteer regularly visits the child, interviews family, school professionals, social workers and the like, writes position papers, and recommends child placement to the court.
Currently, there are 430 guardians ad litem statewide. Locally, 47 trained volunteers represent 103 abused or neglected children in Cheshire, Sullivan and Western Hillsborough counties, in court cases that often take as long as three years to resolve.
“For a child to be without a secure home for that period of time is very disruptive to the development of the child,” said Kahn. “Guardians ad litem help the court make those decisions quicker. Parents have attorneys representing them in court.” He added, “This is a cost effective way for the state to insure that each child has his or her advocate, advocating just for them to the court.”
Kahn said, “Over time, there’s been great recognition of the value that our trained volunteers bring to the quality of court decisions that need to be made in a timely manner. For the court to have timely information about the child from an individual source is crucial for the court to decide child placement.”
Besides his board service, Kahn helps generate public support and volunteer enrollment for the organization.
“Jay’s been a wonderful asset to us,” said Marcia Sink, the organization’s president. “He’s involved in a lot of things in the Keene area, and CASA is one that’s very important to him. Over the years, he’s held a number of community receptions, gathering folks from the community together, getting the word out about our organization. He’s been really key to helping us get volunteers.”
The organization is funded, in part, by state and federal sources. The remaining 50 percent comes from individual contributions, private foundations, corporate gifts and fundraising events. In 2006, the state wide agency provided guardian ad litem representation to 70 percent of abused and neglected children in the New Hampshire judicial system. Additional funding recently was allotted to increase services to 90 percent of children within the next two years.
To that end, nearly 200 additional volunteers are urgently needed across the state, including the Keene area. Community members from all walks of life are encouraged to apply through the organization’s Web site: www.casanh.org.
Soon, Kahn envisions an end to his CASA career. He now hopes to recruit his successor.
“Sometime in the next two years, I’ll cycle off the board,” he said. “It’s very important to identify someone in the Keene region who wants to continue to advocate for CASA in this part of the State.
The community is invited to the nonprofit’s annual meeting, a volunteer recognition event, at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17 at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester. Anyone interested in Kahn’s spot on the board can call him at 358-2114.
~ Joan Geary
“Making a Difference,” a weekly feature, is a collaborative project of The Keene Sentinel and Giving Monadnock, which seeks to raise public awareness of the role of nonprofit agencies in the Monadnock Region. For more information, e-mail info@givingmonadnock.org or call 357-7171.
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