WASHINGTON – Iowa leaders and volunteers with the National CASA Association today visited the office of Senator Chuck Grassley to present him the 2012 Children’s Champion in Congress Award.
Aprile Goodman and Deb Pumphrey of Mason City and Jo Stumo and Alan Steckman of Mason City were in Washington, D.C. for an advocates’ conference. Local CASA -- or Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children -- programs train volunteers who are asked by the court to represent the best interests of children in certain child welfare-related cases.
“For all of the policy improvements Congress makes, it’s the people in the field who make the policies work,” Grassley said. “Those who spend time waiting at courthouses and weeding through paperwork at child welfare agencies make a tremendous positive difference. They don’t wait for someone else to take action. These advocates wade right in and take part, not for glory but out of the sheer regard for the quality of life for every child.”
Pumphrey, Goodman, Sutmo, Grassley and Steckman are pictured here.
Grassley was honored this year along with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Grassley is Ranking Member and Leahy is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here is information from the CASA website.