Volunteering to protect children

They fed the volunteers before putting them on the hot seat.

After enjoying a potluck dinner, eight women all volunteers for Hill County's newly formed Court Appointed Special Advocate program took to the witness stand Thursday evening in the District Court courtroom of the Hill County Courthouse and allowed themselves to be grilled by lawyers.

It was a mock hearing. The volunteers seven from Havre and one from Big Sandy were trying to prep themselves for lawyers representing hostile parents during youth-in-need-of-care hearings.

CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to represent the best in...