CINCINNATI — When Carmen Schrand retired from nursing, she wasn't looking to slow down. She was looking for another way to help.
Then she saw an advertisement on a bus stop bench.
"I was like, 'Go find some kids that do need me,'" Schrand said. "So this is where I landed."
Fourteen years later, Schrand has advocated for about two dozen abused and neglected children as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, through Cincinnati-based ProKids. She says the work can be emotionally difficult, but the reward comes from being a consistent presence in the lives of children whose worlds have been turned upside down.
Her story comes as ProKids warns Hamilton County's child protection system is under increasing strain.
WATCH: More volunteers needed to advocate for vulnerable Hamilton County children
The nonprofit reports about 3,000 children move through Hamilton County's child protection system each year — roughly double the number the organization saw when executive director Tracy Cook first volunteered with ProKids in the early 1990s.
Hamilton County also has the highest percentage of children in the child protection system among Ohio's largest metropolitan areas.
Despite the growing need, ProKids said it has about 300 active CASA volunteers — a number that has remained largely unchanged in recent years.
"In general, in the United States, volunteerism has been on the decline," Cook said. "The pandemic didn't help, and so we do need people right now to raise their hand because, you know, the mismatch of a greater number of kids in need and fewer volunteers means there are kids right now, as we speak today, waiting for abuse and neglect to end."
CASA volunteers are appointed by Hamilton County Juvenile Court to advocate for children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. Working alongside ProKids attorneys and staff, they visit children regularly, gather information from caregivers, schools and service providers and make recommendations to the court about what is in a child's best interest.
Cook said many people don't realize how deeply the court system is involved when children are removed from their homes.
"When you think of all the things the government can do, taking kids from the only family they've ever known is one of the most serious and intrusive things," Cook said.
Each volunteer works as part of an advocacy team that includes a ProKids staff supervisor and attorney. Volunteers spend an average of about 10 hours a month on a case, though schedules are flexible. That can include weekend visits with children, phone calls during the week, reading case documentation and attending meetings or hearings.
"We are working with our community's most vulnerable children," Cook said. "What our volunteers and staff are doing are helping end that abuse and neglect, and also stopping a cycle. That means they get to help create a new cycle of growing up safe and confident."
Schrand said much of her role is simply showing up.
Some visits involve playing at a park. Others are spent rocking infants or attending school meetings. Whatever the activity, Schrand said consistency is what matters most.
"These kids have had instability in their lives," Schrand said. "So as a CASA, you're the one who keeps showing up... you keep showing up whether they got in trouble at school ... whether they've had a really bad day ... you just keep showing up."
The cases can be heartbreaking.
Schrand said there are moments when parents appear to be making progress only for another crisis to derail a family's reunification. But she says children need someone to remind them they matter.
"These are kids. They don't have things are happening to them, and they need somebody to be there for them," Schrand said. "They need somebody to advocate for them, to tell them that it's not their fault, to tell them that they're special, to tell them that they matter, and that they deserve to be safe."
Despite the emotional weight of the work, Schrand says volunteers are not left to navigate it alone. CASA volunteers receive extensive training and ongoing support from ProKids attorneys and staff.
"Your guardian ad litem is always right by you," she said. "The support is amazing."
Cook said many children entering the system are facing layered challenges tied to broader social pressures.
She pointed to persistent childhood poverty in Hamilton County, rapidly rising housing costs and the lingering effects of the opioid epidemic as factors contributing to the growing number of cases.
"Hamilton County was recently designated as the community in the United States that had the highest increase in rental costs," Cook said. "If you have low resources among some families and very high cost, that can push kids into the child protection system."
The cases themselves vary widely. Some involve physical or sexual abuse. Others center on neglect, including lack of food or housing, educational neglect or failure to obtain necessary medical care for children.
Despite the challenges, ProKids' advocacy has made a measurable impact. Cook said abuse and neglect ended for 99% of the children whose cases closed last year, a success rate Cook said it has maintained for more than 25 years.
For Schrand, the victories aren't measured only by statistics.
She recalls helping a grandmother gain custody of her three grandchildren. Years later, that family still keeps in touch.
"I've gotten prom pictures. I've gotten graduation pictures. I know one of those kids is now enrolled in college," Schrand said. "It's those kinds of things... it makes a difference."
Cook believes many people underestimate the impact they can have simply by stepping forward.
"I think we sometimes convince ourselves that we have less power than we actually do," she said. "What real power was was things like comforting a crying child. We all have the power to do that."
ProKids hopes to double its volunteer base from about 300 to 600 advocates in the coming years. The organization is also hoping to recruit a more diverse volunteer base, including more men.
You can find information on how to help here.
"Many of the kids we're working with have not had a consistent male figure in their life," Cook said. "We need men. We need women. We need folks of all ages, races, backgrounds."
Cook said the need is urgent — not only for the children currently waiting for help, but for future generations as well.
"Every child's life we can change today means a child who grows up to parent differently than they were parented," Cook said. "That has an impact on our entire community."
