JEFFERSON — Officials with an advocacy group for children have noticed an unfortunate trend: Their funding continues to decline as the economy worsens, while their case loads steadily increase.

In the four years since she has been the executive director of the Piedmont Court Appointed Special Advocates program, Annette Raymond said she has seen more children being referred to the program and the need for more volunteers grow.

“When I first started, we had 12 volunteers; now we have 48,” said Raymond, whose program helps children in Jackson, Banks and Barrow counties.

CASA is a program under the juvenile court system. CASA volunteers serve as advocates for children who have been removed from their homes because they are victims of neglect, physical, sexual or emotional abuse.

“CASA volunteers are appointed to a child by the courts. They visit with the child at least once a month while they are in foster care and gather information about the family and child,” said Raymond. “They also work with the parents (to correct problems at home.) The CASA volunteers’ goal is to help get the child reunited with their family if possible or help find a permanent adoptive situation.”

Ultimately, a child’s fate rests in the hands of the juvenile court judge, but CASA volunteers report to the judge with recommendations concerning their assigned child.

Although neglect is the main reason children have become a part of the CASA program, as the economy worsens and makes home situations more stressful, Raymond says the causes for referrals are starting to shift.

“The number of sexual and physical abuse cases are increasing,” she said. “Last quarter, we had 14 physical abuse cases, this quarter that number has increased to 20. The same is true with sexual abuse ­— last quarter we had 16 cases; this quarter we have 19. It isn’t a large increase, but it’s a pattern that we’ve picked up on.”

In 2008, Piedmont CASA served 103 children; so far in 2009, it is helping 93 children.

Although the case load has increased, funding has decreased. That change has left the group in a precarious situation.

“We get some grant funding, but we rely on smaller contributions from (local governments) and also from our annual fundraiser.

We set a goal of $10,000 for our fundraiser this year, but we only raised $1,500,” Raymond said.

Like many other government agencies, Raymond said CASA has had to use furlough days for paid employees to offset lower revenue.

The Hall-Dawson CASA program also has had to require paid staff to take a few furlough days each month.

“Our grant funding has dropped around 10 to 13 percent,” said Lisa McCarthy, Hall-Dawson advocacy coordinator. “We also have two fundraisers each year — a fun run in the spring and another event in the fall. Last year, we raised $25,000 from the fun run. This year, we only raised $12,000.

“We depended a lot on corporate sponsorships, but a lot of the companies who used to sponsor us just couldn’t afford to do it this year. Things are tough for everyone. There’s just not a lot of money available right now.”

With large caseloads, both Raymond and McCarthy say that now is not the best time for employees to take unpaid days off when there is work to be done coordinating volunteers and their respective cases. However, shutting down offices is not an option because they say the children who are being served would be harmed the most.

According CASA officials, children in the program are “substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care” and are also less likely to re-enter the child welfare system.

“At a time when we need to expand our program we can’t because we don’t have the staff to do it because of furlough days,” said Raymond. “Not having enough money makes things tough, but we just have to do what we have to do.”