On April 2, the National CASA Association will be
awarding Cyndy Bailes, Executive Director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland, the Kappa Alpha Theta CASA Program Director of the Year Award at the 25th Annual National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Conference in San Diego, California.

     CASA of the Tennessee Heartland’s Board of Directors’ President, Michele Brandenburg says, “I and other Board of Directors members are delighted with this acknowledgement. Cyndy is so deserving of the honor. Under her leadership CASA of the Tennessee Heartland has experienced tremendous growth and yet maintained and even improved the quality of services the agency provides.  Her dedication to the goal of a voice in court for all abused and neglected children is       Cyndy Bailes, Executive Director
unparalleled.”
                                                                                                 
     Ms. Bailes was chosen to receive the Kappa Alpha Theta CASA Program Director of the Year based upon her demonstrated and outstanding leadership qualities resulting in the enhanced quality of the local CASA program’s advocacy.

     Cyndy Bailes became the Executive Director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland, formerly CASA of Anderson County, in 1992. Under Cyndy’s direction the agency grew from a one-county agency that served 60 children in 1993 into a five-county agency that served 550 children in 2005. The volunteers who serve children in Anderson, Campbell, Morgan, Roane, and Scott Counties have increased in number from 15 to 84 active advocates since Ms. Bailes’ assumption of agency leadership.

     CASA of the Tennessee Heartland is one of 954 CASA/GAL programs in the United States. The agency staff members recruit, train and support volunteer advocates who are appointed by the courts to “speak up” on behalf of abused and neglected children. The mission of the volunteers is to expedite the process through which these children are placed in safe, permanent homes.