When you ask Adele Bruce if she has any children, the answer may surprise you.

“I usually say I have 10 kids,” said Bruce. “All of the ones that I’ve nannied, plus my CASA kids.”

Since March 2006, the soft-spoken Englishwoman has volunteered fulltime as a CASA, or Court-Appointed Special Advocate. A CASA is appointed whenever a judge has a case in which children must be removed from the home due to problems such as abuse or neglect.

Adele Bruce

The program uses trained volunteers to act in the best interests of the child and was conceived over 30 years ago by a Seattle judge. The program is run locally by the Youth Service Bureau, a nonprofit organization serving both Washington and St. Tammany parishes.

Bruce, a Madisonville resident, covers Washington Parish and brings about 20 years as a professional nanny to the role. While the experience gave her a solid foundation for her work as a CASA, the two jobs couldn’t be further apart.

“I worked for people who were mega-rich,” she said. “Where some of these kids live is a vastly different world.”

Bruce is one of about 150 CASAs in the area, and together they served more than twice that many children. She and other volunteers go through intensive training with social workers, attorneys and judges, among others, who train them to use their powers of observation to act as the eyes and ears of the court.

She closed down her business, Family Matters, to concentrate on CASA after seeing a commercial featuring actor Danny Pino, who stars in the crime drama “Cold Case” and is a national CASA spokesperson.

“I was watching ‘Cold Case’ and saw this commercial that really struck a nerve,” said Bruce. “When I got in my car afterwards and the same commercial was on the radio, I figured that was a sign.”

The cases are completely confidential, and Bruce usually doesn’t know the extent of the abuse or how long it’s been going on. She visits with other family members, doctors, teachers and anyone else involved in a child’s life and must keep a neutral eye at all times.

“It’s not our opinion on whether a house is neat enough, for example,” she said. “It has to be based solely on the facts that are observed.”

While some volunteers have been with the program for 20 years or more, Bruce stresses the need for more CASAs in the area. Four new advocates were sworn in several months ago in Slidell, but many more are needed.

Bruce insists she’s not a hero, she’s simply trying to help those children in need. She said it’s the best thing she’s ever done, and she would do it for the rest of her life if it were possible.

“The payback is that you know that whether they’re adopted or reunited with their family, that child’s life is changed for the better,” she said.