Volunteer and Make a Difference
by Pamelagrace Beatty
I was sitting at my desk staring at my laptop. I was in between contracts, and the time it was taking to find a new one was going on longer than usual. It was not unusual to have a break between contracts and consulting assignments. If I worked for nine months or more, I often took a 90-day break before jumping back into the mix again. I was nearing the end of my 90-day break and there was no “mix” to jump into. I sighed. I said to myself, “I should be doing something useful while I wait for another consulting gig to come along. But what?” Then I thought, “Humm, I am always talking about how much the children need help in our society. Wouldn’t it be fun to actually contribute somehow to the welfare of children?” As I pondered that question, I ticked off all of the things I didn’t want to do with children. I didn’t want to teach them, didn’t want to babysit them, didn’t want to take them to soccer games or camp. I was running out of ideas. I wondered how I could help children and not do any of the things I didn’t want to do. I also wanted to use skills I already had, and not have to go back to school for extensive training like a nurse or teacher might have to do.
Then my eyes spotted a brochure my mother had given to me about the CASA Program. I wasn’t familiar with it and hadn’t read what she said about it. There was a note on the brochure where she had written, “I think you might be interested in this.” I read the brochure and was amazed. How on earth did she know I was thinking about volunteering to help, somehow, with children? From the brochure I learned that CASAs were court-appointed special advocates for children in foster care. The CASA’s responsibility was to visit children they had been assigned to and notice how the family or caregivers interacted with the children. Then the CASA wrote up a report about the children’s circumstances and what recommendations the CASA might have for the judge who ruled on the cases. There was the way I could help the kids and still not have to take them to get ice cream, or take them to after school sports, or go through extensive training.
I was very excited. I saw where I could use a lot of the skills I already had, writing, investigating, interviewing and more. I was not familiar with the foster care system so that would be a new and interesting area for me. Also, I had no court experience and I was very interested in what goes on in court in these situations. Being a CASA meant going to court and presenting my information, as well as hearing what the social worker from Child Protective Services and the attorneys of the parents of the child or children had to say. Training for CASAs was required but it was weeks versus years, so I was fine with that.
The first step was to get an interview. Got it. The next step was to get through the interview; that was a little more challenging. The CASA interviewers were aware of the demands a volunteer for the program would experience. They had a good feel for who would be successful and who wouldn’t. The interviewers carefully check the motives of the candidate — Why do they want to be a CASA? What difference would they like to make? How do they feel about children, really? How emotionally stable was the candidate? Could the candidate work independently? Had the candidate ever been abusive or accused of being abusive to a child or an elder? The interview was no walk in the park. But, I got the job.
CASA volunteers report to a supervisor, most of whom have been social workers prior to joining the CASA Program. Once trained, the new CASA is assigned a case. Usually, there is a plethora of information on the case, unless it just came into the system for the first time. The CASA reviews all of the information and then makes a plan for whom they will speak to first to get their own picture of what is going on. This is where the “fun” starts. It is sometimes challenging to make appointments with the birth parents. It is very challenging to hook up with the social worker, which is what most new CASAs want to do right away, to find out from the social worker’s perspective what is going on with the case now, and what the issues are. The social workers have many cases and not much time to talk to CASAs. So, the CASA may have to do their observations alone. For new CASAs this can be a bit daunting. CASAs also must first get permission from the birth parents’ attorneys to talk to the parents. This can take a while, and there is no guarantee that permission will be granted, although usually it is. The foster parents are frequently quite cooperative.
After a period of observing, the CASA prepares for a court appearance. Here, the Child Protective Services social worker presents their information on how things are going and whether the parent(s) that want the child or children back in their custody, have complied with all of the court orders to do so. This can get complicated and time consuming. The judge gives the birth parents multiple opportunities to show progress. Sometimes progress can be very slow. The children I was assigned to were babies when I first met them and they were walking, talking and running by the time a final decision was made. The goal was always to return the children to their birth parents if that was in the best interest of the children. Meaning, if the parents had turned their lives around enough to offer the children a safe and healthy home.
I repeat, CASAs are volunteers. Yet, I have never met a more dedicated group. The CASA supervisors and the CASA attorneys were amazing as well. This work takes more than a notion to do. It is difficult to balance being objective, and caring about the kids. It is hard to see the children go back into a questionable situation. But it is so rewarding to see parents meet the requirements of the court and get their children back. The times when that doesn’t happen, it can be very touching to see the child or children adopted by a loving family.
People have often asked me, what do I like best about being a CASA. Of course, having a positive outcome for the children is the best. But also, the appreciation, the smiles and even the hugs the little ones have given me have made it all worthwhile.
