In any given year in Orange County, about 2,800 children are dependents of the courts. Of those, more than 2,000 live in foster care. By the time these children turn 18, almost half will lack high school diplomas. More than half of them will have nowhere to live and will struggle to find jobs. The foster care system is so tough on children, in fact, that more than 70 percent of California’s state prison inmates have spent time “in the system.”
An organization in Orange County is working to change these heartbreaking statistics, one child at a time.
Celebrating 30 years of serving the special and individual needs of children in the foster care system, Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County – or CASA – has a mantra it teaches volunteers: “I am here for the child.”
That mantra, combined with the devotion of hundreds of volunteers, has affected the lives of thousands of abused and neglected children in Orange County’s foster care system.
What is CASA?
Much more than buddies who spend quality and continued time with a child, CASA community volunteers (called simply “CASAs”) are also the child’s voice in court. They work closely with judges, social workers, foster placements, teachers and family members to make sure that all the needs of the child are met.
Orange County CASA, a member of the national CASA association, was started in 1985 as a privately funded nonprofit whose mission was to pair a highly trained volunteer with a foster child. The national CASA organization, which was established in 1977, now facilitates more than 1,000 CASA organizations in 49 states.
Orange County CASA volunteers work with about 550 foster children in the area. The waiting list is growing, due to what Director of Community Relations and Family Connections Coordinator Matthew Wadlinger calls “the power of the CASA.”
“I am the only person in my CASA child’s life who isn’t paid,” said Joy Winger, a CASA volunteer. “Everyone in a foster child’s life is paid: their therapist, their foster parents, their social worker. These kids know that. But when a CASA volunteer comes and says, ‘I am here, just for you,’ that is life-changing.”
CASA volunteers undergo 30 hours of training and extensive background checks, and are sworn in by a judge before they are assigned their first child. Volunteers commit for at least two years so they can be a steady and stable force in their assigned child’s life.
“CASAs also fulfill continuing education requirements that are really suited to the needs of CASA children,” Wadlinger said.
CASA volunteers do what a social worker can’t. Because of their one-on-one commitment, CASAs visit their child weekly, spending quality and consistent time with the child. Volunteers monitor the child’s foster placement and make sure the child is receiving proper medical and therapeutic care and that his or her educational needs are being addressed.
Power of a courtroom advocate
Every six months, the CASA appears in court for the child’s periodic review in front of a judge. Because of the time invested in the child, a CASA volunteer is able to provide input and recommendations to the child’s attorney, judge and social workers. And as a volunteer who is in court solely on behalf of the child, CASAs are highly respected by judges, who rely on them for their insight and candor.
“Judges have come down from the bench and sat next to me,” said Pat Cahill, a 20-year CASA advocate. “They want to know what I recommend, because I am vested in the child.”
Many CASA volunteers get additional training and assume the educational rights of their child. Once they assume those rights, they can attend parent-teacher conferences, help their child’s teachers build individual educational programs, and address other educational issues that may otherwise go unnoticed.
According to the organization’s statistics, Orange County CASA’s success rate for children in foster care is staggering. Because of the hands-on investment of a CASA volunteer, a child in the program is more likely to find permanent placement, more likely to succeed in school and half as likely to re-enter the foster care system. A child in the program also gets more help within the system because of the direct advocacy of the volunteer.
The program is simple yet effective. One staff member supports 40 CASA volunteers. The staff member helps the volunteers navigate the court system, address situations that give a volunteer pause, assist volunteers in finding services, and work hand-in-hand to help a volunteer give every child the best chance at success.
“CASA supervisors smooth the way for us,” Winger said. “When something feels weird with your child’s situation, you can check in with them and get answers and help.”
In addition to training and assisting volunteers, CASA also provides services to meet the unique needs of foster children. The Family Connections program works to find family members willing to provide a loving and permanent home for CASA children. Volunteers and staff members search the child’s complete file and work closely with the child to find family members who may not even know the child is in foster care.
Preparing for life after foster care
Orange County CASA also has a program that exposes older children to the life skills necessary to succeed when they “age out” of foster care. CASA’s office in Santa Ana has a complete kitchen, where volunteers teach their kids how to cook, shop and budget. Volunteers also instruct older kids on how to do laundry, set up bank accounts, fill out job applications, use public transportation and develop important interpersonal skills – such as eye contact and a good handshake – that foster children sometimes never learn.
“We help kids with education, permanency and life skills,” Wadlinger said. “By properly directing resources, we hope to break the cycle of abuse and neglect for children who enter foster care.”
Restoring lost trust
Cahill’s voice hesitates when she talks about her experience with the organization.
“I can’t talk about CASA without a box of tissues,” she said.
Cahill began her work with the organization in 1996 after the nonprofit where she worked folded. Over the years, she has worked closely with 22 children in the CASA program. While some assignments have been short, because the child was adopted or found a permanent placement, other assignments have lasted more than six years.
No matter the length of the assignments, Cahill said, all the children have one thing in common.
“These foster kids have lost trust,” she said. “The people they trusted most in their lives got them into this mess – foster care, group homes. It’s my job to teach these kids to trust again.”
The key to building that trust? “Consistency, consistency, consistency,” she said. “I show these children the same respect I show another adult. I show them by example that I am someone they can count on.”
In addition to spending time with her CASA children and reporting their situations and progress to the judges in their cases, Cahill said that research is a huge part of her job.
“I need to learn about the medications my kids are on. I need to understand their diagnoses. I need to know their history. I am the judge’s eyes and ears.”
Cahill said that family court judges rely on a CASA’s reports and input.
When asked the biggest challenge she faces as a volunteer, Cahill doesn’t hesitate. “I want to give these kids a childhood. I want to get them to laugh and be silly. But that takes trust and time.”
That trust is important, Cahill said, when she accompanies her CASA child to events at the child’s school or other places where the child may see his or her peers.
“One time when we visited a food bank, some kids asked my CASA child who I was. When he said, ‘I’m here with my grandma,’ I was flattered. These kids just want to feel normal. They don’t want to tell anyone that they are a foster child and that I am a volunteer.”
A mother and grandmother herself, Cahill said that her family is very respectful of her role in the organization.
“As a CASA volunteer, you get so much more than you give,” she said. “My family understands that.”
‘We are not Santa Claus’
CASA 2015 Advocate of the Year Joy Winger said it takes a while for a foster child to understand how much his or her CASA volunteer cares.
“Foster kids have a view that adults are there to ‘deal with them,’” she said. “I’m there because I want to be there. That’s hard for a foster child to understand at first.”
Winger was reticent when she was first told about her advocate of the year award.
“I don’t seek a light shining on me,” she said. “My role is to get behind the light and shine it on CASA.”
Since she became a volunteer in 2002, she has worked with six boys, who she believes are especially vulnerable.
“It’s very easy for boys to fall through the cracks in the foster care system,” she said, adding that without good role models, boys tend to act out more than girls.
“Boys are also often seen as more difficult to control,” she said. “But once a child, especially a boy, sees you as reliable, things change,” she said. “CASAs show up every time. We come when we say we will.”
That relationship building is life-saving, she said.
Winger is quick to note that her role is comprehensive. “We are not Santa Claus. We make a difference because we bring ourselves and our time.”
CASAs bring the acumen that the courts need. “We are a common-sense person looking at the child’s situation,” she said. “We are able to report the good and the bad news to the judge and give our recommendations about what is best for the child.”
For the volunteer, the personal rewards are great, she said.
“One of my CASA children was 7 years old when he was assigned to me. After a few years, he was adopted. Recently, he reached out to me, asking for a recommendation letter for a college scholarship. I remember when he was a motel child. Now, he has money for college.”
Winger also embraces the role of education advocate.
“When I was first asked, I didn’t think that I could do it,” she said. “But my own CASA child needed someone to speak for him. I knew his case. I knew his needs.”
After additional training, Winger stepped into the role willingly.
“Now I am totally comfortable. I can tell what are the deficits in my child’s education and I can tell what are the bad behaviors. School budgets are spread thin, but I can speak up to get my CASA children the services they need. I can say, ‘No, that’s not OK’ when I think the child’s needs are not being met.”
Winger attributes much of her success as a volunteer to the support she receives from case supervisors.
“They are there to help you with court reports and research,” she said. “The training is so comprehensive, it makes you feel more comfortable.”
Winger is creative with her CASA children, too. “We spend time in parks, or at the beach or at free public events,” she said.
A positive role model
After his first Orange County CASA volunteer information meeting, Blant Webb saw that he had found a home.
“I knew that this is what I should do,” he said. “These kids are so awesome. They need someone fighting for them.”
Webb also fills a very important need in the CASA program. As a 31-year-old man, he is sometimes the only positive male role model in his CASA child’s life.
“So much has been taken away from these kids,” he said. “But not everything. Just showing up is a big deal.”
Webb has spent his career working with children, first as a supervisor at the YMCA and currently with a nonprofit helping teen mothers who are victims of human trafficking. He understands that what may seem like something insignificant to an adult can be life-changing to a child.
“I have had kids come back to me years later and tell me that I was the person who taught them how to tie their shoes,” he said. “What we do for these kids is a big deal.”
But CASA is different from working with groups of children. “I wanted to do something individualized. I may not be able to make a difference for every child, but as a CASA volunteer I can make a real difference for one child.”
Webb also emphasizes the importance of trust. “I am a constant influence on my CASA child. I tell him that he can trust me and that I will be there. And I don’t break that trust.”
Educational advocacy is also essential. “When these kids are moved around, records can be inaccurate,” he said. “One school had my CASA kid in the wrong grade and no one knew. I fought to get him in the correct grade with the right accommodations.”
And because the CASA volunteer is unpaid, the motivation to advocate is strong. “I’m there because I care. I advocate because it happens naturally.” Trauma is a big factor in the lives of foster children, Webb said.
“A lot of damage is done when a child is abused or neglected,” he said. “This trauma can affect brain development and can be misdiagnosed or have the same symptoms as ADHD or autism. I want the best for these kids and I fight to make sure that their quality of life is the best that it can be.”
Sometimes, getting the right diagnosis and services is frustrating, he said.
“But somebody has to be there. What happened to these kids doesn’t define them. I can be present and make a difference.”
It’s the little things that are the most rewarding about being a CASA, Webb said. “These kids don’t get attached to adults. They are guarded all of the time. So once, I took my CASA child to the beach. It was his first time. Watching him splashing and laughing in the waves, he was a kid. It was so overwhelming to see him have a sense of innocence.”
To learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer or how to donate, visit casaoc.org.
