CASA Volunteers Are The Voice For Children In Court
April 10, 2021 at 12:02 a.m.
CASA Volunteers Are The Voice For Children In Court
By David [email protected]
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national organization founded in 1977 by David Soukup, a judge in Washington state. Erin Rowland Jones, the executive director of Kosciusko’s CASA, said, “We’re a member of that national organization. There’s also a state CASA office that really helps the local offices like ourselves.”
She said Soukup started CASA because he thought he needed another set of eyes on the really hard cases where children were abused or neglected to “really look at what’s going on and look through the child’s eyes and let me know what’s going on and be my eyes and ears.” Soukup found some volunteers that did that for him, and then that caught on with other judges.
“Not everybody understands that we can’t be involved in every case. We actually have to be appointed by the court to then get involved in those cases,” Rowland Jones said.
In Kosciusko County, CASA started because then-Judge Bob Burner had heard about it and really wanted CASA in Kosciusko, she said. “So he, with the help of others and the Altrusa Club, got that started. In 1992, we advocated for our first child, which means next year will be our 30th anniversary.”
CASA of Kosciusko County has always been volunteered based. “So our volunteers are who go out and become the CASA for the children. We in the office recruit those volunteers, we train them, and then we support them as they are doing their investigations; help get them documentation; we’re kind of the conduit sometimes if they need some assistance getting through to a service provider. But our CASA staff all have cases,” Rowland Jones said.
That includes her as she is working her first case, having been named the executive director in August.
The volunteers CASA has is “typically enough for us to fulfill all of our obligation in what is called CHINS (Child In Need of Services) cases,” Rowland Jones said. “So those are the cases where the Department of Child Services is involved and the abuse or neglect is severe enough that they come to the court and ask the court to find that these children need services. And then the court is involved, asking the parents to do certain things in order to get the child reunified with them. Reunification is always the first goal. So once it goes to court, that is when we get appointed.”
She said Indiana has seen the importance of CASA and put it in state statute that either a CASA or a guardian ad litem has to be appointed to every case where a child is in need of services.
“Most counties like ours, you don’t have enough guardian ad litems, which are typically attorneys, to be able to fill that need, so most counties like ours use the CASAs and appoint them in those CHINS hearings,” Rowland Jones explained.
CASA of Kosciusko County has four staff, including Rowland Jones, and the nearly 60 volunteers to handle all the cases appointed to CASA. In 2020, she said they served 203 children.
“The cases can last anywhere from a year to years, so sometimes we have the same children in one year and the other. Those aren’t always new children, but in quarter one (2021), we were serving and advocating for 161 children total. Twenty-four new CHINS cases in the first quarter of 2021. So 24 children, with abuse or neglect, January to March,” she said.
Each child has their own case number, but CASA deals with children from the same family together.
Some CASA offices have paid positions to deal with all their cases because they don’t have enough volunteers. “We’ve always been lucky in that we’ve had enough volunteers to cover our needs with the CHINS. However, that isn’t to say that at times it takes a while to get someone appointed and we have the judges constantly asking if we have CASA volunteers available to help them on their really high-conflict custody and parenting time cases. And some of those, especially if the parents are pro se, the judge isn’t quite sure what’s going on ... so he or she would really like someone to go in and be his/her eyes and ears,” she said.
CASA appoints its advocates to the CHINS cases first. “So right now we’ve got several cases that are non-CHINS that we just haven’t been able to appoint anyone because we don’t have the volunteers available to do that,” she said. “So we definitely would like to have upwards of 75-plus volunteers, and that allows us to be involved in some of those non-CHIN cases, as well.”
A volunteer for CASA has to go through 33 hours of training. The national requirement is 30 hours, but she said they add on three hours to do some training about custody and visitation cases. The training is six weeks with two sessions a week. It’s been virtual lately, but the next training begins June 8 and Rowland Jones said they are planning to do it in person. It’s typically held in the evenings after 5 p.m. in the Justice Building.
“If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer, they can always call us or go to our website (casachildren.com),” she said.
The average amount of time a CASA would spend on a case depends on the CASA and the case itself. Overall, she estimated five to 10 hours a month. There could be times where it might be more because for every permanency hearing and review hearing, they write a report to the judge to let them know what’s going on from the point of view of the child, as well as give their recommendation as to what is best for that child.
CASA staff help the advocates write reports, edit the reports and gather information. “The staff know as much about the cases, typically, as the CASA and are there to help every step along the way, so the CASAs feel like they have enough support and information to make the reports to the court,” Rowland Jones said.
A CASA has to be at least 21 years old. There aren’t any educational or background requirements, but criminal and DCS background checks are done on every volunteer because they work with children. Applications are available on the website, and there is an interview with Janelle Meyer, the program manager.
The staff tries to make sure each case is paired with the right volunteer.
“Beyond us writing the reports to the courts – that’s us being the voice for the child and the eyes and ears of the court – I tell the CASAs all the time that what is just as valuable or more valuable is that we are a consistent person in that traumatized child’s life,” she said. “So these children have typically been removed from their parents, which, whether their parents abused or neglected them, they love their parents. That’s traumatic. Sometimes they’re separated from their siblings. A very traumatic time in their lives. And during their case, some of their providers, counselors could change. Sometimes their case manager changes. We try very hard to have our CASAs be there and work the entire case.”
Studies show that for kids that are going through trauma or have gone through trauma, one of the most helpful things for them is having a loving, consistent adult walking beside them. CASA volunteers have to meet with the child at least every 30 days, and are asked to dedicate at least 18 months to being a volunteer. “So there’s a consistency there. They come just to see the child – read them a book, play with them, chitchat with them, depending on the age of the child. It’s time for that child and he or she knows the volunteer is there for them. And that’s been really important,” she said.
Rowland Jones said they do have a need for more male volunteers. Even nationwide, women are the majority of volunteers for CASA. She said about 75% are female.
“We always like to have a diverse group of volunteers. And certainly, when you have, especially older boys or teenagers, it’s really nice sometimes to pair them up with a male. And that’s not always the case, but we would love to have more. All volunteers, but certainly more male volunteers,” she said.
CASA of Kosciusko County also is probably lacking in bilingual volunteers, as well, she said.
Besides being a volunteer, a person can help with donations to CASA. It can be monetary, but people have also donated items such as new books, toys and games, which the CASAs can use during their time with the children.
Monetary donations can be made online at casachildren.com. For other ways to give, Rowland Jones said they can contact the CASA office for more information.
“We are always looking for more volunteers. Please give us a call or check on our website,” she concluded.
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national organization founded in 1977 by David Soukup, a judge in Washington state. Erin Rowland Jones, the executive director of Kosciusko’s CASA, said, “We’re a member of that national organization. There’s also a state CASA office that really helps the local offices like ourselves.”
She said Soukup started CASA because he thought he needed another set of eyes on the really hard cases where children were abused or neglected to “really look at what’s going on and look through the child’s eyes and let me know what’s going on and be my eyes and ears.” Soukup found some volunteers that did that for him, and then that caught on with other judges.
“Not everybody understands that we can’t be involved in every case. We actually have to be appointed by the court to then get involved in those cases,” Rowland Jones said.
In Kosciusko County, CASA started because then-Judge Bob Burner had heard about it and really wanted CASA in Kosciusko, she said. “So he, with the help of others and the Altrusa Club, got that started. In 1992, we advocated for our first child, which means next year will be our 30th anniversary.”
CASA of Kosciusko County has always been volunteered based. “So our volunteers are who go out and become the CASA for the children. We in the office recruit those volunteers, we train them, and then we support them as they are doing their investigations; help get them documentation; we’re kind of the conduit sometimes if they need some assistance getting through to a service provider. But our CASA staff all have cases,” Rowland Jones said.
That includes her as she is working her first case, having been named the executive director in August.
The volunteers CASA has is “typically enough for us to fulfill all of our obligation in what is called CHINS (Child In Need of Services) cases,” Rowland Jones said. “So those are the cases where the Department of Child Services is involved and the abuse or neglect is severe enough that they come to the court and ask the court to find that these children need services. And then the court is involved, asking the parents to do certain things in order to get the child reunified with them. Reunification is always the first goal. So once it goes to court, that is when we get appointed.”
She said Indiana has seen the importance of CASA and put it in state statute that either a CASA or a guardian ad litem has to be appointed to every case where a child is in need of services.
“Most counties like ours, you don’t have enough guardian ad litems, which are typically attorneys, to be able to fill that need, so most counties like ours use the CASAs and appoint them in those CHINS hearings,” Rowland Jones explained.
CASA of Kosciusko County has four staff, including Rowland Jones, and the nearly 60 volunteers to handle all the cases appointed to CASA. In 2020, she said they served 203 children.
“The cases can last anywhere from a year to years, so sometimes we have the same children in one year and the other. Those aren’t always new children, but in quarter one (2021), we were serving and advocating for 161 children total. Twenty-four new CHINS cases in the first quarter of 2021. So 24 children, with abuse or neglect, January to March,” she said.
Each child has their own case number, but CASA deals with children from the same family together.
Some CASA offices have paid positions to deal with all their cases because they don’t have enough volunteers. “We’ve always been lucky in that we’ve had enough volunteers to cover our needs with the CHINS. However, that isn’t to say that at times it takes a while to get someone appointed and we have the judges constantly asking if we have CASA volunteers available to help them on their really high-conflict custody and parenting time cases. And some of those, especially if the parents are pro se, the judge isn’t quite sure what’s going on ... so he or she would really like someone to go in and be his/her eyes and ears,” she said.
CASA appoints its advocates to the CHINS cases first. “So right now we’ve got several cases that are non-CHINS that we just haven’t been able to appoint anyone because we don’t have the volunteers available to do that,” she said. “So we definitely would like to have upwards of 75-plus volunteers, and that allows us to be involved in some of those non-CHIN cases, as well.”
A volunteer for CASA has to go through 33 hours of training. The national requirement is 30 hours, but she said they add on three hours to do some training about custody and visitation cases. The training is six weeks with two sessions a week. It’s been virtual lately, but the next training begins June 8 and Rowland Jones said they are planning to do it in person. It’s typically held in the evenings after 5 p.m. in the Justice Building.
“If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer, they can always call us or go to our website (casachildren.com),” she said.
The average amount of time a CASA would spend on a case depends on the CASA and the case itself. Overall, she estimated five to 10 hours a month. There could be times where it might be more because for every permanency hearing and review hearing, they write a report to the judge to let them know what’s going on from the point of view of the child, as well as give their recommendation as to what is best for that child.
CASA staff help the advocates write reports, edit the reports and gather information. “The staff know as much about the cases, typically, as the CASA and are there to help every step along the way, so the CASAs feel like they have enough support and information to make the reports to the court,” Rowland Jones said.
A CASA has to be at least 21 years old. There aren’t any educational or background requirements, but criminal and DCS background checks are done on every volunteer because they work with children. Applications are available on the website, and there is an interview with Janelle Meyer, the program manager.
The staff tries to make sure each case is paired with the right volunteer.
“Beyond us writing the reports to the courts – that’s us being the voice for the child and the eyes and ears of the court – I tell the CASAs all the time that what is just as valuable or more valuable is that we are a consistent person in that traumatized child’s life,” she said. “So these children have typically been removed from their parents, which, whether their parents abused or neglected them, they love their parents. That’s traumatic. Sometimes they’re separated from their siblings. A very traumatic time in their lives. And during their case, some of their providers, counselors could change. Sometimes their case manager changes. We try very hard to have our CASAs be there and work the entire case.”
Studies show that for kids that are going through trauma or have gone through trauma, one of the most helpful things for them is having a loving, consistent adult walking beside them. CASA volunteers have to meet with the child at least every 30 days, and are asked to dedicate at least 18 months to being a volunteer. “So there’s a consistency there. They come just to see the child – read them a book, play with them, chitchat with them, depending on the age of the child. It’s time for that child and he or she knows the volunteer is there for them. And that’s been really important,” she said.
Rowland Jones said they do have a need for more male volunteers. Even nationwide, women are the majority of volunteers for CASA. She said about 75% are female.
“We always like to have a diverse group of volunteers. And certainly, when you have, especially older boys or teenagers, it’s really nice sometimes to pair them up with a male. And that’s not always the case, but we would love to have more. All volunteers, but certainly more male volunteers,” she said.
CASA of Kosciusko County also is probably lacking in bilingual volunteers, as well, she said.
Besides being a volunteer, a person can help with donations to CASA. It can be monetary, but people have also donated items such as new books, toys and games, which the CASAs can use during their time with the children.
Monetary donations can be made online at casachildren.com. For other ways to give, Rowland Jones said they can contact the CASA office for more information.
“We are always looking for more volunteers. Please give us a call or check on our website,” she concluded.
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