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Courts continue to help those forgotten
Posted: Thursday, Jan 08, 2009 - 10:12:54 am EST
By Emily May - Warrick Publishing Online
The children involved in abuse or neglect cases are usually the ones that get stuck in the middle with no representation.
That is where CASA comes in.
CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocates — was designed to be the child’s voice. The organization was started in 1977 by a judge who wanted someone to research the best interests of the children who came through his court room. Last year, Circuit Court Judge David O. Kelley saw the need to implement CASA in Warrick County.
In just nine months, the program has helped more than 80 children find permanency in their lives.
Volunteer advocates start by investigating the case. Being court-appointed, they are entitled to all details of a case.
“We investigate by talking to the child first of all,” said Monica Freimiller, Program Director of Warrick County CASA. “We talk to parents, foster parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, daycare providers, doctors, therapists, teachers; anyone who can give us pertinent information about the child’s situation and their needs, we talk to them. We are information gatherers... We list the facts, and then as educated volunteers, we make fact-based recommendations to the court by written report to the court.”
CASA is responsible for maintaining a special relationship with the children it represents. Most of the time, CASA representatives are the only constant that the child has during the court process. Other people involved — caseworkers, therapists, foster parents — tend to get shifted from case to case.
“Our volunteers are required two out-of-court contacts with the child each month, at a minimum,” Freimiller said. “They are required to see the eyeballs of their child once a month and some other kind of contact. That is one of the things we really pride ourselves on is that we have a relationship with the child.”
Freimiller said that advocating for children sometimes means advocating for the parents as well, because strong and healthy parents means a safe and happy environment for the child.
“Our first and foremost goal, in conjunction with the Department of Child Services, is reunification, which means to get the child back in the home,” she said. “But, we have to make sure the home is safe for them to come back to. Our goal is to speak in the best interest of the child and to find a permanent home as soon as possible. Sometimes that means going back to the parents and sometimes that means terminating parental rights so that the child can be placed for adoption so that child has a permanent situation and (is not) caught in limbo for years.”
Freimiller said that the 15 CASA representatives in Warrick County are currently working on more than 40 cases and that 16 cases have had to be put on a waiting list.
“The need is there,” she said. “It takes a village to be able to gather the resources for these judges for these orders that these kids need. There are always open slots.”
Volunteers are required to participate in 30 hours of pretraining after being screened. The training process takes about eight consecutive weeks.
“I want to make sure that my volunteers are confident and properly trained because it is a big responsibility to make recommendations for a child’s life,” she said.
After training, new CASAs are sworn in as officers of the court and given their first case
“That is where the real work begins,” Freimiller said.
The different phases of the cases take varying lengths of time, but Freimiller said that volunteers can count on spending about two hours a week on each case. Advocates can decide how many cases they want at a time and the age of the children they represent.
A training class will be held in the latter part of January for anyone interested in becoming involved with CASA. The class will cover issues such as the law as it pertains to child services, abuse and neglect issues, drug abuse, sexual abuse, family dynamics, childhood dynamics, advocating for different age levels, report writing, cultural diversity and more. Anyone is welcome to go through the class, but must complete the application and screening process first.
Freimiller said that the process is a learning curve.
“I have learned that you can’t just look at the outside of a package, you have to look at the big picture,” she said. “Just because a parent may have hard times or they may find themselves in a drug addiction, it’s not who they are. They’ve been caught in that mess. How can we get them the help to make them healthy and strong so they can have their kids back. (It’s) my job that they have a voice in this. They didn’t ask for this. They had no part in it. I make sure that their rights are being upheld and their needs are being met.”
Anyone interested in becoming a “powerful voice in the life of a child” should call Monica Freimiller at 897-6130.
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