A CASA in Their Corner : Special Advocates Help Kids in Need, But Some Say They Can Interfere

Diana and Robert Loftis could easily have gotten lost in the system. Neglected by their drug-addicted parents, they were placed in foster care while still in grade school. For a decade, they moved from home to home, had countless social workers and attended numerous schools.

The only constant in their lives was child advocate Barbara Fowlie. Without her, Diana and Robert say, they would have felt abandoned.

It was in 1985--a time when too few people were standing up for abused and neglected children--that Ventura County started a chapter of the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program. Designed to be the eyes and ears of the judge, CASA volunteers ensure children’s rights are protected and their voices heard.

Now, nearly 15 years after its arrival in Ventura County, the program praised as an antidote to the overburdened child welfare system is facing criticism.

CASA volunteers see themselves as both child advocates and independent investigators. But local attorneys say the volunteers are overstepping their bounds, interfering in attorneys’ work and the work of social workers. They say CASA volunteers should basically be mentors, and spend time developing relationships with the children rather than reviewing their records.

“What bothers me about CASA is that they don’t understand their limitations,” said Philip Capritto, a Ventura County attorney who represents parents trying to maintain custody of their children. “They are overly aggressive in trying to assert themselves in very complicated cases.”

But CASA representatives, who operate under a mandate from the Judicial Council of California, say their role is to be both mentors and advocates, looking out for the best interests of children in Dependency Court.

“It is totally inconsistent with national and state guidelines for CASAs to be mere mentors,” said Cassandra Flipper, executive director of the California CASA Assn. “They do mentoring roles but they do more. They advocate for the best interests of the child.”

Nonetheless, the controversy over the role of CASA volunteers is threatening the program’s ability to effect change in the lives of abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Although there are 59 trained and active volunteers in Ventura County, only 33 are now assigned to children’s cases. That may be because too many attorneys such as Capritto are reluctant to have CASA volunteers on their cases.

Meanwhile, there are about 560 youths living in local foster care or group homes, and another 270 being monitored at home by the Dependency Court. Fewer than 5% are represented by an advocate.

Flipper said she’s concerned about the controversy. “Around the state, most attorneys are very glad to have CASAs,” she said. “So it doesn’t make sense to me what’s going on in Ventura County.”

Advocate Program Launched in 1977

The Court Appointed Special Advocate Program began in Seattle in 1977, when a judge became concerned he was making choices for abused and neglected children without enough information. So he trained community workers and swore them in as officers of the court.

There are now 33 CASA programs in California and 843 throughout the nation.

In Ventura County, the program is run by Interface Children Family Services and receives funding from local, state and national sources. Volunteers spend 48 hours receiving training on courtroom procedures, effects of childhood sexual abuse and the role of attorneys and social workers in Dependency Court.

During a recent CASA training session, program manager Pam Cady welcomed the newest group of 11 volunteer trainees.

“The cases we are dealing with are tough stuff,” Cady said. “And someone needs to stand up for these children. That’s why we have CASAs, and that’s why we thank each and every one of you.”

Attorneys or social workers request CASA volunteers, and the judge assigns them--usually to the children with the most severe physical and emotional trauma and the least family support.

Once assigned, CASA volunteers write reports for the judge, detailing the child’s progress and making recommendations for the future. Volunteers base their reports on visits with the child and meetings with social workers, attorneys, therapists, parents and teachers.

The volunteers also become friends and role models to the children, and help them receive whatever help they need--from therapy to special education services.

CASA volunteers can relieve overburdened social workers and attorneys, who often have daunting caseloads, said Lynne West, director of CASA of Ventura County.

“On the whole, this county has a lot of caring social workers,” she said. “But there are also social workers who are very burned out. And they don’t always have the time or take the time to really figure out the needs of the child.”

CASA volunteers commit to one year, and usually spend five to 20 hours a week working on their cases.

Sandy Moe decided to become a CASA volunteer after seeing an ad in a newspaper. Although she committed for only one year, she is now starting her ninth. “I’d like to think I’ve made a difference by being a voice in the courtroom, by speaking up for the child when nobody else is going to,” she said.

But Moe said she occasionally gets frustrated by the court system.

“You never know if anyone’s really listening to what you have to say because you’re not a paid professional,” she said.

Superior Court Judge Colleen Toy White, who supervises Dependency Court, said she gives the same weight to CASA volunteers as she does to paid professionals. After all, White said, it is often CASA volunteers who spend more time with the children than anyone else.

And it is that extra time that can make all the difference when a judge has to make a decision concerning the fate of one of the most vulnerable members of society.

Bill Murphy, who has been a CASA volunteer since 1992, recalled a 3-year-old boy named Paul who had been abused by his mother and placed in foster care. After the mother completed parenting classes, the court reunited the woman with her son. But Murphy disagreed, and believed Paul would be safer in foster care.

“I fought in the courtroom and I stood alone,” he said. “I truly felt that the child should not go home. But I lost.”

One and one half years later, Murphy said, the mother was seen abusing her son on a bus, and Paul was returned to foster care.

Volunteers’ Training, Experience Questioned

Despite disagreements in court, all agree CASA volunteers are hard-working and committed people.

“The CASA volunteers are by and large very dedicated and very well-meaning,” said Andy Wolf, an attorney representing children. “Sometimes they are off in their focus, but they are clearly with the right motivation.”

The controversy arises when the key players start talking about the role of CASA in Dependency Court.

Parents’ attorney Capritto said CASA volunteers don’t have enough training to be serving as experts in the courtroom. “They don’t have long-term training and education and experience,” he said. “They are people who have come forward saying, ‘I want to help.’ ”

CASA volunteers should be mentors, not investigators, he said. “CASA thinks their role should be like an investigative body, to talk to teachers, therapists and caretakers. That’s not their role. They are there to befriend the children so the kids can see there is an adult that doesn’t violate their trust.”

Although attorney Mary Sullivan represents parents, she said she wants more CASA volunteers assigned to cases, and she wants them to be more involved. She believes the more positive adult role models in a foster child’s life, the better. She wants volunteers to help social workers arrange and coordinate family visits.

But that is exactly what Ted Myers, who supervises the social workers, doesn’t want to see happen. Although he supports the mission of CASA, he wants the volunteers to focus on developing relationships with the children and providing information to the judge.

“It works best when people understand their separate roles,” said Myers, a regional manager for Ventura County Children and Family Services. “We already have social workers who do child welfare case management. It seems like it’s pretty well covered.”

Judge White acknowledged disagreements sometimes arise--both in and outside the courtroom. But she said everyone is fighting for the best interest of the child.

Recently, White met with CASA officials, attorneys and social workers to clarify the role of advocates in the courtroom.

“The needs of the children,” she said, “are what charts the course in this courtroom, not what the judge wants or what any one person wants.”

Bringing Children Some Normalcy

In the end, it’s about the children. CASA volunteers judge their success by the impact they have on their charges, though that can be difficult to measure because the children have lived through the unimaginable.

“Some of these kids have histories that most people only have nightmares about,” West said. “CASAs are trying to show [children] a normal world, or at least bring some normalcy to their world.”

Sometimes that’s not possible. Volunteer Moe said she felt helpless when she was assigned to a 16-year-old girl who was suicidal. The girl’s mother had abandoned the teen, and she was living with her grandmother.

“I was too scared that I would say the wrong thing and she would get so upset and go home and slit her wrists,” Moe said. “That was the only time I felt I could do more harm than good.”

From the beginning, in the fall of 1989, child advocate Fowlie had tried to make the lives of 7-year-old Robert and 9-year-old Diana more normal. She took them ice skating, out for ice cream and movies. She bought them clothes. She listened to them. And she stood up for them in court.

When their drug-addicted and alcoholic father kidnapped the children in 1990 and took them to Oregon, Fowlie helped bring the children back to Ventura County.

“The highlight of my life was when I went to court to tell them the kids needed to come back from Oregon,” Fowlie said. “The social workers didn’t agree, but the court agreed with me.”

That was just the beginning. When one foster parent started taking drugs a few years later, Fowlie received special permission to take the Loftis children into her home for six weeks. And when 15-year-old Diana got pregnant and was sent to a group home out of the county, Fowlie drove Robert dozens of times to visit his sister.

Diana, now 19, said her CASA volunteer was the only person she could talk to because the social workers were always changing.

“She was always there for me--no matter where I went and what I did,” Diana said. “I knew she wasn’t getting paid for it, so she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart.”

Fowlie said she knows the attorneys believe CASA volunteers are interfering in the cases, and she thinks they are right. “We are interfering, but we are doing it for the children,” she said.

Diana said she is grateful for that, and says she doesn’t know what she would have done without Fowlie. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I’d gotten this far,” she said.

She graduated from high school last year and was emancipated from the system. She is now living in Tulare County and raising her 2-year-old son.

Robert, now 17, is living with a permanent guardian in Oxnard. Although he is struggling with school attendance, he does hold down a full-time job at a local restaurant.

He is enrolled at Gateway Community School, but skipped the first month of classes.

“Barbara wouldn’t like it if she knew I missed so much,” he said. “She’d always tell me to get my schooling done so I can move on in life.”

Robert plans to join the Marines after high school. He said he loves hearing Fowlie’s stories about her time as an occupational therapist in the Army.

Robert thinks of Fowlie as his grandmother because she has been in his life longer than anyone else, and she has helped him in so many ways. Without her, Robert said, he rarely would have seen his sister and he wouldn’t have had anyone to turn to when he was in a bad foster home or needed help with school.

“Barbara did everything for us,” he said. “And if she didn’t do all that stuff for us, who else would have?”

FYI

For more information about CASA, or if you would like to be a volunteer, call 485-6114, Ext. 654.