CASA Volunteer Spotlight: From Babies To College Students

During her initial CASA training, Lea W.’s class was discussing a current case that by all accounts was heart-wrenching and one of the more complicated cases in the program. Little did Lea know it at the time, but that case would soon become her introduction to the complex, but rewarding work of a CASA.

“The mom was severely cognitively impaired and couldn’t understand what was going on,” Lea explained. “I had to figure out a way to earn her trust and to explain to her in a way she would understand how she could keep her family together, that we were all just trying to help."

Abuse and neglect are the dark side of life CASAS deal with and four children ages 4 to 14 were experiencing this first-hand. After working with the family for weeks, the case was about to close. Lea was with some of the children on what was expected to be their last interaction when one of the children offered some new information that sent off warning bells in Lea. Coupled with the behavioral changes she noticed in one of the children, Lea was concerned something new was going on. Her knowledge of the children and her ability to get them to open up to her changed the course of their lives. It also changed what happened in court. Lea presented the new information in court, a positive solution was brokered and, eventually, the case was closed.

"It was then that I said, 'This is why I'm doing this.' Without a CASA, the abuse would have continued to happen and nobody would have understood how or why," Lea continued.

During this case, Lea learned she was pregnant and, due to complications, was put on bed-rest as the case was ending. Now the mom of a happy, healthy baby boy, she is still committed to giving what spare time she can make available to the CASA program. Recently, she was asked to take on the case of a youth who was a freshman in college and in need of a mentor. Lea’s personality, schedule and proficiency in researching doctors, groups and other resources made her a perfect choice for the assignment.

"It was such a change to go from

a situation where

you're scared to death of what will happen to a child

to a situation where you can say,

'It's ok. They just need a little

follow-through.'"

“Sometimes I’m like a sister, sometimes I’m like a mom,” she explained. “This is awesome."

Though she’s in college and has other adults in her life, Lea says her youth welcomes her guidance. “She just says to me, ‘You’re one more mentor to help me get to where I need to be. That can never hurt.”’

Rockin’ The CASA - Part Perspiration, Part Inspiration and a Whole Lotta Fun!

It still seems like yesterday when over 200 CASA supporters came together for a night of education, perspiration & inspiration, raising just over $40,000 for the CASA program. The unseasonably warm weather, the DJ’s disco grooves and the rush to bid on that Great Harvest Bread Basket I wanted in the silent auction contributed to a little perspiration, but neither I nor the guests let that dampen our spirits!

Although Lady Luck eluded me at the casino, I felt extremely lucky to be part of such an amazing group of people. Our event committee (Wendy, Julie, Linda, Julie, Jade, Stacie, Gina, Michele, Abby, Holly, Nancy & Janet) put together a fun and well-organized party and - once again - our community joined us in celebration and support of our kids and CASA volunteers.

I think my favorite moment of the evening was when CASA Coordinator, Gini Harmon, simply and eloquently spoke about how the Cinderella Fund helps provide foster kids with the most basic, simple things most of us take for granted. Like a bed. Or a pair of boots. Your generosity during Raise The Paddle will help us meet those needs for many of our children.

Thank you for helping us continue to put a qualified, compassionate adult into the life of an abused or neglected foster child to fight for and protect the child’s right to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to learn and grow in a loving family.

Cheri Dunn
Executive Director
Friends of CASA

P.S. More photos on Facebook or our website, http://www.casawashtenaw.org/.

We're sad to announce that Marianne Clauw has resigned as Executive Director of Friends of CASA of Washtenaw County, effective November 4th. We thank her for her years of dedicated service and leadership and wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Cheri Dunn and Julie Dunbar will be co-directors on an interim basis, until a new permanent director is appointed.

Thank you for all your hard work, Marianne! You will be missed.

November is National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month, a time to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care. This year's initiative focuses on building capacity of adoption professionals to recruit and retain parents for the 107,000 children and youth waiting for permanent families in the U.S. foster care system.

Every November, a Presidential Proclamation launches activities and celebrations to help build awareness of adoption throughout the nation. Thousands of community organizations arrange and host programs, events, and activities to share positive adoption stories, challenge the myths, and draw attention to the thousands of children in foster care who are waiting for permanent families.

To find out more about National Adoption Month please visit:http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/

Save the Date: Rockin’ the CASA is March 24, 2012

We’ve rocked to country music, jived with Motown, and partied Caribbean style, and one thing remains the same. This party puts the fun back into fun-draiser.

So get ready for big hair, shoulder pads, and silky shirts at the Rockin’ the CASA DISCO – dinner, auction, dance, and casino.

We are recruiting volunteers to join the following event committees:

- Auction, Decorations,

- Marketing/Graphics,

- Entertainment,

- Food & Beverages,

- Sponsorships, and

- Party Hosts (bring friends)

If you are interested in being part of one of our committees please contact Marianne at mclauw@casawashtenaw.org

Five Steps Toward Improving the Foster Care System

(Adapted from The Connection Summer 2011, National CASA Association, authored by Charles Lerner)

1. Keep children with their families whenever possible. Easier said than done, but hundreds of thousands of young people are away from their families for causes that are not being adequately addressed in our society. They include poverty, marginalization and resulting factors such as substance abuse and mental illness. Until we more successfully address social conditions that are hurtful to all of us, children will be living out the consequences.

2. Be compassionate with parents. What does it take for you to accept help from others? Most of us would agree that we must trust someone before we are able to accept their help. Change takes time, and delays are not always due to a lack of desire. Our biases can inhibit our empathy for parents and the challenges they face, but it helps to think of the difficulties we ourselves face when trying to make changes in our own lives.

3. Research existing relationships to get children out of foster care as quickly as possible. We want children to return to their families as soon as possible. If they cannot return home, we want to move them out of limbo and into relational, physical and legal permanency. In other words, we want them to have someone they can count on, a place to call home and people they can claim—and who claim them—as family. Experience shows us that people who are known to our children are often the people who will provide them with permanency.

4. Meet children where they are. Some young people are angry with their parents and the world in general. They have not been protected and cared for the way children are entitled to be. That is why taking a “no-fault” approach is essential. Most youth experience sadness, despair and anger. Youth express these emotions through tantrums, school difficulties, running away, getting involved with gangs or using drugs. These are fairly normative responses to what they have gone through. Their behaviors may leave us feeling frustrated and hopeless about their futures. But we must maintain hope—because many of our children have lost it.

5. Make decisions and implement them as though the child were a member of your own family. Time does not move quickly for children when they are away from their families and living in a state of uncertainty. High caseloads and the bureaucracy of the system make it difficult to make things happen as quickly as we would hope. We will not always be able to address the needs of the children we serve as quickly as we want. That is why CASA programs are critical and influential assets in the child welfare system. Magical things happen for children when someone gives them a voice.

Anything But Ordinary...A CASA Kid Gets to Play

How many times have you passed a soccer field on an autumn Saturday and seen the kids running back and forth, the parents chatting with each other while they watch the game, the coaches calling out directions? Just an ordinary part of suburban life.

For one of our CASA kids, that experience is anything but ordinary. Katie* is fourteen, and is living in her third residential (institutional) placement in the past three years. In 2008, her adoptive family returned her to the custody of the state. They could not deal with her emotional issues, the debris caused by a childhood of neglect and abuse. In social services parlance, it was a “broken adoption”. In 2010, the Washtenaw County Juvenile Court referee asked for a CASA to be assigned to Katie.

It took a year to find a CASA who was able to make the 166-mile round trip to visit Katie every week or two. (Over 20% of our CASA kids live outside Washtenaw County because of the lack of foster homes and residential facilities.)

In early 2011, a CASA stepped forward.

She has been a vital advocate for Katie, and is making sure that she experiences some of the activities of an ordinary childhood. This fall, Katie is playing on a travel soccer team in her community, due to the efforts and persistence of her CASA. The CASA Cinderella Fund** has paid for Katie’s registration, her uniform, and a new soccer ball. We thank this CASA, and all the other CASAs who work so hard for their CASA kids. They are anything but ordinary.

*Name changed for privacy

**Friends of CASA gratefully acknowledges the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Ann Arbor for a Cinderella Fund grant, and those who donated to the Cinderella Fund at Rockin' the CASA 2011.

Congratulations to our 2011 Fall Class of Advocates!

2011 FALL CLASS OF CASA ADVOCATES

Left to right: Yuko L., Amy W., Gini Harmon (CASA Supervisor), Deb E., Amy K., Ava Adler (CASA Coordinator), Diane W., Tracy K., Molly Schikora (Judge Referee)

Please welcome our 2011 Fall class of CASA Advocates!

Six community members completed 40 hours of classroom training and courtroom observation facilitated by CASA coordinator Ava Adler and CASA supervisor, Virginia Harmon.

After completing training, CASA volunteers become sworn officers of the court, and conduct their advocacy duties within the boundaries of a court order.

Our CASA volunteers are appointed by referee Molly Schikora to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children in Washtenaw County, to make sure they don't get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes. Advocates stay with each case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many of our youth, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence in their lives.

Please check out more pictures of the swearing-in pictures below:

CASA of Washtenaw County Volunteer Silvia Raithel interns at the White House

Silvia Raithel is photographed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House, April 1, 2011.

Photo Credit: White House

Greetings CASA family! 

My name is Silvia Raithel, and this semester I have been interning at the White House. 

I would like to share with you a little bit about the White House Internship Program and about my experiences as an intern.  The White House Internship Program is a public service leadership program. I have been placed in the Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO); this office administers the selection process for Presidential appointees.

The work that I have been doing in this capacity has been extremely interesting and has taught me a lot, but it has only been a small part of the Internship experience.  Walking down the halls each day – and working in the different offices – are some of the world’s most successful people.  What can be learned simply by observing the way that they react to situations, or simply by having a conversation with them, is invaluable, and can be life-changing. 

Also an important part of the Internship experience, is public service.  Each White House Intern gets assigned a public service project, and some of us do additional volunteering on top of that.  During my time here, I have sorted food at a food bank, volunteered at a soup kitchen, tutored high school students, and spent my Saturday working with children on developing iphone apps.  These experiences have made me a more empathetic, caring, and creative person, and have thus contributed greatly to my development as a person.

Having been here in Washington D.C. for several months now, I can say that it has been an honor to play a small role in the Obama Administration alongside so many motivated and exceptional people.  A year ago today, I would not have wagered to ever find myself here, yet alone so soon.  Applying for the White House Internship Program was more of a whim than a part of a plan for me, as I knew that the application process was one of the most selective for internships anywhere.  Evidently, even long shots can pan out, however, and I would like to encourage others to take this one as well. 

The interns themselves come from all walks of life.  Some here, like me, are still working on their undergraduate degrees.  Others have completed their graduate work.  Many have focused their education on political science or policy.  But others have a background in various sciences, medicine, mathematics, or other fields in the liberal arts. We represent most geographic areas in the United States, and a wide variety of ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

If you are passionate about anything, then I would say to you that you have nothing to lose by applying to be a White House Intern.  If, as a CASA, you have advocated for a child who has an ambition to make a change in the world, and he or she has now graduated from high school, then I would ask you to say the same thing to them.  This Administration – and this internship – is a great place to begin changing the world by learning how it can be done.  The application for the White House Internship Program can be found online at Whithouse.gov/internship. 

CASA Community Member of the Week

Name: 
Ira Shaughnessy


Role: Board Fellow from the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business


What interested you about the CASA program?

When applying for Board Fellow programs, I was drawn to Friends of CASA because of the benefit CASAs provide to Washtenaw youth. Working with the Board has been a great experience and reaffirms my interest to work in the nonprofit field in the future.

Tell us a little bit about your previous Work and/or Volunteer Experience and/or your Education:

Prior to starting at Ross, I spent over two years in Ghana as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Following my Peace Corps experience, I traveled around the world for 6 months. During my three years abroad, I was exposed to a number of nonprofit organizations and noticed that many do as much harm as they do good. I am now pursuing a dual degree, with an MS in Natural Resources and Environment as well as an MBA with concentrations in Social Enterprise and Strategy.

Hobbies/Fun Facts about Yourself:

I've played soccer all of my life and loved being able to play in countries around the world when I was unable to communicate in any other way.

What is your favorite quote of all time?

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

- Lewis Carroll

How did you hear about about the CASA program?

My sister previously worked as a CASA and I found out more when applying to Board Fellows.