CASA is all about children

A society is judged by the way it treats the least powerful of its members.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) recruits, trains and supervises community volunteers who serve as powerful voices for abused and neglected children as they navigate through the court system. CASAs are everyday people appointed by a judge to advocate for children in the foster care system.

CASAs collaborate with professionals in the child welfare system and court system, and report to the judge on the child’s behalf. A CASA stands beside the child with the primary goal of helping them reach a safe and permanent home, as quickly but safely as possible.

“These CASA volunteers become essential and familiar supporters for children who are taken from an abusive or unsafe setting,” said Leigh Smallwood, CASA of Southwest Oklahoma advocate supervisor. “In an overburdened child welfare system, abused and neglected children often slip through the cracks among hundreds of current cases. CASA volunteers change that. CASA volunteers typically handle just one case at a time and commit to staying on until the child reaches permanency.

Cindy Savel, executive director of CASA of Southwest Oklahoma, said there are 30 trained CASA volunteers, and CASA of Southwest Oklahoma serves seven counties, including Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Tillman, Stephens, Jackson and Jefferson.

“Leigh understands the flow of the organization,” Savel said. “We have both been volunteer advocates. I tend to be the person who says, ‘one day one of these children is going to grow up to be your neighbor, your granddaughter’s boyfriend or even perhaps your doctor.’ If we don’t help provide the children with a healthy foundation, it makes it even more difficult for them to attain any kind of great success in the future. Statistics do show that children who have CASA advocates who helped them get through the system tend to have better outcomes than children who don’t.”

“When we look at homelessness, juvenile crime, adult crime and prisons, they’re full of people who came out of the foster care system, and the state does not typically make a good parent,” Savel said.

Smallwood explained how CASA advocates get involved in cases.

“We get our cases referred to us from the judges, the assistant district attorneys, attorneys, DHS caseworkers. We also receive referrals from therapists, foster parents, birth parents, etc., who call us. We then submit the request to the judge for approval of a CASA volunteer to be assigned to the case,” Smallwood said.

Savel said CASA served on 84 cases last year out of the roughly 500 abused and neglected children. “Half of the 84 cases reached permanency through adoption, guardianship, reunification with parents. The remainder of cases are on-going,” she said.

Smallwood said CASA volunteers are trained to not take a child’s anger or emotional outbursts personally. “CASA advocates tell the children they can trust them and gain their trust by being a consistent figure and voice in the court. CASA volunteers inform the children of their options to write a letter to the judge or speak to their attorney. A CASA advocate is going to make sure that the child’s voice is heard,” she said.

CASA can help inform placement providers of the child’s behavior history which will ease the entry into the child’s new environment, she said.

CASA training

Smallwood, who leads volunteer training, said pre-service training is 31 hours of nationally standardized classroom learning about what it takes to be a CASA volunteer. Then, there is court observation, where volunteers see the courtroom process.

“We have seven courts in our service area, and each court has its own standard procedures,” she said.

Basic qualifications to become a CASA volunteer are: sincere care for the well-being of children, be at least 21 years old, have good verbal and written communication skills, be available to attend court hearings, commit to CASA of Southwest Oklahoma for at least 18 months or, preferably, until the case reaches permanency.

Advocate supervisors attend court with the new CASA advocates to help teach them the procedures in the courtroom.

Who pays for this advocacy?

CASA is funded by the Oklahoma CASA Association, the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), a federally funded program, which is administered by the District Attorney Council (DAC) in Oklahoma City and the Priddy Foundation out of Wichita Falls, Texas. Savel said CASA of Southwest Oklahoma is a funded partner of United Way of Southwest Oklahoma.

Savel credits local individuals, businesses and organizations with constant and faithful support.

CASA’s local fund-raising and awareness opportunities include Jingle Jog in December, organized by Jerry Nottingham, and CASA’s Annual Blue Ribbon Buddy Campaign in the Spring to bring awareness to April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, and this year, CASA was recipient of Luke’s Day of Caring administered by NextHome Realty, she said.

“This year, we started the annual Blue Ribbon Buddy campaign where sponsors may have a Buddy at home or in their business for the entire year. Each sponsor chooses a 3-foot-tall Buddy and cares for it for one year. Savel said CASA is trying to find ways to get regular funding in addition to state revenue.

“In May, we held a Touch a Truck event to increase awareness of child abuse prevention and how CASA helps, by staging various vehicles — fire trucks, Army trucks, a helicopter, police vehicles — so children could climb aboard and have a hands-on discovery experience of what is actually in the big vehicles — Classic Chevrolet sponsored this event in their parking lot. Next year will be even bigger and better,” Savel said.

Savel said CASA is always looking for good, committed board members from a diverse cross-section of people throughout the community.

“CASA board members are very active and knowledgeable, but they all have full lives and full-time careers. Our board is very adept at being able to talk about CASA, so we have great ambassador volunteers in addition to our advocates — we can always use more,” she said.

“We really need a person with marketing outreach experience who wants to volunteer services, who can create and run social media for us. We update every day, so we could really use a volunteer who could help with that.

“Some people just can’t commit to the hours and travel of a CASA volunteer, but they may want to donate time as a CASA Service Ambassador to go out and speak about CASA for recruitment and awareness purposes. We are always looking for partners to support the program and our children,” Savel said.”

Savel said, “Stranger danger may be familiar to some children. But imagine if you will, what it would feel like to have the police show up to your house because someone has called 911 to report domestic violence. You are 7 years old and have no idea what is going on because this is normal for you, and these strangers decide that you and your siblings have to leave home and parents, and they take you to a strange place with more strangers and tell you that you are staying there for now. This is the beginning and your future is uncertain.”