Norma's Volunteer Story, Part 5

This is a series about Norma, a woman who becomes a CASA volunteer. It is fictional, but based on real events. Each Wednesday we will update the blog with the next segment. At CASA we always need volunteers, but right now we are extremely low on volunteers and there are hundreds of children in the South Plains who are waiting for a special person like Norma......like you. Please call 806-763-2272 if you would like to be that person.

Norma:

Training Day One: Role and History

Norma was still a little nervous when it came training time. Even though she knew it was still part of the pre-screening process, it had been decades since she had last been in a classroom setting. Once she arrived, she found a chair and got settled in as the class began. They were each given a black binder and introductions went around the room. The instructor’s name was Peggy and she was great! There were ten chapters and only four days to cover them all, so they dug in after a few more introductions and ice breakers, including the powerful experiment the called “Permanency Project”.

One of the first things covered was the quintessential role a CASA volunteer plays in the life of a child who resides in foster care. They have the benefit of being focused on a child’s needs without owing an allegiance to anyone other than that child. They give of their time freely, and in this way, are able to remain completely objective. Finding a safe and permanent home for a child as quickly as circumstances allow and using all available resources to better that child’s life, is the ultimate bottom line.

The four main duties of a volunteer are investigation, facilitation, advocacy and monitoring.  The trainer then talked about the important administrative activities a volunteer must do to document their case, including timesheets and a case timeline. In the legal system, there are many acronyms used so they covered what those meant as well.

The trainer dispelled the myths about being a CASA – no, you don’t keep the children at your house; no, you don’t need to have a law degree, legal training or be retired; no, CASA does not stand for housing of children. Peggy spent a lot of time discussing what ‘best interest’ means as it applies to CASA and the children they serve; and also what defines abuse and neglect. Norma enjoyed the videos they watched of foster children’s testimonies of what their journey in foster care was like.

Peggy also shared the history of CASA and how it came about. Norma was surprised at how ignorant she was to the very real cry of the children of this nation. It only took one year from the time little Mary Ellen’s case of horrific abuse was reported in 1873 until an organization was created to help abused children, believed to be the first child protective agency in the world. It was over one hundred years later however, before laws regarding child abuse became more clearly defined. In 1974 CAPTA, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, created the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and directed funding to programs that supported abused children.

In January 1977, Seattle Judge David Soukup obtained funding to recruit and train community volunteers to step into courtrooms on behalf of the children. From there, the National CASA was established in 1982 and CASA of the South Plains was established when a Lubbock county judge first appointed a CASA to serve as an abused child's advocate in October 1993.  Since that time, over 5,000 children have been provided over 1,000 advocates in our area.  

Officer Gooden:

Officer Gooden surveyed the apartment and reached the only conclusion available; the children had been left to their own devices for at least a day or two. The television was on too loud and Robert, the middle child, was wearing a pair of pajamas that appeared as if they would stand up on their own if the child were not inside them. The kids were dirty and the baby had not stopped screaming since he had entered the apartment. He looked around for diapers or formula, but found none.

Unfortunately, there was only one thing that he could do and that was to call Children’s Protective Services out to the scene to take care of the children. Rose, the baby, appeared to have been wearing the same diaper for at least 24 hours and was in desperate need of being cleaned and fed. Robert had asked him twice in the last fifteen minutes if he had anything for him to eat, and Ben looked as if he would simply fall asleep standing up if Rose weren’t crying or Robert complaining that his stomach was yelling at him because it was so hungry. Officer Jim Gooden stepped into the kitchen and pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number for the Children’s Protective Services.

CPS caseworker Bob Johnson answered the phone when Officer Gooden called.

“This is Officer Gooden and I responded to a noise disturbance and found two children and an infant left home alone for what appears to have been at least 24 hours,” he reported to Bob Johnson.

“What are the names of the children, Gooden?  I will check the system to see if we have an established case file on them,” Bob said. 

Officer Gooden recited the children’s names, as Ben had given them to him earlier, as well as Kathy Price’s name, from a stack of unpaid bills and collection notices on the kitchen table.  Across town, Bob pecked at the keys of the computer in a rapid series of tap, tap, taps and then sighed.

“We do have a case file on this family, unfortunately. The mother signed an affidavit not that long ago stating she wouldn’t leave the children unattended. This has, apparently, been an issue in the past. I will gather up any other information I have on the family and head that way. I should be there in half an hour or so,” he said as he collected everything CPS had on the Harris-Price family.

Gooden asked the case worker to bring some diapers and formula with him for baby Rose. He then thanked him and then dialed the nearest pizza delivery place as there was not a stitch of food in the apartment. Once that was done, he settled in to wait.