Latest / Arizona Unscripted / Episode 35: 🌵 Arizona Unscripted - CASA: A Voice For Arizona's Children
Transcript
- Arizona Unscripted: Welcome to Arizona Unscripted, the show all about Arizona, the people, the places, the food, the fun, and the stories that make the Grand Canyon State unlike anywhere else in the world. I'm Diane and I'm a co-host of Arizona Unscripted. And we have our co-hosts today, Jim and Catherine, and Carol's here as well. Hello, Jim and Catherine. Hey Diane. And Catherine, I'm going to turn it over to you to introduce our special guest today. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. And I'm really excited about our guest today. She is Madeline Romero, and she is the CASA coordinator for Mojave County. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. Welcome, Madeline. Thank you so much for having me. So tell us about what you do and tell us about CASA, Madeline. Of course. So CASA, I am the CASA coordinator for all of Mojave County. I cover mainly the three main cities of Kingman, Bullhead, and Lake Havasu City. CASA volunteers are regular everyday people who are appointed by a judge and speak up for abused and neglected children in the court system. So CASAs provide support to county juvenile judges and they're responsible for working on juvenile dependency cases. So when there's an allegation of abuse or neglect and the child is placed in foster care or any out-of-home care, they are CASA volunteers are assigned to the child and are asked to visit with the child at least once a month. write court reports to advocate for the safety of the child and appear in court on behalf of the child as well. The CASA advocate develops and maintains a trusting ad relationship with the child as well as the other parties involved and always provides recommendations for the best interest of the children. Right. Why they're called advocates. They just like all of us need an advocate at court and children obviously are a special situation and and definitely need an adult voice for them. So you mentioned children in foster care. This is not for children in institutions, just children who are in a foster care situation. Yes, typically it we work with children who are in out-of-home care is what we describe it as. That could be foster care or kinship care. but we also do work with juveniles who are in juvenile delinquents and they are in you know, juvie and I see. Okay. Whatever placement that is temporary for them. So we do work with children who are a little bit older and are in those homes as well. I see. So what how many volunteers do you have in Maccabi County? So we currently have 35 volunteers. We're on track for 40 right now. and there are currently about 300 children who are in out-of-home dependencies in Mojave County. And we current we have a little bit over a hundred and ten cost or children assigned to a casa right now. So about one in every third child who is taken out of their home and placed in foster care in Mojave County does have a volunteer assigned to them at this time. How often do you have to visit the kids every day? Yeah. So at minimum once a month. And those visits can look like visiting the child in the home, taking them out in the community. you know, community events like the library, the park, popular events like First Friday and stuff like that. but at minimum once a month, but if it works for the placement schedule to be more often than that, that's acceptable as well. Are they mostly young children or older ones? So in Mojave County, we do get a lot of newborns, especially substance exposed newborns, but we do work with children from newborn to 17 aging out of the system to 18 years old. a lot of the older children who get removed because of the lack of foster placements and kinship homes in Mojave County typically get placed in the Maricopa County area. Because there are no group homes in Mojave County. and if a child is placed in a group home setting and that is the least restrictive option, that they're usually placed three hours away. So imagine, you know, being taken out of your home, away from your mom and dad, three hours away, having to start a new school in a new home with people you don't know. It's a very isolating and traumatic experience for a child at this time. So we like to have that one consistent volunteer throughout the whole case. because the the parties involve the DCS case manager, sometimes child's attorneys, s and sometimes judges even change for the child and things get rotated around and The cost of volunteer is that one consistent person for them throughout the entire case. What an important position. So the judge is the one that gives you the assignment for the child? So that's my job. I'm the one who I'm the one who assigns a volunteer. So when Juvenile is r removed from the home. I screen every single case that comes in through the courts. And I essentially screen for children who have special needs, special medical needs, special education needs, any any specific concerns. And we prioritize those children for CASA assignment because they're the ones who need extra support while they're in the system. And I match a volunteer with a child in Mojave County. So are you looking, are you recruiting volunteers right now? If somebody was looking, I know you talked about numbers and it seemed like there are big gaps there. And I'm wondering if that's just because you don't have enough volunteers or you know, if it's a process that takes longer to get people in, you said you were 35 and you're tracking for 40. are you hoping to bring in more people to help with this program? Yes, that's a great question. So the reason why I go out to, you know, the fair and set up booths in the community is to try to recruit more volunteers who are willing to advocate for these children. you don't have to have any specific you know, background in being a lawyer or child safety to be a volunteer. We do have the first step to applying is applying applying online at our website, filling out an application. And then I reach out to you to go over the onboarding process, which includes a background check, we do an interview, we provide training, and we also provide a polygraph test as well. and once you get assigned a case, we we do try to give you about one child at a time. But if you're willing more than willing to spare the time, we can assign you multiple cases and multiple children as well. But yes, the goal is to have as many volunteers as possible so that every single child has a volunteer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I will say that when I met Madeline at the fair, she was at the Casa booth and I'm wandering around and I stopped to say hello. And the very first thing she asked me was, would you like to be a volunteer? So I know that she's actively recruiting. I have a friend in Flagstaff who has been a CASA volunteer for many, many years, Madeline. And sometimes she, as you mentioned, she has to drive quite a ways to get to her assigned child. And I suppose Here in Mojave County, it would be similar. You could live in Lake Kavasu, for example, and be assigned a child anywhere in Mojave County. Yes, that's correct. So essentially I I tried to assign the volunteer to a child placed in their same city, but it's not uncommon for placements to disrupt the child for whatever reason. The placement's not working out, the behaviors aren't manageable or something falls through. So it's not uncommon for the child to have to move out of their current placement to a another foster placement or a group home outside of county. And once that is the case, I will there's a possibility of getting a coCASA assigned out of county. But depending on where the child is moved, it's not feasible in the Phoenix area, especially the amount of cost is that they have their versus children ratio is way, way bigger than here in Mojave County. Sure, sure. What who what types of people volunteer for this job? I have volunteers of all over the spectrum. typically people who are retired who have the extra time and want to to you know volunteer, but I do have a lot of women as well as men who work full time, their parents, they work in the s they work for the local colleges, they work at the hospitals, retired doctors, people who used to be attorneys. I also have people who are going to college who want to be an attorney, a lawyer, a social worker. and they want to get volunteer experience in the juvenile dependency system as well. so really just everyone all over the spectrum, we would encourage having more males especially to volunteer because there are a lot of young adult males in the system, you know, like you know, in their teens who really could benefit from a positive male role model. And so we really encourage people especially if you have a friend or you know, your husband who is willing to go through the onboarding process, I could assign you both together and you guys can tag team a child and it's not just something you have to go through alone as well. Good idea. Yeah. Well, I know I did foster care for several years. and I just wanna say how grateful we are for the cost of program because I mean fostering is hard, right? I mean it it takes a lot. and it's nice to know that there's other people advocating for the best interest of the child and it really makes a difference for the child and them, like you said, being able to get out in the community, go to events. here in Mojave County, I had a little girl staying with us and her casa would take her horseback riding. And you know, that's really amazing to be able to have those relationships where they just could have go out and be kids and but also know those opportunities or that time together. They're learning the child and learning what are the needs for the child and being able to advocate for that. So I would highly encourage anybody remotely considering about it to reach out to you and get more information because I mean this is something that changes the trajectory of their lives and their futures in such a big way. It's such meaningful volunteering. So I I just have a maybe it's an odd question, Madeline, but how do how how do most of the children respond to the advocate? Do they respond in a positive way? Do they fight against it? I mean, I know they're in an extremely difficult situation and it's hard to predict behavior. I'm just curious as as a general rule, what do you find the response of the children is to the CASA advocates? That's a great question. Typically they're They're a little hesitant at first. Who is this extra person coming into my life and wanting to get to know me? And, you know, you say you're a volunteer and you're here for my best interest. At the end of the day, they I've never gotten you know negative feedback from a volunteer being assigned. It's it's always positive in the eyes of the child, having someone else to speak up for you. And helping you nav navigate this system that you're so unsure of at the time. and just having an extra person to be on your side during this whole experience. and yeah, I would say I've I can't recall a time where the child has been, you know. I don't want this person coming into my home. I you I I regularly have the Department of Child Safety reaching out to me asking for CASAS on these cases. and we do have a really positive reputation with the Child Department of Child Safety as well as the court system. so I would say even You know, even the teenagers who show behavioral concerns and retaliation don't typically retaliate against their causes, but it's just someone else they can vent to and someone who will listen to their concerns. So and I'm sure that's part of the training. Is the that that's wonderful. I I have a couple questions. One is is the training that you provide online? So It is both offered online as well as in person. So part of the training is with me personally and then we provide a three-day CASA Academy training in person, which it is typically in the Phoenix area or Flagstaff or Prescott. And we pay for the hotel accommodations, we pay for the food and reimburse on the gas mileage. So it's all included. and so you can choose to go to a three-day in-person CASA training by our state office, or you can do a Zoom training for four Tuesdays out of the month for a couple hours at a time. Okay. I'm sure the in-person training is much preferred. Yes, you get a lot more out of it you get to meet other costs in the community and get a lot more feedback. Sure. Sure. So my other question is do what are your metrics for success? So We do require court reports. so as long as a court report is completed regularly, those are really the minimum performance standards for a CASA, as long as you do your court reports and you have your regular visits once a month with your child. But it's hard to measure success in a in a dependency situation. because a positive outcome could look like reunifying with mom or dad. It could look like being adopted by the foster family you've spent the last couple years with. It could look like aging out of the system and gaining your independence and getting your first apartment and your first job at 17, 18. So Really our measure of success as a cost is making sure that the child is safe always as the for first priority, I would say. That makes sense. That makes sense. That's the the bottom line for the whole thing. So I I noticed on your website that most volunteers, most cases I should say, last about a year and a half. have you had some that went much longer? Yes. I would say that I The year and a half average is pretty accurate, but there are some special cases. we do have a cost assigned to one case right now that's going on over four years old. So there's just nothing that we can do in this case to get the child permanency faster. and there's another case that's gone on about three years. It just depends. The the younger the child, the more expedited it is in in the juvenile dependency system. So if you get a child below the age of three, it's probably gonna last closer to a year, a year and a half. But if you get a child that's a little bit older, like school age to teen, it could last longer than that year and a half. That makes sense. So what would you say what percentage of the children? That get an advocate as a young child, you know, not a teenager, but as a child, what percentage of them end up getting either going back with their parents or being adopted? It's my understanding that the current statistic for that is 50 50. Once the child gets removed from the home, 50% of them go back. home with mom or dad and 50% of them get adopted by foster placement. I couldn't be a little, it could be, you know, more or less, but that's my understanding of the of the current statistic for juvenile dependencies. Interesting. What does the timeframe look like from when somebody turns in an application until they get through the training and could expect to have a child assigned? So we have a one hundred and twenty day deadline from the time that you submit your application to the time we do your training, your polygraph, interview, background check, swear in by the judge officially, and then getting your first case. So that's four months. Wow. I would I would say it typically takes about two two months, but the we get an extra couple month buffer just in case something. goes wrong with any of those onboarding things. but I would say typically two months. All right. So that sounds really encouraging and a really great way for people to help the children and youth in our community. please share your information. I know Catherine has that, so we can attach that with the podcast when we get it pushed out. And we're really looking forward to hearing back from you with Love to get some of those spots filled and get some advocates assigned to the children that need their resources. Thank you so much for everything that you do, Madeline. Boris. Do what type of support staff do you have? So I do have another CASA coordinator who works part-time from Mojave County as well. Her name is Blanca Christian. and then I do have Tony Potter, who is our CASA admin, who can be reached at the phone number I can provide. I don't know if you guys would like me to share. You can go ahead and say it. Yeah. So so my direct phone number that you can reach me at is 928-486-6604. And then I can pull up the or you can call just the CASA office, which will read our reach our admin at 928727 four two three five. and that's probably the best way to get to know get in contact with me. And if you're interested in looking more into it, just look up Casa Mojave County on Google. We're we're at the azcourts.gov, Casa of Mojave County. That's where you fill out your online application and find all of the information to become a Casa volunteer. Wonderful. Daniel, you have a comment or a question? Well, I I have a question. I came into this fairly late, unfortunately. The what about other counties in the state? do they have same programs? I mean on the opposite side of the state from the ISO. The Casa Mojave County program works closely with the other CASA programs in the state of Arizona. But yes, all the counties have a CASA program. So if you go to the Casa of Mojave County website, it'll ask you to choose which county you're from. But you can look at the other counties as well. in in the bigger cities, they have different statistics and a lot more cases and a lot more children in open dependencies than Mojave County. We work a little we're a little more rural, so it's a little smaller over here, but yes, and it is it is statewide as well. So and also nationwide. Costa programs all in all states. Wonderful. All right. Thank you so much for being here, Madeline. We appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you guys so much. We appreciate what you do, Madeline. Thank you. Thank you, Madeline. Thank you guys.