NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

Written by JILL WHITLEY

For a child, few things can be more traumatic than being taken from home and entering the foster care system due to the abuse, illness or incarceration of a parent.

On average, foster children are in state care for a year and a half; about 5% languish in care for five or more years. Unfortunately, the system can continue to traumatize children even after they are removed from a dangerous situation: Each new meeting brings the potential for another emotional loss as the child is frequently moved between homes and caseworkers in an underfunded, overworked child welfare system.

Coweta Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the experiences and outcomes for Coweta’s foster kids by providing them with carefully screened, rigorously trained, volunteer advocates.

The program started in Coweta in 2005 and, when Director Amanda Camp took the helm three years ago, expanded to take on two more counties in the Coweta Judicial Circuit –- Heard and Meriwether. The agency now works with about 30 children in foster care in Heard and Meriwether counties, and about 90 children placed in foster homes by Coweta County Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS).

According to Camp, advocates become experts on each child they serve.

“A CASA is an everyday, regular person who has been carefully screened, trained and supported to be an advocate for a child or a sibling group of children in foster care,” says Camp. “Once assigned to a child, advocates are required to meet with the child at least monthly. They learn everything about that child: their physical health, their mental health, their educational and emotional needs.”

The volunteer has access to all the child’s medical and educational records and background information on other parties involved with the child, such as parents, the child’s current foster parents, and any relatives who might be a good fit for permanent placement. Volunteers learn everything about their assigned child and the case, and they use that information to make recommendations and advocate for resources to meet the child’s needs. They submit the information to the judge in a written report, which includes recommendations about the child’s best interests based on the facts of the case.

The other essential service that a CASA provides a foster child is consistency.

“We stick with a kid from start to finish of a case,” Camp says. “We try to get to them as soon as they enter foster care, and we’re there until they find a safe, permanent home, whether that’s going back to Mom or Dad, being placed permanently with a relative, being adopted or staying in care until they’re 18 and age out of the system. We’re going to stay with that child until they find permanency.”

According to Camp, some kids who come into foster care stay in the same home the entire time.

“There are hardworking, dedicated case workers who stay with a child for years and do an amazing job,” she says. “But unfortunately, the nature of the system is that change is involved. Case workers, whether because there is a shift in workloads, or because they leave the agency, aren’t always able to stay with the child. Foster placements might change due to a number of reasons. Often, when a new caseworker or family is assigned to the child, the CASA can be a resource to make the transition as smooth as possible. When a placement or caseworker changes, our job is to bridge the gap and ensure that everyone has the information they need.”

Camp acknowledges that CASA work can be emotionally draining. She admits that sometimes volunteers suffer vicarious heartbreak.

“There’s secondary trauma that comes from hearing these stories of child neglect and abuse,” she says. “You absorb the pain and the trauma of those families. It will break your heart. For our staff and volunteers to hold all of that pain, they have to have good boundaries, and they have to work within the role and the rules of the organization.”

Camp leads a staff of three volunteer coordinators.

“A volunteer coordinator is a safe person that a volunteer can vent to, and we try to help them maintain balance,” says Camp. “And my job is to be that person for the staff to make sure they’re supported and maintain good boundaries.”

At this time, Coweta CASA has plenty of volunteer advocates. The program has taken their volunteer training virtual, and recently began their third class of training since the beginning of the pandemic. But Camp encourages even those who don’t have time to take on a case to get involved with the organization.

“Even with the program being around for 15 years, there are many people who don’t know who we are or what we do, possibly because of the confidential nature of our work,” she says, noting that one doesn’t have to undergo training as an advocate to help Coweta’s foster children. “Whether it’s becoming a CASA or a foster parent, serving on our board, providing financial support or just sharing information from our social media pages, we need community support. We rely heavily on grants, but those grants often require a cash match. We have to be able to show that the community supports us and is invested in the work we do.”

For those interested in becoming an advocate, Camp is quick to tout the rewards of CASA work: “No matter what you do, no matter how a case turns out, you’re planting seeds. You’re teaching the child that there are adults who care about them. You’re that role model for them. So no matter what happens, that kid is going to remember that you were kind to them, that you cared about them, that you were genuinely interested in their life and what they had to say. And hopefully all our kids will remember that we cared about them.”

NCM