Volunteers Represent Neglected, Abused Kids North Idaho’s Casa Program Helps Children Through Hearings

Stephanie Powers hurried to the courthouse after ferrying her children and their friends from vacation Bible camp home to Hayden Lake.

She arrived early enough to consult with attorneys and a social worker in the hallway before the “shelter care” hearing.

Quietly they discussed a child just placed in foster care because the parents were being prosecuted for abuse or neglect.

Similar child protection hearings happen four times a day in Idaho. In most cases, a court-appointed special advocate (a CASA volunteer), like Powers, will be there to remind everyone that a child’s future is at stake.

In the few counties without such volunteers, such as Shoshone, children are at greater risk of being neglected by an overburdened court system.

The North Idaho CASA program is seeking more volunteers to help take on the increasing number of cases in Kootenai County and start providing advocates for Shoshone County children.

Last year, Shoshone County had at least 14 child protection cases.

“They’re in need of representation,” said North Idaho CASA administrator Lorene Frank.

In the next 20 days, Powers will have to learn everything she can about her newest charge and the child’s family. She’ll compile her findings in a written report.

Powers has unusual access to a case otherwise closed to the public.

Her report will recommend to the judge whether the child should go to foster care or return to the family.

Powers gets nothing for her efforts.

“All I want to do is help that kid,” she said. “It’s becoming harder and harder, because there’s more and more cases and not a lot of volunteers.”

While the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is obligated to address the needs of the entire family, CASA is dedicated only to the child’s best interests.

That makes for occasional conflicts with the department, although both parties profess respect for each other’s role in the court.

“It has created great confusion in some of the cases,” acknowledged Rob Gregory of the department’s division of family and children services. But, he added, “child protection is a community issue, and we need community people having a role in it.”

The volunteer also is obligated to make it known to the judge what the child’s wishes are, even when the advocate might disagree with the child. Most importantly, CASA’s goal is to move the case as quickly as possible to resolution.

The average case lasts about 18 months. Volunteers are asked to make a two-year commitment. Some don’t last much longer than that, worn out by the emotional nature of the work.

“You have to try to keep your personal emotions out of it somehow,” said two-year volunteer Ray Morgan. “You see things being done to children you could never imagine.”

Although Morgan and other volunteers are prohibited from discussing particular cases, he mentioned a handful of actual situations involving children he represented:

A child who was locked in a room for days at a time and never allowed to leave, even to go to the bathroom.

Siblings who had moved through so many foster care homes that “mommy and daddy” were simply generic terms for adults.

A mother who chose to stay with her abusive boyfriend rather than maintain custody of her child.

Poverty, substance abuse and poor choices tend to be common threads through child protective cases.

In general, Morgan described the problem as “a lack of caring on the part of the parents. I don’t know where that comes from.”

The CASA program was established in the ‘70s by a Seattle judge who was concerned that the heavy caseloads for social workers, prosecutors and judges would prevent a thorough investigation of cases concerning children.

Now, the program has about 37,000 volunteers nationally.

Shoshone County Prosecutor Dan McGee said the program will be welcome in his county “as long as an investigation isn’t jeopardized.”

The county has seen a rapid increase in child abuse cases in recent years, he said.

“We certainly do the best we can on behalf of the children, but we can’t cover every base,” McGee said.

CASA volunteers come from all walks of life, and devote many hours to see their cases through to completion.

On the way, they report a heightened awareness of abuse and neglect, “of how people treat their kids in public,” Morgan said.

Powers said she hasn’t seen the really “devastating cases.” More often, her cases involve families who have gotten into a crisis situation - something that could happen to almost anybody.

“Kids loved to be loved. That’s the common bond,” she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo Graphic: North Idaho child abuse cases