Court Appointed Special Advocates program launches
Foster children in San Benito County will have someone looking
out for their best interest as soon as a dozen volunteers complete
training with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program.
The program was started in 1977 in Seattle by a judge in the
juvenile department who felt some children weren’t getting the
support they needed. The program is new to San Benito County, but
has the backing of a Monterey branch as it starts up.
Court Appointed Special Advocates program launches
Foster children in San Benito County will have someone looking out for their best interest as soon as a dozen volunteers complete training with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program.
The program was started in 1977 in Seattle by a judge in the juvenile department who felt some children weren’t getting the support they needed. The program is new to San Benito County, but has the backing of a Monterey branch as it starts up.
Volunteers are assigned to one or two foster children at a time, and they visit with the children two to three times a month. Most volunteers stay with the children while they go through the court process with their families, which can take up to 18 months. Some volunteers may work with their child longer if the child is not able to return to their parents.
Kathy Ruiz, a Hollister resident, has been a volunteer with CASA of Monterey County for four and half years. She has been working with one child since she started with the program.
“He’s 14 and he’s in high school this year,” she said. “You usually don’t have one as long as the one I’ve had, but when they get a certain age, 12, they have some say if they get adopted and he really hasn’t wanted to.”
While talking about the boy, she kept mum on his name and personal details, as one of the requirements for volunteers is that they keep information about the foster child confidential.
The boy gets good grades and enjoys reading, Ruiz said, so the goal has always been to get him into college. She has helped him get into a program at the University of California, Santa Cruz that mentors foster children.
“That’s my goal,” she said. “He can do the work and the other things.”
There have been moments that have made the hard times worthwhile.
“At his grammar school graduation, they gave a rose and a card to someone who helped them,” she said. “He gave the card to me and I was really pleased with that.”
Still it took a long time for her get the boy to trust her.
“It took quite a while for him to get comfortable,” Ruiz said. “The [children] are not too trusting. They’ve been through a lot of social workers and all this stuff. You just have to be patient.”
Meetings with other volunteers helped Ruiz when she was unsure of how to connect with her child.
Volunteers go through a 30-hour training and need to pass background checks before they are assigned a child. The trainings teach them about the juvenile justice system and foster care, as well as the ethical boundaries of advocacy, among other topics. Advocates also are required to attend 10-12 hours a year of additional training or peer meetings each year.
The job of volunteers is to provide information to the courts that can help in deciding what will happen to the child – should they be returned to their parents, another relative, or taken away permanently? Volunteers are sworn in as officers of the court and are required to fill out documents that will be reviewed by the judges.
Before launching the program in San Benito – the first training session started Jan. 5. – staff members from Monterey met with local social workers and court officers, said Sangeetha Ramanujam, the program manager for the San Benito program.
“There are 100-115 children in foster care here in San Benito County,” she said. “There is some need.”
Part of Ramanujam’s job is to identify the foster children who would most benefit from an advocate.
“I’ve started a list of kids who could benefit,” she said.
The children with the greatest need are those in foster care who are statistically less likely to be adopted. These include children who are older, children with siblings also in the system and those who are close to aging out of the system. Other kids who would benefit are those with educational issues.
“Advocates have access to school reports, court reports and therapists notes,” Ramanujam said. “They have a lot of access to a child’s life.”
Generally advocates spend 10-12 hours a month volunteering. The time can include attending court appearances; talking to family members, teachers or social workers; or time spent with the child.
“Part of the program is sort of a big brother/big sister component,” Ramanujam said.
On the first meeting with a child, a staff member will go with the advocate to talk with the family or foster parents with whom the child is staying.
“The initial explaining [of the program] to the child can be hard,” Ramanujam said. “With time it gets easier, but the initial introduction can be awkward.”
The advocates can plan activities with the children, such as attending a play or going to a bookstore, or for older children they might visit at a coffee shop. The volunteers are not allowed to bring the children to their homes and they need to keep most details about the child’s life confidential.
“We want the volunteers to stay and we want the kids to enjoy it,” Ramanujam said. “We want someone who is a constant presence. Their schools change, social workers change. One strong aspect of the program is that we give them one constant presence.”
In her years with the program, Ruiz has said she feels she has gotten back more than she has put out. She is still working with the boy who has been with her since the beginning. Another boy she worked with for a year and a half went back to his family.
“The hardest thing for me was having to say goodbye to the little boy I had,” Ruiz said. “He asked the judge if he couldn’t keep me.”
The next information session for those interested in the program will be Thursday, Feb. 7 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce office.
For more information on the Court Appointed Special Advocates, call 637-4992 or 455-6800 or visit www.casasanbenito.org
