Court Appointed Special Advocates(CASA)

Mika Carroll
Professor Katz
Paper 1
September 11, 2013
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
Growing up I never understood why my sister and I were so different, at least in my dad’s eyes. The most painful thing was I knew that he loved my sister more than me. When I was bad I got a beating; when my sister was bad, I still got a beating. My mom would always be there to save me even though she knew it would cause a huge fight with my dad. Fortunately my mom was a smart woman and she divorced my dad. I remember the night my dad left like it was yesterday, and I don’t think I will ever forget. I don’t remember what exactly it was that made him so mad but I’m sure my sister and I were fighting like sisters do. My only really vivid memory of that night was my dad hitting me so hard he left bruise marks on my backside. I could hear my mom and dad fighting so I knew my mom saved me again. Then my dad got really mad at her and he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her into the pantry door so hard that both my mom and the pantry door came crashing to the floor. When I got up for school the next morning my dad was gone. Some children aren’t as lucky though and Child Protective Services has to remove them from a bad situation.
When called to check on the welfare of children, if it is determined the children are in danger, CPS will place them in foster care. Their parents must go to court ordered classes and pass random drug tests to prove that they can provide a safe environment for their children. This process can take up to a year in some cases and in a lot of abuse cases the children are permanently placed in foster care. Foster homes are supposed to be a safe secure environment compared to where the children came from. But like anything else there are exceptions to this rule. About a month ago I saw a story on the local news about an eighteen month old little girl who was taken from her parents for alleged neglect. She was placed in a foster home in Rockdale, and her parents were doing what CPS was asking them to do in order to get her back. Her foster parents had gone through all the background checks required by CPS and passed. Unfortunately the background checks only go back so far and didn’t go back far enough to see that her foster mother had been charged with child abuse in the past. Four months before the little girl was to go home, and the day before her next weekly visitation with her mommy and daddy, she was beaten to death by her foster mother. If the little girl had been appointed an advocate from CASA, this might have been prevented.
Most cities and counties in Texas have in place what is known as CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates who make sure that children in these cases aren’t treated unfairly. CASA is made up of some professionals but mostly volunteers who are appointed to children when they have been removed by CPS. The children are given a CASA advocate as soon as it’s determined that a case be filed and their advocate stays with them through their entire process in CPS. The advocate meets with the children at least once a month, reports to their case worker, and appears in court for them. They also make sure that the parents are going to the classes required by CPS and that the children receive the counseling that is necessary. I am currently in the process of becoming a CASA volunteer so I can stop any more children from falling through the cracks in the system. Children who are abused will always hold a special place in my heart because I know what it’s like to beaten and not know why. I can only hope that if CPS had been involved in my life that a CASA advocate would have been there to be my voice.