by Sherry Howie
San Bernardino Sun
April 18,1998
Julia Lambson cares for broken children.
As a court-appointed special advocate, she is a guardian to a 10-year-old who lives in a group home. She sees him several hours a week, takes him bowling, out to eat and drives him to another group home to see siblings.
She also makes sure his best interests are represented in court hearings.
Often children are removed from their parents’ physical custody to Child Protective Services, where a decision is made to place them in a group home, foster care, with their parents or other caregivers.
Jeff Broyde, a supervising lawyer in Juvenile Public Defenders Court said volunteer advocates may be appointed " to be another voice for the child who needs an adult friend and helper."
The CASA volunteer serves as a stabilizing factor in the child’s life, when a child may have no one else. The social worker has a huge case load, and "the child gets shunted from one place to another," Lambson said.
Audella Cook, the executive director of San Bernardino Child Advocacy Program, Inc. at 1635 North D Street believes the CASA volunteer " helps reduce the trauma to children in the Juvenile Court system by providing a long-term, consistent, supportive relationship."
The CASA volunteer is expected to investigate the child’s circumstances, provide factual information and make recommendations to the court that are in the child’s best interests.
Cook says, " The volunteer’s job is to help get children what they need, improve the child’s life and eventually help them stand on their own two feet."
Each volunteer undergoes 40 hours of training in child abuse dynamics, conflict management, preparation for court appearances and duties as an officer of the court.
Board President Mario Lee says that the volunteer is expected to work 10 to 17 hours a month and make a commitment for at least two years in the life of a child.
"The ideal is for volunteers to stay with one child until his or her case is resolved so that the child can always count on them," Lee said.
According to Program Supervisor Lisa Vytlacil, " The volunteer does not take just a big brother or sister role, but becomes part of the mind, the heart and the head of a very needy child."
Margaret Caulfield has just worked with a minor for over three years. In the past eight months, the girl has begun to develop a positive, self-motivating approach to studying. The upturn began when the girl moved to a group home that provided a closer family structure.
A CASA volunteer must be committed to helping children, pass a security check, be able to write accurate reports, be flexible and able to deal with anger and frustration.
Vytaacil says the Child Advocacy Program has approximately 50 CASA volunteers but needs 100 more.
If There's A Kid in Need, McQueen Will Be There
Fontana grandmother is one of many volunteers in the San Bernardino Child Advocacy Program. Their work can mean a better future for troubled kids.
by Gregg Patton
San Bernardino Sun
August 4, 1997
Raychel McQueen knew she had volunteered to help a troubled 13 year old boy.
She didn't know she would become an unpaid nurse for his grandmother, surrogate family for his mother and sister and, in the end, the one who made funeral arrangements when the grandmother died.
All of which was OK with McQueen. "You never know what's coming,"said McQueen, a Fontana grandmother herself. "Once you're in it, you just do what it takes."
What she's in is serving as a volunteer in the San Bernardino Child Advocacy Program. What it takes is a willingness to go with the flow. At stake, often, is the future well-being of a beaten-down, beaten-up child.
McQueen, and volunteers like her, are there to catch a kid as he falls. A kid who has ended up in Family or Juvenile Court, sometimes from his own doing, but more often from the neglect or abuseful behavior of the adults in his or her life.
The Child Advocacy Program was established in San Bernardino in 1984. It survives on money from the court system, as well as government and foundation grants.
The kids who get assigned by judges to San Bernardino CAP workers come from all over the county and can be newborns to 17 year olds. They have one thing in common though.
"They're the ones everyone else has given up on,"said Audella Cook, executive director of Child Advocacy. "We're usually their last chance. We give them a friend to get them back on track."
Or as close as they can. Cook said the agency doesn't sell unrealistic expectations to their volunteers, kids or families. She said the majority of clients have been abused for years, and may have lived in a dozen homes in their young lives.
"We're trying to reduce the number of times they're hospitalized or keep them from being kicked out of another school," Cook said. "All we ask is 'How do we move a kid one step down the road?' "
About 50 kids are currently being helped by volunteers, known as Court Appointed Special Advocates(CASA) or Guardian Ad Litems(GAL). The same number of kids, about 50, have been referredby Family or juvenile Court and are on a waiting list. Cook said volunteers are urgently needed.
If history holds, more than 80 per cent of new volunteers will be women. Robbi Spears, CASA child case manager, said they would like more men to come forward. Ideally more will be minorities as well.
A proportionally higher number of minority children will need a CASA/GAL than the overall minority population of the county, said Cook. Sometimes a social worker will specifically recommend that a child's volunteer be a male or a minority. Cook said a lot of boys who represent about 60% of the clientele, "desperately need a male role model in their lives."
But, said Spears,"When we ask the kids themselves if they prefer a male or female, or a black or Hispanic, they say 'No, I just want someone who'll spend time with me.' "
Volunteers generally spend 10 to 15 hours per month with their young charges. Usually, said McQueen, it is quiet time. "I've taken my boy out for a hamburger and coke," said McQueen. "Mostly we just talk." At the beginning, she said, "I told him why I was there, that I was going to be his friend and I'd be there for him."
"While you're checking them out, they're checking you out. Once there's some trust, things come up a little easier and they open up." McQueen first volunteered in 1994 after reading about the program in the newspaper.
"It doesn't take much to see what kind of state the world is in, and I thought I could help," Said McQueen, who has raised four (now adult) children, and works as a pediatric nurse.
Her first child was a 15 year old girl who was in an angry battle with her mother. Although McQueen felt "I made a little bit of difference." It was a frustrating case. The girl moved continuously during their eight-month relationship and was hard to find. Eventually the girl left the county and the case ended abruptly.
Said Spears of the volunteers, "If they've come for the right reason, the reward is the gratification of knowing they've done the right thing for a kid!"
McQueen can take heart in her current case. Seven months ago, in fact, a Family Court judge ruled that the boy no longer needed her assistance. Her gut instinct said the family did. The judge allowed he to maintain unofficial contact. As the grandmother, who was the anchor of the household, fell more ill, McQueen spent more time caring for her -- and the others. In June, the grandmother died and McQueen, much like a family member, was asked to arrange the funeral.
Cook isn't surprised the family felt so close to McQueen. "Raychel possesses an ability to treat the people she works with with dignity and respect," said Cook."She doesn't make them earn it." Cook just hopes a lot more McQueens come forward. Child Advocacy has orientation meetings for new volunteers followed by extensive training on the weekends to train new volunteers.
Volunteers are subject to a background check, including fingerprinting. The first step is to make sure the children are safe, said Cook. As a matter of course, the children are screened to make sure volunteers will be safe , too.
Anything else a volunteer needs to know? "It is hard work for no pay,"said Cook.
Said McQueen, "I'm content knowing I'll never be a millionaire. Not everything is about money." What this was about was compassion. "No one ," said McQueen, "had to twist my arm."
OR
Snail mail us at:
San Bernardino Child Advocacy Program, Inc.
P.O. Box 30936
San Bernardino, CA
92413-0930
Our physical address is:
1635 North D Street
San Bernardino, CA
Phone us at: (909) 881-6760
or fax us at : (909) 881-6764
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