Announcer: The views and opinions expressed in to the point are those of the hosted, the program and its guests.

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Doni: Every year, close to 1000 children in our community are living in out-of-home care due to child abuse or neglect.

About 200 local council volunteers speak up for their best interests.

Hope needs a helping hand.

Those words are from the website of the court appointed special advocates, or, as some of you know them.

Casa Casa provides a voice for those children who have not yet found their own.

Among other things, many, many other things.

It provides safety and support for children who feel frightened, alone or somehow at risk.

It's often a bridge for those parents who find themselves temporarily adrift.

But mostly it helps to ensure that hope has a helping hand.

My name is Donny Miller, and today we're talking to CASA director Judy Leb and volunteer Desiree Rayford.

On to the point, you know this already, but you can connect with us on our social media pages.

You can email me at doni _miller@wgte.org.

And for this episode and other additional extras, please go wgte.org/tothepoint.

I am so excited to have with us today volunteer Desiree Rayford and executive director Judy Leb from CASA.

And I'll tell you why.

This is the most amazing service that works with our kids in this community.

I mean, there are lots of great services, but wait until you hear what these ladies have to say about CASA.

I think that you're going to learn an awful lot about this particular service that you didn't know before.

I certainly learned an awful lot, Judy, and does right.

Like there are 96,000 CASA volunteers around the country, almost a thousand CASA services dealing with children who are perhaps in the most vulnerable time in their lives, while at the same time being in the place where they need the most love and support that they can get.

So just so we're all starting out on the same page for folks who don't know what CASA does.

Judy, would you tell?

Judy: So CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates.

We train adult volunteers to be the advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the juvenile court.

We like to think of it as a three part job.

They're investigators.

They're advocates.

It's and they're monitors.

So they're doing an independent investigation to bring the facts to the court, because we know when we have all the facts, we make the best decisions.

So they're interviewing not only the children and their families, relatives, as well as parents, but they're also looking at school records, interviewing school personnel, looking at medical records, maybe talking to medical providers and others.

Doni: And the judge uses this information for what purpose?

Judy: To make a decision on who should have custody of the children, where they should be living, and what court orders are in the best interests of this family and this child to keep this family safe.

Doni: So is it is it safe to say that there are lots of people necessary to make this CASA program work?

Judy: Oh, yes.

Doni: And I would.

Is it also safe to say that two of those key folks would be CASA volunteers and guardian ad litem?

Judy: Yes, absolutely.

Doni: The difference between the two.

Judy: The costs of volunteers are just that they're volunteer hours.

They are not paid the but they are also guardian ad litem.

They're sworn in by the juvenile court judge as the guardian ad litem for the children they serve.

Doni: So you don't have to be an attorney to be a guard.

You do not.

Judy: You do not.

And the attorneys are guardian ad litem who get paid, but they do the exact same job and we train them in the same 40 hour training class before they begin work.

Doni: So it Desiree.

Learning about this program, which obviously I've known about for some time, but it's gotten bigger and certainly more widely used.

It broke my heart some of the stories of children that I read and I thought, I can't imagine voluntarily being a part of this every day because it just breaks your heart.

But you've decided to be accessible and here why?

Desiree: Because I think it's important for families to be put back together, if at all possible, in advocating on their behalf makes that possible.

And I think it's very vital that the information is gathered in order for when the families are put back together.

If if, in fact, they can be that they have the vital information they need to make the best decision for those families and those especially for those children.

Doni: Is this work getting harder, you guys?

Judy: Oh, yes, because the cases are getting more complicated.

There they are.

Lucas County Children's Services works extremely hard not to remove children from their homes.

So the cases that come to court are the worst of the worst.

They're the ones where they need to remove children from the homes or they need court orders in place in order to keep these children safe.

So we see the most complicated cases.

The cases we see typically have all three issues in them.

When I say all three, I'm talking about domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health issues.

So those are commonly the three things we see.

And there's lots of other things too, Of course, parenting issues.

Oftentimes we have children who have disabilities.

We have homeless parents, parents who don't have any income at all, not working.

There's lots of issues to deal with.

Doni: Does it fit with what is the what are you seeing in families now that is becoming more disturbing?

Is there something that you're seeing more now?

Judy, I know you've been in for a long time.

Then you saw a decade ago.

Judy: Yes.

We're seeing parents dying, overdoses from substance abuse and parents just dying on their cases.

Wow.

So now you have children who have not only been abused or neglected, but they've lost a parent or both parents as well.

Doni: How do you wrap your arms around those children?

How do you make them trust you?

Does right when they've not always understanding death as as adults?

We don't understand it all of the time.

It seems a little farfetched to expect a child to understand it so when someone that they've loved has been taken away from them, how do you make them trust you?

Desiree: I think is one situation at a time, one kid at a time.

You have you have to embrace them when they are ready to be embraced.

And with that being said, you you learn the key.

You learn what that kid, their space, what they how they feel comfortable.

You listen to them carefully.

After you listen to them.

Eventually they'll warm up to you.

It may take some time because, of course, you know, the main person they want is to be back in that family.

But you do what you can do and the most thing you can do is to be patient with them.

Yes, be patient.

I think that trust builds over time.

And a part of that is saying you're going to be there.

Judy: I'm coming back in a few weeks to visit you again and you show up and then you show up the next month and the next month and they can see that over time you do what you say you're going to do.

Doni: So what are you hearing from kids about this journey with?

I I'm assuming that you're listening to their voices in the work that you do, your respond ing to what they need in the work that you do.

What are what are they saying to you?

About course.

Are they glad to see you guys?

Do they want you to go away?

Oh, are they like, Oh my God, that was Desiree again.

Judy: When they're young, they're thrilled to see us.

They they bond very quickly.

They they form relationships easily.

And yes, that's very easy with young children.

Teenagers are a little bit harder.

Yeah, but teenagers know who's genuine.

And the thing about our CASA volunteers is just that they're volunteers.

They're doing this because they have a passion for kids.

They care very deeply, and that's evident to the children.

And that brings them hope.

It is one thing to have somebody paid trying to help you, but when you have a volunteer, it's very hopeful to know that this person genuinely cares about my best interests as a youth and is going to do whatever he or she can do to advocate for my safety and needs.

Doni: Yeah, we forget how smart kids are and how intuitive kids are.

I mean, you're right.

A teenager can suss out in a second whether you're genuine or whether you're just sort of messing around.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

So it takes a little extra work.

I would imagine it can.

Desiree: But it also depends on the kid, too, because sometimes with the younger ones, they can assess just as quick, depending on what the environment is being dependent on how genuine you are.

Because I believe that younger kids know when there's genuine love and care and concern.

Doni: Yeah.

Desiree: they are truly show it to you as they learn more about you.

And a lot of these kids have been parental fied.

The eldest child is taking care of the younger ones, almost like the mother to the infant in the home.

And they have tremendous street smarts.

They have maturity beyond their years because of what they have been living with.

Doni: So just so that we can better understand the process, the children that that you all are dealing with have been removed from their homes by children's services.

Judy: Most of them, most, not all.

Sometimes there are cases where Lucas County Children's Services keeps the children in the home, but they still need court orders to keep that child safe.

For example, we might have a case of severe domestic violence and they keep mother and children in the homes, but they need a court order that father must vacate the home.

And those cases come to court.

But most often we have children who are removed from the home, hopefully living with relatives if we can find appropriate relatives in the area or else they're placed in foster care.

Doni: Yeah, okay.

And so the child at that point and we're going to go to break in just a moment and I want to pick up at this point when we come back, because I think it's important for people to understand that you have a child who suffered the trauma of being removed from their home, the trauma of living in that home.

And then we are expecting them to sort of open up and and invite you in or someone else into their lives.

It's a tough journey for that child.

Yes.

Stay with me.

That.

Okay.

I'm going to be right back.

We're going to go away for a second, but we'll be right back.

Jaden: The court appointed special Advocates program, also known as CASA.

It's a program that, for many, is unfamiliar, but it's an important program.

It helps represent children and their best interests in the court of law.

So I went out for this week's edition of one point to ask people how they heard about it and would they be interested in volunteering.

Have you heard of the CASA program?

Court appointed special advocates?

Mike: I have not.

Would you be interested in volunteering?

Because they're definitely looking for volunteers right now.

Yeah.

Volunteerism is something we we feel strongly and obviously I'm a coach here, and whenever I have time to be able to volunteer, I'm always willing to do that.

Jaden: Perfect.

And do you know anyone else who volunteers for this program, or is this just new for you?

Mike: No, it's completely new.

Jaden: Court appointed special advocates.

You said before the interview you've never heard of this program?

Jajuan: I never heard of it before.

Posted somewhere.

You know, maybe it needs to be like world website.

Maybe you need to be on Facebook.

Or maybe you need to be like a group chat or like, you know, like I like I said, I never heard of it.

So, you know, I can't really like, you know, I say, I'll look, don't got that.

Not as either.

I feel like that would be like a good opportunity for a lot of people.

I say it's hard out here for a lot of people is not is difficult for for you know like don't come with a book is not ideas P's and Q's and, you know, apples and oranges.

It's like you know, difficult people, people need guidance.

People need help.

You know, I feel like it'd be a good opportunity.

I feel like it would be better for it to get more widespread.

You know.

Jaden: On point this week, I'm Jaden Jefferson.

Doni: Again, connect with us on our social media pages.

You may email me at doni _miller@wgte.org for this episode and other additional extras, please go to wgte.org/tothepoint, we are coming back with our guest, Judy Leb, who is the executive director of CASA and volunteer extraordinaire Desiree Rayford.

Thank you both for joining us.

Now telling Desiree before the show that when when I was in law school, I was assigned to be a guardian ad litem at CASA.

And I remember her.

I honestly I think I had the most dysfunctional family ever on the planet, or it seemed that way to me in my twenties.

I was totally overwhelmed and I remember going back to my professor, who was Jim Carr.

Who was yeah, Jim Carr was my professor at the time and I said, I can't, I can't, I can't do this.

I can't do this.

I am overwhelmed.

I am there's so much emotion coming.

There's so much dysfunction in this family that even me at 20 was probably 24 at that time.

Even I could see it untrained me could see it.

I said, I don't know what to do.

And he said, You do it.

You just go and you do it.

I'll never forget that these kids, those suffered so much trauma.

How were you all taught to manage that trauma?

I know that I felt unprepared to to be in that setting.

Training, lots of training.

Gut instinct.

Tell me about that.

Judy: Lots of training.

Doni: Lots of training.

Judy: Lots of training.

Yeah.

I don't know when that was, but now you have to to be a guardian ad litem.

You have to take 40 hours a pre service training before you can take a case.

And then each course, a volunteer is required to take 12 hours of ongoing training annually.

And the training talks about trauma and how to deal with trauma that the training is almost a social work curriculum.

There is some law in there, but not a whole lot.

Our attorneys really are learning right along with the volunteer hours because it is more a social work curriculum than anything.

And you're taught how to interview children, how to interview adults, how to write the court report, how to do an investigation.

And it's a national curriculum that is developed by the national CASA Association and tweaked for our local community to comply with Ohio law.

And the way things are done are here in Lucas County.

It's a highly interactive curriculum.

So we're not just bodies in a classroom where you're listening to lectures.

In fact, there's not as much of that as there is interactive exercises.

So we practice cases and meet in groups and the groups think, okay, who do we want to interview next?

And they do their next interview.

And then what did we learn from that interview?

Who should we interview next?

And then as a group, they write their court recommendations.

We have big Post-it notes that we put up on the wall, and we go through each group's recommendations and and then we get a little harder case and do it again.

So they I don't know, maybe you should speak to the and I. Doni: Say to that my experience was I think you guys were pretty news is back in the eighties and I can tell you exactly when because I date myself okay it was a very long time ago.

Yeah but good process it does it help?

It must really help prepare.

Desiree: It definitely helps to prepare.

Is is the trainings are really interactive.

You learn what your capabilities are based on, what the guidelines that you have to follow.

Lots of homework.

I can definitely tell you when I first got in, I was like ready to call and tell them I can't come back, right?

I can't do this.

I told Judy, I don't know if I'm going to come back to the next training, but as you stick it in, you stick it out, you end up going through and you can appreciate everything that you've been through, because once you get finished and you get sworn in, then you know, it's time to take a case and you still have fear again.

And one of the greatest things that happened to me, Donny, was when Judy said, just go ahead and jump in with both feet.

And you really have to because if you don't, you'll get to the point you'll be so hesitant about doing the work.

But that's only where you can learn to work is to just jump in.

And that's what I did.

I just jumped in and before I knew it, it was I was with a kid, I was with a family, I was investigating, and it all seemed like it was just natural.

Was a natural flow.

And I think when you have a compassion to do the work there, it seems to stream much more easier.

And when I say stream, you know how we can look at a video and it starts buffering if you do the work and just jumping in a stream and before you know it, it's just a natural part of who you are.

Doni: Yeah, it's it's like perfection in this process is compassion.

Yes.

You know, that's perfection.

Like, you don't have to know everything.

You don't have to have a Ph.D. in something.

So for people out there who think they can't volunteer, that they can't do this, I'm hearing Judy and Desiree say, yes, you can.

Judy: We have folks from all work walks of life truly who work the line at CHIP or who prepare lunches for a school cafeteria.

Truly up until pediatricians who volunteer and everybody in between.

And that diversity is valued and important.

And you can do this work.

Different people bring different strengths to the table.

Yeah.

So your lived experiences can be a strength that others may not have.

And so we all learn from each other in the training and it is really important that people step forward and do this work.

We we desperately need more CASA volunteers.

Doni: I would suspect, and just correct me if I'm wrong and I hope I'm wrong here, I would suspect that you could use more volunteers of color.

Judy: Yes, absolutely.

Yes.

Half of the children we see are children of color.

And ideally, we would like to have as many volunteers of color to represent those children of color.

Doni: Yeah, that's right.

As a black woman, what would you say to folks who are black or Hispanic who are thinking about this but just haven't stepped forward yet?

Desiree: I agree that we do need a diversity in your as African-American women going through the training.

I did notice that just in the training alone that there was very few African-American females.

And I think in our training there was not one African-American male.

And I really think that there is such a vital need that for through the process of recruitment, for there to be an increase in more African-American and other diverse people, because we need them for the sake of the populations that we're dealing with.

I think it creates a greater level of understanding and it just opens some doors for children to be able to communicate with their cultural individuals.

So, yes, we definitely need more diversity and more African-Americans.

Yeah.

Yes.

No, the training talks about cultural competence.

Yes.

But no amount of training can help a family to trust you as quickly as when you are of the same race as they are.

Judy: And parents don't have that long to do their case plan of services.

So if we can help build that trust much faster by having people who look like them, that's very important.

Doni: Yeah, and I think we would all agree that love is love for sure, but it certainly does help when you can start quickly identifying some things that you have in common.

Yes.

Some things that you can talk about and laugh about because, you know, they are particular to where you came from.

You know, we've talked an awful lot about the importance of getting involved and following your passion, but we haven't told people how they get to do that.

Judy: So the best way is to go to our website, which is w w w dot Carson kids dot net and our application is on the website.

Also on the website, there's a list of the upcoming CASA information meetings.

So it's a public meeting that lasts an hour from let me make sure I've got the right time.

2 to 3 p.m. at the Sanger Branch Library.

The first one is going to be on September 17th and then we have one each month, October 8th, November 11th and December 3rd.

And so anyone who's at all interested can just come to the library and find out more.

In that hour, we'll talk to you about what a CASA does, what the training looks like, what the time commitment is, and answer any and all questions you may have about becoming a CASA volunteer.

Doni: Is there any eligibility requirement or eligibility requirements?

Judy: You have to be at least 21 years of age and you have to have good common sense to be responsible and care about kids.

Doni: Those are pretty simple.

Yeah, common sense.

One is for the other ones are for yeah, those are pretty good.

Judy: So you don't even have to have a high school diploma.

However, you do have to be able to read and write because you're going to write a report to the court.

That report is as much as possible a a fill in the blank document.

But there are parts of it where you have to write paragraphs.

Doni: So we have just a couple of minutes left.

But what is the time commitment both for the training and then the involvement with the kids?

We have about a minute.

Judy: Okay.

So the training is a 40 hour pre-service training.

It takes place coming up in January is our next class, and it's going to be Tuesday evenings from 530 to 830.

And so it's six weeks long and then there is some homework for each of those classes.

Doni: And generally, how many hours a week do you spend with kids?

Desiree: I think generally I would think about 6 to 7 hours.

Doni: All right.

And if people want more information, they can certainly reach out to you to get that information.

Thank you both so much for being here.

A special thanks to Andrea de la Rocha for helping me pull this together this morning.

I will see you next time.

On to the Point.

Announcer: The views and opinions expressed in to the point are those of the hosted, the program and its guests.

They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of WGTE Public Media.

This program was made possible in part by viewers like you.