With Alcohol Tax Funds, Alaska’s CASA Program Works to Increase Capacity
Children in Alaska’s child welfare system due to suspected child abuse or neglect find themselves in a constant state of flux. Court cases move slowly through the legal process. Reunifying the child with their family or, if that’s not possible, finding a permanent placement can sometimes take years. Removed from their home and separated from their parents, children are surrounded by unfamiliar faces, new surroundings, and a lot of unknowns.
A guardian ad litem (GAL) is assigned to every abuse and neglect case to advocate for the child’s best interests throughout the process. But their caseloads are high – in the state’s more populated areas, a single GAL can be responsible for more than 100 children – which makes it difficult for even the most dedicated GAL to devote as much time as is needed to each child.
What is CASA?
The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program helps lighten that load. Created in 1987 as part of the Office of Public Advocacy, the Alaska CASA program recruits and trains volunteers to be dedicated advocates for children in the child welfare system. CASA volunteers are appointed by the court and work alongside the GAL to ensure the child’s needs don’t slip through the cracks. Together, the GAL and CASA gather and evaluate information and make recommendations to the court based on the child’s needs, whether for a specific service or regarding reunification or permanent placement plans. Because the CASA volunteer is often the sole constant in the child’s life throughout the process, they can have a tremendous impact.
“There’s so much turnover in the child welfare system that leaves the child repeatedly exposed to people coming in and out of their lives, and that can be traumatic,” explains Becky Griffin, Alaska CASA grant project manager. “It’s an additional experience of loss and it leads to kind of this fragmented approach to a child’s case. So, having that dedicated person, I think, is just so meaningful to a child, to see that someone actually cares enough and stuck by their side through what can be a very lengthy process.”
A Listening Ear, an Advocating Voice
The CASA volunteer meets with the child twice a month and has a much smaller caseload – 1 to 3 on average – which helps them gain a more complete understanding of each child’s situation. The close relationship the CASA volunteer develops with the child helps them identify and advocate for services that otherwise may be overlooked.
“When a child has a CASA volunteer on their case, there are a number of positive outcomes that we’re seeing them experience, such as receiving more needed services that maybe would have slipped through the cracks and taken a lot more time for them to get if they hadn’t had that dedicated person advocating on their behalf,” Griffin explains.
Volunteers are the heart of CASA but over the last few years their numbers have dwindled, a situation exacerbated by COVID, says Joy Petrie, CASA statewide director. That caused a shift in the program’s short-term focus.
“Our goal right now is stability and really wanting to get as many CASA volunteers in as possible and identifying our goals and strategies,” she explains. “It’s not fancy, but it’s the truth.”
Building for the Future
Alcohol tax funds CASA received via a grant from the Municipality allowed the program to focus on the less than “glamorous” work of laying a foundation for future stability. As part of that work, CASA asked professional allies and stakeholders, which included OCS workers, judges, attorneys, and tribal representatives, to complete a survey that established a baseline of their understanding and perspectives of the CASA program, Griffin says. The survey results, combined with the results of a 2019 survey of CASA volunteers, program staff, and GALs, will help the program design and put into place additional strategies to enhance its work.
“That’s going to help us figure out moving forward the best way we can support our volunteers as they are navigating this complex child welfare world and how we can best make sure that all of the professional allies and stakeholders really understand the role of CASA in state court and the life of the child in custody,” Griffin explains.
The CASA program also used alcohol tax funds to overhaul its communications and branding platform to improve volunteer recruitment. That included creating new recruitment and training materials, updating its website, and exploring a graduated volunteer system that will hopefully be more attractive to potential volunteers.
“We’re looking at what’s the breadth that we have for allowing a volunteer to come in at not just the traditional level, but expand that to have different levels,” Petrie says. “That will allow us to give room for someone that can’t do the full volunteer role, but still wants to be involved, meaning they could lean in as far as they want to in the role.”
Without alcohol tax funds, much of the program’s work to increase capacity would have been impossible.
“We cherish our CASA volunteers, and we need more of them,” Griffin says. “We need to be able to build our capacity so more children can have that level of advocacy and support. This grant has allowed us to do all of those things.”
To learn more about the CASA program, visit https://www.alaskacasa.org.