Court Appointed Special Advocates are trained volunteers appointed by a judge to represent a child's best interest in court. Only 7% of the 2,863 Pima County children in state care have a CASA.
Caitlin Schmidt Michele Keller first tried to bring Ariana into her family a decade ago, when the child was three months old.
CASAs are trained volunteers appointed by a judge to represent a child's best interest throughout the court process. CASAs spend time with the children they represent, keeping track of their medical, psychological and social needs; making sure they can be successful in school; and submitting ongoing reports to the judge in the child's case.
Pima County's CASA program was the first in Arizona, said Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Peter Hochuli. When he started working in Tucson as a contract attorney in 1986, there was one person running the county's CASA program. It's since grown exponentially, with hundreds of volunteers over the years and 14 employees.
Because the CASA program is operated by the courts, it can't fundraise or accept donations, which is where the CASA Coordinating Council of Pima County comes into play. The group provides support for CASAs and the children with whom they work, including tutors, technology and more. The council is also volunteer-based.
"There's nothing more meaningful to them when I'm sitting there eye-to-eye and I know stuff going on in their life," he said."It's a safe place. We want to connect, because no attorney can truly tell us what the child is feeling." "Especially when you have older children, who are really not sure if they want to be adopted, which is totally understandable and normal," Strickland said."They also help explain the benefits of doing an adoption at a certain time, like waiting until a child reaches the age of 16 or until the end of the year."
The program is especially seeking men, people of color and young people. In addition to CASAs, there's also a need for more foster and adoptive parents, Ferlan said. "I had a career since 1986 of working with children in different roles. I still have energy and I wanted to share my expertise and what I can share to help children," Lucas said."It can be the most rewarding work. As long as I have energy and am well, I want to do the work.""It takes a village," Keller said."I think we both have helped each other out. I've filled in the blanks for a lot of [Ariana's] history that other people didn't know about.
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