CASA: We need community to rally together

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a nonprofit organization in San Bernardino County that provides advocates for foster children ages 14 to 17.

Court appointed advocates are volunteers sworn in by the courts, whose purpose is to create a relationship with their assigned foster child, serve as their voice in court, and provide any other support they may need until they reach adulthood.

“Our advocates have all the rights typically a guardian would have, for example, they can be involved with the child’s schooling and the right to go into the courtroom during appearances,” shared Cesar Navarrete, Executive Director of CASA.

56% of foster youth in San Bernardino County graduate high school, with CASA that number jumps to 100 percent.

“We provide services that fit the child and empower them,” expressed Navarrete. “These kids have so many emotions and trauma that they have a hard time dealing with. We pair advocates that fit the child’s needs, we want to make things better for them.”

CASA, like many other organizations, has had to adjust because of social distancing resulting from Covid. In order to connect advocates with kids, they conducted Zoom meetings. The connections were hard to make, it usually takes three months for an advocate to connect with a child, trying to connect over Zoom caused it to double to six months. So CASA and their advocates had to come up with inventive ways in forging these relationships.

“When connecting during Zoom, the advocates had to get creative, one of our advocates came up with the idea to send care packages to their respective child. The care packages consisted of each child’s favorite snacks and they loved it, it brought smiles to their faces,” shared Navarrete.

Building these relationships was not easy during the pandemic, now with things opening up the advocates and their children can now connect in person.

“With school around the corner we will be taking our assigned child out to shop and allow them to pick what they want, we believe allowing them to pick out what they want gives them the power,” said Navarrete.

The empowerment CASA provides doesn’t end at allowing kids to pick what they want from the store. The advocates give the child a voice, mainly in the courtroom.

“Our advocates have done some great things for their child. We have one example where we had two advocates with their child at an event and the kids were siblings. They were reconnected for the first time in a couple of years and our advocates pushed for visits with each other every week. They were even able to expand visiting hours with each other, then finally got them in the same home as well. With an eye towards building a better future for foster children, CASA does have obstacles to overcome. The number one issue CASA faces is volunteers. They currently have 183 children on the waitlist for an advocate, if you aren’t able to volunteer donations are also welcomed, for more information visit their website at casaofsb.org.