CASA helps foster children in overburdened system

Monday, Dec. 1, 1997 | 10:34 a.m.

Doctors were puzzled when an 8-month-old foster child was hospitalized following a seizure. They couldn't find the cause.

The child's caseworker didn't have time to trace the child's medical history. Enter Poonum Adams of Las Vegas, the child's court-appointed special advocate. She made time and found the necessary records, which helped the doctors.

The nationwide child advocacy program, known as CASA, gives foster children someone they can trust other than caseworkers and foster parents. Locally, there are 187 volunteer advocates who are managed by county-paid coordinators.

"There are so many kids that fall through the cracks," says Las Vegas volunteer Cynthia Musgrove. "That's why CASA was formed. We stir the pot. I just feel the best interest of the child is not being looked after in this state."

The volunteers usually try to make weekly contact with their kids, compared to a caseworker who might see the child no more than once a month. CASA also talks with caseworkers, teachers, therapists and others who come in contact with the child.

"There's nobody really to speak up on behalf of these children," Adams said. "Nobody's watching out for these kids."

Toni Isola Bayer, a former CASA board member, wants to take the CASA concept a step further. She has formed a nonprofit organization, Children's Advocacy Alliance, which plans to become active this month and to hire a legislative lobbyist.

"We're going to speak out on behalf of the children," Bayer said. "We're going to serve as a watchdog organization involved in issues of neglect and abuse of children. We will let the public know which politicians are pro-children."

CASA has a nonprofit foundation that has raised tens of thousands of dollars for educational scholarships, therapeutic sessions and other foster child needs.

"If the kids knew the money was there to go to school, they would go," said CASA Foundation President Donna Husted. "We also need money for independent living."

Of the 1,400 kids in Southern Nevada's child protective system, only about 400 have advocates. Children are deemed eligible for an advocate in Clark County Family Court based on need. County coordinators assign the youths to advocates.

Linda Ley, who manages the program for the county, said there is a critical need for more coordinators because her staff has almost twice the caseload as the recommended national CASA standard. Meanwhile, there are at least 20 children waiting to be assigned a volunteer.

"Because 80 percent of my volunteers work full-time jobs, you can't expect them to carry more than two or three kids at any one time," Ley said.

Child advocates have their critics. Many foster parents don't like them showing up at homes without appointments.

"Sometimes they come in and treat us like the enemy," says Sherri Lasoff, a former cottage parent at the Southern Nevada Children's Home in Boulder City. "They're very judgmental. If they'd communicate with the (foster) parents more and get the whole story, things would be better. A lot of them don't seem to know the child."

Another former cottage parent, Brett Campbell, said advocates sometimes let their authority "go to their heads." An advocate once complained when the Boulder City kids were fed corn dogs for dinner, forcing the children's home to adopt a moratorium on such food.

"They need better requirements on which kid needs a CASA because it seems pretty random now," Campbell said.

Las Vegas foster parent Deanne Blazzard said her experience with the advocates is mostly positive. But because the advocates are backed by Family Court, foster parents sometimes feel they're caring for the kids "with your hands tied behind your back."

Other critics say because many of the volunteers come from well-to-do backgrounds, they're prone to support termination of birth parents' rights.

"There are some who are not our fans but that's the nature of what we do," Ley said. "What we try to do is stay away from personalities and focus on making the system work."

Ley shares foster parents' concern about caring for a child with no medical records. That's why the advocacy program is developing a medical "passport" to preserve such records for each child.

"We'll talk to foster parents and they won't know that the kid is allergic to strawberries," Ley said. "Sometimes the foster parents keep track (of medical records) but it doesn't always go with the kid when they move."

The long wait children must endure to see state therapists also unnerves the advocates.

"When the kids need counseling, they need it now," Adams said.

Musgrove has seen children get lost in the system.

One of the children under her CASA care should have been adopted but was returned to her natural parents. The child was physically and sexually abused by a parent, and returned to foster care within three months.

CASA volunteers don't make a habit of influencing foster children to turn against their parents, she said.

"Sometimes the parents are hard on their luck. If we had more services available for them, we could turn their lives around."