INDIANA News

SOUTH BEND — Robin Smith didn’t fully comprehend what she was getting
into when she went from a recruiter of corporate executives to a
recruiter of child advocates.
She joined CASA of St. Joseph County two years ago and now recruits and trains volunteers to serve as
the voices of abused or neglected children in court.
“Some days I walk around slack-jawed at what is going on with children in this
county,” Smith said. “I led a very sheltered life.”
Smith discovered that the court is full of innocent children who are
victims of neglect and sexual, physical or emotional abuse.
At any given time, Smith said, more than 1,000 children are adjudicated by
the court in St. Joseph County to be in need of services. Those are the
children that CASA is funded to represent.
“In a best-case scenario,” she said, “about one-third of those children are represented
by a CASA (court-appointed special advocate). We can’t give every child a CASA.”
There are currently about 100 CASA volunteers in St.
Joseph County, “but we could use twice as many,” Smith said.
That’s why she and CASA executive director Brenda Matuszkiewicz are
desperately seeking volunteers for summer and fall training.
A CASA must be at least 21 years old, able to pass a criminal history
check and a drug screen, and take the eight-week training course.
Volunteers come from various backgrounds. “We have stay-at-home moms, attorneys
and professionals, people who have been foster parents and even
students,” Smith said.
Gaylen Wynn, 58, of Granger, began volunteering last year after taking early retirement from Martin’s
SuperMarket, where he was vice president of human resources.
He’s found that being a CASA is “a tremendous opportunity to be directly
engaged in meaningful way.”
Wynn was assigned to one case
involving six children, ages 3 to 14. In addition to preparing reports
and going to court on behalf of those children, Wynn devotes one-on-one
time with the youths. For example, he’s taken the 14-year-old to
community theater productions and Notre Dame lacrosse games.
Wynn said the CASA’s role is taken seriously.
“You meet with teachers or anyone involved in their life,” he said. “Those people treat you as
part of the team. And the court gives a lot of careful consideration to your input.”
Smith said CASA volunteers are often the only ones whose sole interest in a case is the child.
“Our whole goal is to navigate through a murky, unclear path to get the child out of the
(child) welfare system.”
She said the work of a CASA volunteer is “something of an investigative position. They are legal, sworn officers
of the court who are investigating the circumstances of the child.”
Volunteers typically work an average of 10 to 15 hours a month, but more hours are
available to those who want them — like Wynn.
All cases involving the CASA volunteers are in St. Joseph County Probate Court,
where Peter J. Nemeth is judge.
Smith, 38, came to this job after working as a recruiter and head hunter in the corporate world.
Her CASA position was a “fortunate find,” Smith said, calling it “fulfilling.”
At the same time, Matuszkiewicz said “it is disheartening to us to know we don’t have enough volunteers. We are
stretched so thin that we don’t even have enough volunteers for cases
that we are mandated to be serving.
“If we were to advocate for every child that we are mandated, we would need 500 volunteers and a $1
million budget — and that isn’t going to happen.
“But we can’t focus on that. We need to recruit and train and do what we can.”

To learn more about the program or to obtain a volunteer application,
contact Robin Smith at (574) 233-2272, rsmith@jjconline.org or go to www.sjccasa.org.

A reorganization of the Indiana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline is
drawing heat from some child advocates who say calls for help are being
overlooked.The Department of Child Services recently consolidated
much of its call center operations to Indianapolis, eliminating dozens
of jobs in an effort to save millions in tax dollars.Judy
Dennis, the chairwoman of the Howard County Child Protection Team, is concerned
that the new system is allowing reports to slip through the cracks.
In a letter to DCS Director Jim Payne, Dennis reported problems such as
inexperienced call takers, delays in investigators receiving reports,
and callers having difficulty getting through to the hot line in the
first place."Our ultimate fear is that a child will be in danger.
We could lose a child," Dennis said.In one situation, a person
waited on hold for 45 minutes to file a child abuse complaint, while a
report faxed to the hot line by police didn't reach the local Child
Protective Services office for three days, Dennis said."We had a
situation where we didn't get a report until 10 days later, and,
obviously, the bruises were gone. It was institutional abuse," she said.Dennis
said people used to be able to report child abuse directly to a local
office, but they are now required to call the hot line in Indianapolis."We've
got to get all the bugs worked out of it," she said. "We can't put
children at risk to save money. That is the bottom line."State
Rep. Ron Herrell, D-Kokomo, said someone needs to examine the process."Having
served on the committee to prevent child abuse, I'm worried," he said.
"I hope (DCS will) take a good look at it and review some of the reason
for the delay."DCS officials did not respond to interview
requests on Tuesday, but sent Kenney a statement at 5 p.m. saying that
they had not received Dennis' letter."We are taking each comment
in this document seriously so our discussion with the (Howard County
Child Protection Team) can be meaningful and achieve some resolution,"
said spokeswoman Ann Houseworth.The Indiana Child Abuse and
Neglect Hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days
a year at 1-800-800-5556. Abuse and neglect reports can be made anonymously.

* * * *
The entire letter (PDF) is available here:
http://www.theindychannel.com/download/2010/0630/24088406.pdf

Effective Monday, all reports of child abuse and neglect in the state
will be taken by the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline Network at (800)
800-5556.

Lake County is the last to transition to the system. Reports will not
be accepted at the local level in person or by telephone or fax.

Callers reporting child abuse and neglect will provide the
information to a case manager who has been trained to take such calls.
All reports will be evaluated to determine if they meet legal
sufficiency for assessment, officials said. Reports will then be routed
to the Lake Division of Children's Services office where they will be
assigned to a case manager.