Court Appointed Special Advocates
Sixty-nine children of all ages one to seventeen years are in the custody of Children, Youth & Families in the 8th Judicial District and assigned to the CASA Program at Youth Heartline. Forty-eight children are served by a trained CASA volunteer and the rest are living outside the Taos or Raton area and case managed by the coordinator. In the first two quarters, July through December, 31 volunteers clocked in a total of 641 hours of service in an effort to make each child’s voice heard in court by reporting their findings directly to Judge Sam Sanchez in Taos and Judge John Paternoster in Raton. Services include telephone and personal contact with foster parents, social workers, teachers and therapists, court and hearing appearances, and visitation observations.
Twice a year, fall and spring, more CASA volunteers are trained. Last November three new CASAs completed the rigorous 30-hour national CASA curriculum: Maria Anderson, Lydia Garcia and Michelle Padburg. We are so glad to have you on board! We are still busy recruiting for our spring training. Thanks to Joan Livingston at The Taos News, Nancy Stapp at KVOT, Paddy Mac at KTAO/LUNA and Cid’s for their blessing of a flyer board for helping get the word out.
Why is CASA work so important? When a New Mexico CASA volunteer advocates for a child in foster care, the bar is raised for
expectations for positive outcomes. According to New Mexico Child Advocacy Network, when a CASA stands up for a child, that child’s mother is almost 11% more likely to be in full compliance with her treatment plan; that child is 8.5% more likely to be receiving developmental therapies for educational and developmental needs; that child is more than 8% more likely to be maintaining contact with her parents and preserving family connections—so important for foster children; that case is 7% more likely to comply with the legal timelines for foster cases; that foster child is over 4% more likely to be appropriately placed with siblings; and that child’s treatment needs are 2.5% more likely to be met.
