Towson resident Ed Kilcullen wants to clear up one thing right away.

He is director of Maryland CASA Association, not CASA de Maryland, which provides assistance to Latino residents and Central American immigrants.

Kilcullen's CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, and his office, at 402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Towson, deals with children -- children in need of assistance because they are living somewhere other than their own homes because of abuse or neglect.

His charge is to provide support to the independent nonprofits all across Maryland that dispatch volunteer court-appointed special advocates to watch over these children -- and champion their needs.

CASA of Baltimore County Inc. is on that roster, but not every jurisdiction has a CASA group.

"CASA is a well-kept secret," Kilcullen said. "The public needs to know who we are."

He illustrates how CASA volunteers make a difference by telling a story about one of them. Without disclosing a name or exact location, he tells how a volunteer had been working with a young boy for four years.

During this time, the boy had gone through three social workers, three attorneys and several counselors after his father died and his mother's parental rights were terminated when she failed to get off drugs.

The boy was bounced from one potential adoptive home to another due to emotional and behavioral difficulties, and his performance at school fluctuated as his life changed.

After he ended up in a group home, it was the CASA volunteer who encouraged his interaction with a family that ultimately decided to adopt him. Meanwhile, the volunteer also nurtured the boy's relationship with a relative from his birth family who, in time, came to know his new family as well.

The boy is now 14, Kilcullen said. He is a successful high school student, and living with his new family. The adoption is becoming final this summer.

Navigating a service maze

For the Baltimore County child caught up in the court system and the social services maze, social workers can come and go. So can the dozens of other strangers who enter his or her life: police officers, foster parents, teachers, therapists, judges and lawyers.

But if the child is fortunate, one adult will be there as long as it's needed, for months or even years.

That's a CASA volunteer.

The children in need have usually been through a lot already, said to Susan Daddio, executive director of CASA of Baltimore County Inc.

"We only remove children from their homes when it's absolutely not safe, when they are in danger of imminent harm," she said.

Once a CASA volunteer is assigned a case, the volunteer makes sure the child doesn't get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system, or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home.

While a single social worker typically has to keep track of 30 cases or more at any given time, the CASA volunteer is assigned one case at a time and stays with that case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home.

"Many children have never had a caring adult in their life for an extended period of time," said Patti Ross, a CASA supervisor who has been with the program since 2002.

"Committed CASA volunteers can make a tremendous difference," Ross said. "Each child needs someone who will listen, not give up on them, and be their voice in court to get the services they need."

Volunteers devote an average of 10 hours a month to the child. They visit the child at least once a month, take him or her on outings and talk to family, therapists and doctors to make sure the child is getting everything he needs.

Lucky is the child who has a CASA volunteer, because many do not. There are currently more than 600 Baltimore County kids living in out-of-home care.

"Almost all of them could benefit," Daddio said, "but there are only 105 CASA volunteers."

That's the challenge for Kilcullen.

He knows first-hand the value of CASA's volunteers, but said, "What's discouraging is that we are now only serving about 10 percent of the children in foster care."

"We have doubled the number we are serving in 10 years," he added, "but there are a whole lot of children we're not serving."

As it is with other jurisdictions in the state that have a CASA organization, Baltimore County's CASA needs more volunteers -- especially more men.

Eighty percent of current volunteers are women, Kilcullen said. They are the backbone of the organization, he said, but 50 percent of the children CASA serves are between the ages of 12 and 18, and they need a male role model.

Rewarding service

When nobody else is there for a child, "the CASA volunteer is the one person who looks out for his best interest," said Anneslie resident Barbara McCarthy, who has been a volunteer for six years.

Volunteers are a diverse group in terms of age, background and personal experience. McCarthy has been a school crossing guard for Stoneleigh Elementary and Dumbarton Middle on and off for 25 years.

"Having been a mother and a grandmother, I just felt a need for someone to step in and be that type of figure for a child," she said.

Before Parkville resident Ransom Carter retired from the U.S. Postal Service, he worked at the Towson branch for 12 years.

In an era in which gangs are becoming too prevalent, he wanted to help kids become good citizens, he said.

Helga Morrow, who lives in the Lake Roland area, is a retired international public health worker with a master's degree in nursing who worked with the poor in developing countries, for the most part in Africa. She felt it was time to get back to doing something in the United States.

They all recall small victories that have come as CASA volunteers.

McCarthy remembers one Christmas Day when the mother in her case expressed a desire to see her two young boys -- who were in different foster homes. She made it happen, and made that family's Christmas.

"Off I went," McCarthy said. "I realized how important it was to the children."

For her part, Morrow recalls the adoption of a little girl from a disruptive family by "a marvelous single woman who is going to give her the best chances in life."

And Carter has a tale as well. Through his own efforts to perform family research -- and by correcting a misspelled name -- he was able to locate an adult sister of his CASA child.

The woman had been hoping to find her brother for more than 10 years, and Carter was there when they met in person at a McDonald's.

"It was wonderful," he said. "I just stepped aside. It was very rewarding experience for me."

Volunteers with CASA must complete a training program -- the next session begins Sept. 10 -- that includes an introduction to both CASA and the law; cultural awareness; child protection services; understanding children; communicating as a volunteer; gathering information, monitoring and observing a half-day court docket.

In addition to the training, the volunteers are supervised.

"We need a full-time staff member, usually with a master's degree in social work or significant experience in child welfare, for every 30 CASA volunteers," Kilcullen said.

That, too, can present a challenge. CASA, as a nonprofit, is largely dependent on grants and donations. The limited funding available for staff also limits the number of volunteers CASA can field -- even though the volunteers are more than willing to contribute their services for free.

The upside is that supervision can be critical, Kilcullen said. The most common problem for volunteers is the danger of becoming too emotionally attached; they want to do so much for the family.

"They are there as advocates, not to provide services for the family," he said.

"We are there only until we can successfully close the case. We don't want it to fall apart when the volunteer is no longer available," said Kilcullen. "We want to promote families becoming self-sufficient and independent."

Crucial link in a child's care

CASA volunteers have earned the respect of those who are involved in protecting a child's future.

The county Department of Social Services sees them "as a very important and valuable asset," said Deborah Lank, a DSS foster care supervisor. "They bring a unique perspective to working with our children."

It has been personally rewarding for her to see, in cases when the family is unable to be supportive to the child, that the CASA volunteer has become an important mentor and made a real difference in the child's life, she said. Children confide in their volunteers.

Judge Kathleen Cox, who's in charge of the juvenile docket for Baltimore County Circuit Court, described CASA as a great program. Because CASA volunteers see kids in less structured situations, sometimes as often as once a week, they provide a perspective that is different from the lawyers in a case, Cox said.

"It's very helpful in making a decision," she said.

Morrow sums it up. "You're not going to save the world or even save a community. But you may be able to save one family, one child."

For information about becoming a CASA volunteer, call Baltimore County CASA at 410-828-0515. The next round of volunteer training begins Sept. 10.

Running for CASA

Maryland CASA is putting together a team of runners to compete in the Baltimore Marathon, half-marathon, 5k and team relay on Saturday, Oct. 10. Runners and walkers will raise public awareness about the many children who need CASA volunteers and will raise money through pledges to support CASA's efforts to recruit more volunteers. For information about Team CASA, visit www.marylandcasa.org/BaltimoreMarathon or call 410-828-6761.

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user comments (1)

user davidmarks1 says...

Kudos to Ed Kilcullen and CASA for their work!

Posted 9:32 PM, 08.27.09

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