Elizabeth Bingham’s Internship Through the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center Summer Theme: Civic Engagement

CASA’s Purpose CASA recruits, trains, and supervises volunteers to advocate for children in the juvenile dependency court system. Mission Statement: “To advocate for every child’s birthright to a safe, nurturing, healthy, permanent family; and to help each child in developing his or her full potential.”

In San Luis Obispo County Approximately: -650 children receive county services due to their abuse or neglect children are under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court due to abuse and neglect abused or neglected children have their own CASA volunteer to advocate for their unique needs and to speak for them in court abused or neglected children need a CASA volunteer. (quote from

SLO CASA CASA of San Luis Obispo Represents all of San Luis Obispo County California law provides that every child in the juvenile dependency court is referred to CASA. While CASA receives all the cases, due to the number of volunteers some children are assigned and others are waitlisted.

What the regional CASA offices facilitates Training Volunteers Supervising Volunteers Sending a CASA staff member to juvenile court hearings to support volunteers and takes notes on cases where a volunteers has yet to be assigned Maintaining CASA case files on all the children in the juvenile court dependency system Fundraising

Events During my internship I worked on two fundraising events: Girls Night Out and CASA at Court St. These events provided me with a wonderful opportunity to understand how CASA fundraises.

CASA at Court Street provided a great opportunity to meet other CASA supporters and interact with the greater community.

Publicity, Grants, Fundraising I updated local websites and calendars with CASA events and information sessions, and training opportunities. Occasionally I would have the opportunity to work with the grant writer by reading over a new statistical analysis or commenting on a rough draft. I assisted in planning for CASA’s fancy desert auction at their annual fundraiser: Rendezvous at the Ranch.

Connection with the Court As CASA’s work involves explicitly children who are in the juvenile dependency court many aspect of their program revolved around the court. As an intern I worked with court documents and had the opportunity to observe juvenile court.

Case Summaries As an intern, I learned to write case summaries for CASA’s case files. CASA advocate supervisors used the case summaries when matching volunteers with specific cases. To write the case summaries I would read over the file and describe the child, their family, and the most pertinent reasons they were removed from their caretaker.

Court Documents and Maintaining Files On my first day interning at CASA, I learned how the advocate supervisors maintained their case files. CASA receives thousands of court documents every week. As an intern, I prepared and distributed many of the incoming court documents to the correct file or to the appropriate advocate supervisor at CASA. I was responsible for updating unassigned cases.

CASA Software I learned to use CASA’s software called “Maintain a Child” while working with the case files. The CASA software allowed the office to complete many tasks including having an electronic record of the children, the assigned social worker, advocate supervisors, and volunteers in the system. I would update hearing dates and other information in the CASA computer program.

The Court Run A few times a week I would pick up and drop off court documents. I gave documents to the court’s legal processing unit, the district attorney’s office, and the county counsel, and individual attorney’s file folders at the court house. To pick up documents, I would go to the court house filing where social services, and other attorneys would deliver CASA’s documents.

Observing Court As an intern at CASA, I observed many juvenile court cases by attending juvenile court on two separate occasions. The first time I attended juvenile court, my supervisor at CASA explained to me in advance what would occur during the court process and sat next to me during the court session. Before the court session began, I had the opportunity to talk to one of the CASA volunteers. After we left, my supervisor discussed the cases with me and answered my questions. Attending court allowed me to see many of the CASA volunteers, CASA court representative, attorneys and the juvenile court judge in action. When observing the juvenile court for a second time, I started to recognize some of the cases from the work I had been doing in the office. Observing court provided me with an understanding of how CASA completed its core objective of advocating for the best interests of the children it serves.

As an intern, I attended educational courses for the volunteers and employees: SELPA- Special Education Local Plan Area (the seminar described how to understand a child’s educational rights, particularly in representing children in special education) Black Culture – focusing on cultural differences and communication Juvenile Probation- outlining the probation office’s interaction with the dependency court

Case Discussion I participated in one evening case discussion for CASA volunteers. At the case discussion I was better able understand how the volunteers interacted with children in the dependency court system.

Informal Learning Many interesting stories and pieces of information I learned came from listening to the explanations of the people around me. Asking the people around me what they did and a few questions about it allowed me to start conversations where the person would describe their work to me and how it differed and complimented other parts of the CASA process.

Activities for Children: Activities for Achievement While my work focused on CASA’s work in the office, the court house, and special events rather than working with children directly, I assisted in editing a book of activities for children in San Luis Obispo County.

A local Resident’s Advantage In working on the book: Activities for Children, I contacted venues to verify their information and requested pictures that CASA could have permission to use in a publication. When I was unable to locate and receive pictures, I photographed some of the events myself. To do so, I was required to get a model release.

Summary and Questions My internship allowed me to explore legal issues while working for an organization making an indispensable contribution to the quality of life for abused children in my community. I am delighted to share with you how I experienced CASA’s ability to make a difference for children in the juvenile dependency court. Questions ?