Vox Popular | February 2012

Photo by Don Perry

Q&A with Wendy Shea

In the hallway leading to her office at Court Appointed Special Advocates of Memphis and Shelby County, Wendy Shea, who became executive director last fall, has to walk beneath a sign that reads “A child’s voice in court.” Those words describe exactly what CASA’s staff and its volunteers mean to abused and neglected children in the foster care system and to those at risk of entering the system. Having been both a CASA volunteer and board member, Shea has shown deep commitment to children, even serving as co-chair of the Memphis and Shelby County Foster Care Review Board and most recently getting appointed by Governor Haslam to serve as a commissioner on the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, but she’s now ready to spread the word about CASA to the public. Per her conversation with RSVP editor Leah Fitzpatrick, Shea expressed, “Any community should be incredibly interested in what is happening to their children. I think a lot of people would be surprised at the number of abused and neglected children in our community, and they come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. What makes CASA unique is that we’re able to advocate for these kids one on one.”

What intrigued you about taking over as CASA’s executive director last September?

I’ve been a CASA volunteer for a number of years and on the board for about a year or so. Then, Keisha Walker, who had been the executive director for a number of years, took a position with the Office of Early Childhood and Youth, so the board approached me about the possibility of serving as executive director. I’ve been really involved in child advocacy for a long time, so it seemed to be a really good opportunity. I started out years ago at the Juvenile Court before I went to law school, so it’s been interesting after this many years to come full circle and be back working with kids.

When people hear the acronym CASA, what do they normally think?

They think “Hispanic house” simply because that’s what the word is, so when I say “CASA,” there’s usually a bit of a blank stare. Then, I tell them that it stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates and explain it. I think most people are not aware of what we do, so one of the things that is very important to me is to get the word out and let people know what we do and the need out there. CASA of Memphis and Shelby County was formed in 1986, so it has been active here for a while.

Where did the concept for CASA originate?

The concept started in Washington state [in Seattle], and a Juvenile Court judge there saw the need in certain cases to have someone who could really commit the time, investigate and make recommendations to the court in more complex cases. So, the first CASA was founded out there, and Judge Kenneth Turner, who was a longtime judge at our Juvenile Court here, decided that that would be something of benefit here. CASA was then located at the Juvenile Court until it relocated here [the Porter-Leath campus] about two years ago.

How many volunteers does CASA have?

We had about 115 active volunteers last year, but we are always looking for more volunteers, particularly volunteers interested in working with older youth. We have a program called Fostering Futures, which works with older youth, ages 14-18, who are at risk of aging out of the foster care system. It takes a unique type of volunteer because sometimes working with these kids can be over two or three years, and it takes a different commitment. A volunteer has to be 21 or older though, and there’s a real time commitment involved, but it’s not a set time.

What other responsibilities do CASA volunteers have?

Once they’re appointed by the court, the first thing they’ll do is a very thorough investigation, and depending on the type of case, they will talk to the parents, neighbors, teachers, physicians, foster parents or anyone who may know something about this child. They may do home visits or go to the school to talk to the teachers, so the amount of time they take depends on the complexity of the case. CASA volunteers are appointed by the court and act as “friends of the court,” so they’re able to access school and medical records. The investigations are very thorough, which I think is one of the key components of the CASA program and why it’s done so well. The Department of Children’s Services does an incredible job, but they have a lot of cases. Our volunteers spend that one-on-one time with clients and really do a thorough investigation. Once they’ve completed the investigation, they prepare a report of their findings and then make recommendations to the court. These recommendations primarily deal with permanency.

What type of training is involved for volunteers?

We have training here, and the core training is 32 hours over a five-day period in the evenings. The training is everything from understanding child development to understanding the history of laws involving children, and a lot of time is spent on the legal process that a child goes through from the initial referral to the Department of Children’s Services through the court system and beyond. They have training in how to conduct a site visit, what to look for…really the whole gamut. We also have a thorough background check, and in addition to the core training, we have an additional eight-hour training for volunteers who are going to participate in the Fostering Futures Program for the older youth. That training involves understanding the unique needs and challenges of older youth who are going to be aging out of the system…learning about what resources are available for them through both the state and federal government. Our primary role as advocates is advocating for them to receive the services that they need. We have two advocacy coordinators, and their role is to work with the volunteers and help them continuously. They help them with the investigation, answer questions, make suggestions, help them with the report and go to court with the volunteers. There’s never a situation where a volunteer would go to court alone.

How long has the Fostering Futures Program been around?

Not that long. Last year was the pilot for it. It’s exciting, and we’ve learned a great deal. We’re now beginning to consider changes to the program—improvements to it. Part of Fostering Futures has a component called “possible selves,” and it’s a tool that the volunteer uses with the young person, and it’s to help them identify their strengths and to identify support persons in their life that can be there to help them when they age out. It also helps them identify goals. What makes this unique I think is that the youth who go through this model begin to see their future selves, and then what ties it together is that there are a lot of services available for these young people, from educational support [GED and ACT] and health care to housing and life skills. Unfortunately, a lot of these kids may have been in the foster care system for a while and just want out. What “possible selves” does, and hopefully what our volunteers do, is connect the two so that you’re working with them to see what could be someone’s future self, and then you have all these services over here. By putting them together, a young person can see the value of them; they make sense. In other words, if a young person wants to get a GED or wants to learn to be a mechanic, here are all of these services being offered that someone helps you see and makes sure you get them. CASA’s role is one of advocacy; it’s not a mentoring type of relationship. It’s advocating on behalf of all children for safe, permanent homes, and for older kids, to also make sure they receive the services and resources that they’ll need.

What do national statistics for kids aging out of the foster care system indicate?

Adoption Advocacy reports that of all youth aging out of foster care, national statistics indicate: 56 percent are unemployed and face poverty within two years; they represent 70 percent of all homeless youth; they constitute 88 percent of incarcerated youth and young adults; 40 percent do not graduate from high school; and 60 percent of teenage girls will have a baby within two years. When you look at those numbers, you think that someone’s got to intervene here because if all we do as a society is just say, “Okay, we have taken care of you, now you’re 18,” you’ll find that so many are ill prepared to live as adults.

How many children locally did CASA assist last year?

Last year, we served 516 children, and of those children, approximately 80 were 14 and older. This year, to date, we’ve served 208 children. All of the children we work with are referred by the Juvenile Court, and that makes us truly unique. The number of children we serve is a function of how many the court refers to us. Usually what happens is the court will have a particularly complicated case, and they just feel that having a CASA volunteer involved will help the court make a more informed decision.

Are all of the children CASA serves in foster care?

No, some are at risk of entering foster care. We truly feel like advocating for children who are at risk is as important, if not more important, than children who are in foster care.

What are some of your most immediate goals for 2012?

We want to increase the number of volunteers and to increase the number of children served. We want to continue to build the Fostering Futures Program. To me, what is very important is that I don’t want this to be a numbers thing. Certainly, the number of kids we serve and the number of volunteers are critical, but what’s more important is the quality and value of the service we provide. I would rather serve 100 kids and do an incredible job for every single one of them. Other goals are to raise our public awareness and continue to strengthen our relationship with the Juvenile Court and the Department of Children’s Services because we all work collectively.

I know that the Memphis and Shelby County affiliate of CASA is in the top 2 percent of CASA programs nationally, so what did this particular office do to achieve that recognition?

National CASA has a series of standards, and we were in the top 2 percent of those standards, which is everything from operational things to the way you handle cases. Keisha Walker [the former CASA executive director] and her staff get all the credit for that. We were one of 16 sites chosen to pilot the Fostering Futures Program, and I think that certainly says a lot about the organization.

Is it difficult not to take your work home with you?

It is hard, although having started right out college working at the Juvenile Court, and certainly all the years at St. Jude [as vice president general counsel], I know that you have to be able to carry the work in your heart, but not home. Some people can’t do that, and often it’s walking on a thin line. I think when I see tragic circumstances, like when a child has been severely abused, it upsets me, but it absolutely makes me crazy that this could happen. That child deserves something better, and that’s CASA’s mission—to provide a safe, permanent home.