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by Stephen Lindsley When a child is temporarily removed from his or her home because a teacher, health worker or law enforcement official suspects neglect or abuse, the court mandates that within 72 hours there must be a hearing to determine the child’s status. The St. Louis City CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is the only child guardian office in the state. An attorney and a volunteer guardian ad litem is assigned to each child referred to the St. Louis City CASA. They serve as the concerned voice for children who have nobody else to speak for them. “We are not seeing marginal cases,” says City CASA executive director Mary Z. Taylor. “These are kids with evidence of repeated abuse, some with multiple broken bones. Others have been raped, exposed to drugs or subjected to extreme neglect.” In 2003 there were 12,200 children in foster care in Missouri, according to Missouri Division of Family Services estimates. While the average length of time that a child will spend in foster care in Missouri is 25 months, that number nearly doubles to 42 months in the city of St. Louis. In the five years that St. Louis City CASA has been in operation, it has been able to reduce that time to 18 months for the majority of the children it serves. For each child whose time in residential care is reduced from 42 to 18 months, taxpayers will save more than $50,000. “It is important for us and the courts to see the child as the child, and not just a stack of paperwork,” says Taylor.“We can’t blame them for their behavior. Some of them have learned terrible lessons.We think the outside perspective of our volunteers is crucial. Our organization is full of people with a passion for kids.” The St. Louis City CASA’s main objective is to help children move to safe, permanent homes in a timeframe that is meaningful to them. For a small child, six or eight months spent in foster care can seem like a lifetime. Children in the program range in age from newborn to 21 years old, and some of the older children have been in foster care for many years. “Helping these children is very rewarding and such important work,” says City CASA volunteer Dot Soldavini. “And the kids who are old enough to understand are truly thankful for what we do for them. In some cases, they have never known an adult they could trust.” There are 1,650 children currently waiting for a City CASA Guardian to represent them. Each case is unique, and typically City CASA volunteers are given the most difficult and complex cases. It is in these situations that it is most important that someone’s primary concern is the child’s well being. The ultimate goal of St. Louis City CASA is for these victimized children to have a permanent home – a place where they know they are loved and cared for – so that they can get back to the serious business of just being a kid. At the moment, there are far more children in the system than the City CASA can possibly serve, but in five years it has grown from one part-time staff person and 23 volunteers to a staff of 15 and more than 250 volunteers. Soldavini sums up her experience this way: “We really do believe we can change the world one child at a time.” For more information about the St. Louis City CASA, call 552-2352 or visit www.stlcitycasa.org. |
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