CASA Training

I am in the middle of a 30 hour training for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). We meet for 5 weeks, training 6 hours per week and I have 2.5 weeks to go. My wonderful husband has been supportive of me despite the fact that I can’t always make dinner and seem to have less and less time. I love you Michael.

In our training, we are prepared to work with children who have been physically, emotional, or sexually abused, or who have grown up around a chemically dependent parent, or a parent with mental illness, or a parent who wants nothing to do with the child. Because CASAs are volunteers, we are trained quickly on things like addiction, community resources for the mentally ill, and how children end up in custody of the state.  

One of the key components in our training is discovering for ourselves which case(s) we cannot work with. Meaning which case would bother us so much personally and emotionally that it would push our buttons and we wouldn’t be able to handle it well. This is, of course, designed to weed out anything that we cannot handle and help us to know that before we get into a case that overwhelms us and we have to step down from it or from CASA all together.

After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that the type of case that I cannot work with is one with a parent who feels that he or she is religiously entitled to abuse or neglect his or her child(ren). An example would the 450 children who were taken from the Texas Ranch Cult a year ago or a child whose father feels he is called by God to instill discipline in his children by the use of force to the point of broken bones. I can’t represent kids like that, it pushes to many buttons in me. I feel, at this time, that I can represent a child in any other type of case, including physical abuse, just not abuse resulting from religious entitlement.

Throughout this process, one question has kept popping up from other people: How can I involve myself with cases involving abused and neglected children and report my observations to a judge? My answer is, how can I not? The court system isn’t perfect and families need a lot of help and some may never get better, but a non-perfect system isn’t a good enough reason for me to not help someone that I might be able to. Not every situation turns out perfect, but a CASA is someone who walks along side a child and who stays consistent until the outcome of a case. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a person like this in a child’s life, I just hope that I am good at it. 

san antonio texas

Michael led his first training seminar in San Antonio this past weekend. He did a great job! In case you don't know, Michael runs his own software company which features Contract Collector, a loan servicing software program. I'm really proud of him. I went to help him at the conference and then he and I spent Saturday and Sunday playing in San Antonio. It rained on Saturday but was beautiful on Sunday while we were there. 

Remember the Alamo! Even on rainy days. It was the first time it rained in San Antonio in a year (so say the locals) and it was really needed because they are on water ration but we really were looking forward to the sun. Here we are in front of the Alamo which was a really awesome place to visit despite the tragic event. I love old history places like that. 

I loved the Riverwalk! It is a river that flows thru the city center and has restaurants all along it. There are also tons of lush green trees. It is a great place to visit and to eat. Michael and I also found a place to sit and just rest under the shade in the sun (when it was sunny on Sunday). I really liked the Riverwalk, it was relaxing. 

Michael and I on the Riverwalk, just walking around. I bought this hat at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

On Thursday and Friday night we were taken out by some of our customers and both times they kindly took us to Italian Restaurants. If you know me, you know I don't like Italian food, so it was kind of funny. Michael and I made it our mission to find a good Mexican Restaurant on Sunday (which you'd think would be easy since we're 150 miles from the border) and we finally settled on the Original Mexican Restaurant on the Riverwalk. Good food and even better virgin strawberry daiquiris. 

Our last pic on our last day. Finally, some sun! 

my latest book

My friend Kathi gave me this book and told me to read it. I wasn't sure if I was intereted but she didn't make it sound like an option. We had just finished a tour of Medical Teams International's Real.Life.Exhibit in Tigard and she had heard of some of my experiences on teams throughout the world.

It's 331 pages of reading material and I decided to conquer it in a weekend. So far, I've already read 234 pages in two days but I read thru books pretty fast.

It's extremely insightful, much more insightful than any other book on Africa that I have come into contact with. It has very little heart wrenching stories about Africans but instead, it is full of recent historical facts that our globalized world has adopted and how those laws, agreements, NGO's, and taxation has effected African AID and Trade.

I'm sure you don't want to hear my thoughts on the topic and I'll spare you from most of them but I'd like to say that this book has really made me realize more than ever that I am not much different from an average African. We both work hard. We both want the best for our families. We both are bound by domestic and international laws beyond our control that effect us everyday (typically negatively for the African and positive for me). The difference is that I grew up in a country that has money and the average African does not. Although money isn't the most important thing in our lives and money should not be our focus in life, this book gives prime expamples about how much doesn't just talk, it screams and how much difference it can make in ones life.

I like this book. I like that it is about all people (particulary Africans) being created equal to everyone else and how the world financial system tells Africans everyday that they are not equal. Money is so important, not just making money or managing it, but money is an incredible insight to seeing what we truly believe.

Mom's 60th Surprise Birthday Party

Last night (Saturday) Michael and I took my mom to Red Robin for dinner for her birthday and then we went to the Easter service at NH. We enjoy being with her. After the service we went back to her house where we had her friends waiting for her for a surprise birthday party. It was a blast!

My mom walking into her house realizing the surprise. 

Kris and Mike Clarke made her table look beautiful! We had fresh fruit and her favorite german chocolate cake and of course an Easter bunny with fresh flowers. 

My mom opening some of her gifts. 

My mom and I!

Our family: Michael, Stacey, mom, Kyle and Jenny. 

Yeah for mom! Happy Birthday!

CASA

I have CASA training on Thursday night. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate which is a fancy name for a volunteer who is appointed a case of a foster child or children in which the volunteer interviews all parties involved and makes a recommendation to the judge of behalf of the best interest of the child. The training is 30 hours and then there is a swear in with a judge (for me in Clark County) and a case is assigned. The first case that I get will be more of a shadowing of an experienced CASA volunteer and then I will be on my own. I will start by observing juvenile hall in Clark County in a couple of weeks.

 

Clark County Juvenile Hall.

I’m really looking forward to this. I’ve been thinking a lot about foster children in the county that I live in. Due to the way my life schedule is, I can’t really be a foster parent at this time, so I have been talking with others about different options. A few weeks ago I was at a party with a few detectives, lawyers and a Multnomah County judge. The Multnomah County juvenile judge and I spoke for about 30 minutes on foster care and her thoughts on the matter. I let her know I wanted to be a foster parent but couldn’t do it right now. She mentioned CASA and I knew immediately that was something I wanted to do. I looked up CASA on the web and inquired about the local chapter. It’s at the YWCA downtown Vancouver which is funny because I have looked thru the YWCA web page many times looking for a place to serve in Vancouver and had never found anything that I really wanted to do. Anyway, I’m really interested to see if this works out with my schedule and if it is something I can do.  

a pictorial blog

I really enjoy seeing the pictures that my friends post on their blogs, so I’m trying to do that more often. This week, I’ve tried to think of what I could post about with pictures, but not much has come to mind. There’s always a photo to take when you have kids, but when you don’t, it’s a little bit more tricky. Anyway, so I thought I would use a photo that Kami took of me at my office to start with and blog a little bit about what I do during the day. 

I work downtown Portland as an executive assistant. I work Monday thru Friday from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm and am typically behind this desk that entire time. I take care of the office tasks and I try to assist the other four workers with their administration tasks. I also am in charge of the Foundation and it gives out about 4-7 grants per month. I take care of the application process, the accountability process, and the communication between the Board and the grant seekers. I also manage my boss’ schedule and do everything possible to make sure that he has everything that he needs before he needs it.

This is more of an everyday life blog, which isn’t terribly exciting, so I’ll try to take more interesting photos in the weeks to come.