- Will you consider this?

Many of you know that casa in Spanish means home.

However, all throughout the United States, casa means more and stands for much more.

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds.

Please stay here to get the story.

(cheerful music) We were always told that children were meant to be seen and not heard, but if they are suffering abuse, neglect, even abandonment, then what?

Volunteers at CASA of the Tenth Judicial Circuit can come to their aid and speak to their needs.

CASA associate director and recruiting coordinator, Mike Murphy, joins me now.

Welcome.

- Thank you very much for having me.

- Let's start at the top.

What does CASA stand for?

- Sure.

So CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, and what we do is we advocate for children who have been pulled into care for abuse or neglect, and we advocate for what's in their best interest.

- So a lot of people don't know, okay, advocate.

You work with the kids, you work with the foster families, you work with the parents, you work with the judicial system, teachers, therapists, the whole gamut to try to get a good life for each of these kids.

- Right, right.

So our volunteers meet with the children once a month.

We ask for about a five hour month commitment.

An hour is spent visiting with the child, and while they're there, they're going to just see, you know, how is the child doing in this home that they're in right now.

You know, do they have a clean home?

Do they have their own bed?

You know, do they have clean clothes?

Do they look like they're being fed?

And things like that.

And then they're getting to know these children because they're gonna ask them questions and they're gonna really get a feel for, you know, are they happy where they're at?

Do they have any needs that need to be met?

And then the other four hours a month, they work collaboratively with the bio parents, the foster parents, the attorneys, the teachers, doctors, anyone who's involved in this child's life so that they can really get a good picture of what is in the best interest for the child.

Because when child is first pulled into care, usually that goal is to return home after a series of things are being completed by the parents.

And so what we're looking for is just making sure that that child has everything they need while they're in this process.

- And let's back up to when you meet with the child, I mean, you can't just have a conversation, you know, so how are you doing, how you feeling?

You kind of watch 'em and maybe play, because when they're playing, they'll talk to you because they're distracted, they have no idea they're being interviewed?

- Sure, exactly.

And that's just it.

So it takes time to build up that relationship with these children, and especially depending on the age.

You know, if you were to get a newborn baby, well, that's gonna be very limited interaction you're gonna have there with that child.

But if you go up and age, and as they get older, sometimes the more guarded they are and don't wanna share, because you gotta imagine these children have been pulled from the homes that they know, okay, given to families sometimes that they do not know, and now they're all of a sudden maybe having to move schools because maybe this new house isn't in the same school district as their previous one.

And sometimes these children are moved from home to home depending on the foster parent situation.

And so they're constantly meeting new people and they just don't have a relationship and that trust with anybody yet at that point.

And so our CASA volunteers usually spend at least two years with the child, and it takes time.

But over those two years they become, you know, usually very close with the children.

- How many kids are helped each year in our circuit, and that's Peoria, Tazewell, Stark, Marshall, and... - [Both] Putnam.

- Mm-hmm.

Right.

So right now we have over 2000 pending abuse and neglect cases in our area.

And we serve right now a little over, right around 7 to 800 of those children.

So we're not even able to quite serve half of the children just simply because we don't have enough volunteers.

Our volunteers are assigned to one case at a time, and in certain circumstances, they can be given to cases if they've been, you know, really seasoned, and maybe one case is about to wrap up, so then they go ahead and start another case, you know, in that process.

But because of that one-on-one attention, we're able to give each case, it limits the number of children we can serve.

- Right.

- Right.

- And the volunteers themselves, now you go out, you're the volunteer coordinator recruiter.

What exactly does that mean?

Who are you looking for and how are you reaching out to people?

- Right, so we do a variety of different things.

So we go to informational fairs, we set up booths at festivals, you'll see us host online Zoom informational meetings, and we send that out through our social media, we do in-person meetings, oftentimes at the libraries, we usually go back and forth between the downtown branch and the north branch just to kind of give the city fair opportunities, we go to coffee shops in these towns and communities across all five counties and just schedule informational meetings.

And that's really how we recruit, is by word of mouth.

That's really the biggest way.

And we don't have a specific type that we're looking for.

I can't say that you have to be retired or, you know, not working a job.

We have people who work full-time jobs.

Because this schedule is so flexible to volunteer, that it's based off your availability, right?

So if you wanna do it in the evenings, you would just schedule that with the family that you're gonna come over in the evenings or maybe on a Saturday or a Sunday.

It's just really fits your schedule.

So there's really no one type of person.

We just are looking for people who wanna help serve the children in the community.

- Well, when a volunteer goes, they usually go to the court hearings, the children, do they generally not go?

Just the volunteers go with the attorneys and other people?

- Yeah, yeah.

The parents are usually there, the attorneys are there, the child's attorney, which is the guardian ad litem, they're there as well, and then the CASA volunteers, and then the case worker.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

- And DCFS is the one that places the children in the foster homes.

CASA does not do that.

- Correct.

Yep.

CASA is not brought in until after the child has already been pulled from the home and placed in a foster home situation.

And then the judge is the one who assigns them a CASA.

He or she would like a CASA volunteer on this case.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- It's just fascinating to try to bring these kids some peace and some stability in their lives, and that is the role of... You're called CASAs, right?

You're all CASAs.

- Yep, yep, exactly.

You know, that's just it.

You know, these children are experiencing major trauma, trauma that a lot of people don't have to experience, and they're experiencing at a very young age.

And so by having a CASA volunteer they know, we hope they learn quickly that they have somebody who's there for them.

You know, we're their voice in court and we just make sure that, you know, we're advocating for what's in their best interest.

And oftentimes they'll tell you what they want, you know- - Such as?

Gimme an example.

- Well, they might say things like, you know, "I really would like to return home.

I really wanna live with my mom."

You know, and so we look at the service plan that was laid out by the judge, and we see, you know, we reach out to the mom and we say, you know, "Hey, we see that you've done one, two, and three, but number four seems to not be done yet.

So let's see what can we do."

Maybe it's helping them get enrolled in a counseling session, you know, 'cause there's a long wait for a lot of these services.

You know, people oftentimes will wonder, "Well, why does a case take so long?"

Well, there's a lot of variables that- - [Christine] Have to be met.

- Have to be met before the child is returned home.

And sometimes it's not as easy as just picking up the phone and making an appointment for the next day.

I mean, sometimes they're months out before you can even get in for these appointments, but maybe they need some help getting those appointments set up.

So we'll help them do that, you know, because the child is telling us, "We really wanna go home," and mom's doing all the things that she can to get the child back, just maybe haven't struggling putting it all together, because it is a little overwhelming going through this process for people.

- Right, and the parents, the guardians, they do get to visit with the kids regularly?

- Mm-hmm.

Generally speaking, yes.

They have weekly visits with the child, and those are supervised, you know, and observed.

And a CASA volunteer is welcome to go and observe those visits too, just so that they can really get a good picture of how are these interactions going with the parents.

You know, are the parents learning what they're getting at counseling and bringing it back and doing it while they're there with their child?

You know, it gives you a really good idea of how they're doing in the progression of their services.

- What about the training then for volunteers?

You said there's some Zoom trainings, there's some in-person in your meeting, but what are the hoops they need to jump through in order to be qualified and sworn in, I guess?

- Sure, so the first step is is to reach out to us and just ask when the next informational meeting is.

So we can kind of go over what it is to be a CASA volunteer.

Once they do that, they go to our website and they fill out the online application, and it is eight pages, so I always tell people, "Give yourself a little bit of time to fill it out," and if you already have three references information ready to go, it makes it go a little bit quicker.

And then at that point, I get that sent directly to me.

I review the application and then we call and set up a time to do a phone interview.

We just go through a few questions and it's really informal.

And then after that, we get you signed up for the next training class.

We do them every other month.

So we do six a year.

We have our next training class beginning here in just about a week or so.

So what we'll do is, they'll start the process, then you have to go through the background checks, and they're through the FBI and sex offender registry backgrounds.

And so that process takes a few weeks to go back and forth with paperwork.

So by the time you're done with your class, you should be close to having your clearance.

Then once you're done with training, and the training is every Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 7 on Zoom.

The first training we ask for in-person.

It's kind of our orientation just so everybody kind of gets to know each other.

But we find that it works really well with people's schedule now to just have them on Zoom so they don't have to come to a specific location.

And then once they're done, then they get sworn in by an officer of the court as a mandated reporter and by a judge.

That's what grants them the access to call doctors and to get the entire information from that case file.

- All right.

- Yep.

And then once that's completed, then we just wait for a child to be assigned to that volunteer.

- Really quickly, what happens when there are children of the same family?

They're siblings, but they're separated in the foster care system.

Does the same CASA volunteer work with both of those children or- - Yeah.

Generally, yeah.

So if there's gonna be siblings, you know, maybe in different homes, we'll just ask the volunteer, you know, "Do you mind working this case, you know, for the whole family?"

So it's just one CASA volunteer for that family, yep.

- Okay.

Well, you're so enthusiastic about it.

How did you get involved with CASA?

- Sure, so back in 2014, we decided that we were going to foster a child, and it was be our first child that we've had, and we ended up over the years fostering four children, and two of them had CASA volunteers and two of them did not.

And prior to fostering, I did not know, I had heard of CASA, but I did not know what kind of impact it really had on our community.

Well, I can tell you that after having a CASA for two of our children, it made a night and day difference about just the amount of time they spent in care.

It was dramatically shorter.

They were there to advocate when things were not going right.

And it's hard as a foster parent to be on that side of things and feel like you have very much of a voice 'cause you really don't have very much say and you weren't given very much information in that.

So just knowing that I had somebody there to advocate for my kids when I couldn't be there to do it was just an amazing experience.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Well, so the CASA volunteer would then come into your home when you were fostering and meet with you and watch the interaction, and then make decisions.

What would they say to you?

How did they handle your particular cases?

- Yeah, so, you know, they would come in, they would visit with the child usually for about, I'd say, the first half hour, 45 minutes.

And then they would take time to talk to us and just kind of ask us how are we doing, you know, how's the child doing here?

You know, are there any services that you need?

Are there anything that we can help you with?

They were always doing things like inviting us to the Riverfront Museum when there would be family days for CASA there, or they do this really fun event in December called the Polar Express.

And so kids can wear their pajamas into the movie theater, watch- - The movie?

- Yeah, the movie, "The Polar Express."

There's pictures with Santa afterwards, hot chocolate cookies, and then they can pick out a toy.

I mean, our volunteers just go above and beyond to really make sure that our kids are not only just being advocated for, but are also being cared for.

- They're kids, they get to be kids.

- And they need to be able to have fun and feel love and security, and that's what a CASA volunteer assures these children, that they're there to help them make sure that they're getting those things.

- How many volunteers do you have now, and are they mostly in Peoria and Tazewell because they're the bigger counties?

- Sure, so we have, right now, I believe we have a little over 400 volunteers, and the majority of them are in Peoria County and Tazewell County because they're the two biggest counties of kids that we serve.

Right now we're serving around 330 in Peoria County, 310 in Tazewell County, and then between Marshall, Putnam, and Stark, is 50 children total in those three counties.

- Is that normal?

Is that generally how it goes or... - So we've been just seeing an increase in number of cases.

It's never going down, so to speak.

You know, when the pandemic happened, hotline calls to DCFS dramatically dropped and people were very excited because they just were, you know, oh, but the reality was was that people who normally would see these children are not able to see them 'cause everyone was staying in place and home.

- Quarantined, right?

- Yeah.

And so once things started, restrictions lifted, the hotlines just went through the roof.

And so we've been very busy trying to recruit more volunteers and just make sure that we're trying to get as many children, you know, assigned to volunteer as possible.

- Now, the main focus, we've talked about it, but safety, security, and success, how about some of the kids who've been through the program, who had a CASA volunteer, and how are they doing?

Did the volunteers keep up with those kids or is it a relationship, and do those kids come back and volunteer?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So once a child has achieved permanency, either being returned home to the bio parents or gone through adoption with the foster family, technically our job with that child has ended, but many of our volunteers stay in close contact with these kids even after that process happens, as long as the child's willing to have that relationship with the CASA volunteer.

We have had CASA kids go on, graduate, stay in the community, who have gone to college, and now they're becoming CASA volunteers because they're want to give back and they know the importance of having it.

2005 is whenever we opened up CASA, Peoria County, and then in 2018 is when we became the Tenth Judicial Circuit.

So, you know, those kids who have, you know, have already started graduating college because it's that time, you know, even if they were 16, 17 years old, whenever they were pulled into care, so yeah.

- So it was just Peoria County for the longest time?

- [Mike] Right, right, yep.

- All right, and then Pamela Perrilles is the executive director, and she worked with the chief judge to make sure that everybody was included in this circuit.

- Right, and that's how that worked, yeah.

She started it in 05 and brought it into Peoria and expanded it in 18, like I said, for the Tenth Judicial Circuit.

And yeah, that's her role, is to just make sure we have those relationships with those judges because, you know, we are legally allowed to be in those courtrooms to advocate for these kids, and she makes sure that that happens.

- So as I was reading, the program, CASA itself has been around in the country since 1976.

Now, we did sort of have it in some form, I think in the '80s here as well.

Can you gimme a little bit of background on that history here?

- That is before my time of working with this current- (laughs) - You weren't even born yet.

- You know what, I don't have a lot of information on that.

I know that it just takes a lot of hard work, it takes a lot of fundraising, it takes a lot of grant writing to secure a program like this because we're not part of DCFS.

You know, we're a separate non-profit organization.

And so the way that she has expanded this program is just truly a testament to her dedication to serving these children in these communities because it's a lot of work.

And so whatever program they'd had in the past, this program that she has now has really planted its roots in the community and is set up for success for the foreseeable future.

- Well, you were saying, so fundraising, this is... What is the budget every year, and where does the money come from?

Then where does it go?

- Right, so we are about a staff of 10 people.

We have about, we have, let's see, Pam is the executive director, myself is the associate director, and we have a trainer, Cathy, we have our administrative assistant, Amy, and then we have six advocate supervisors right now.

So, and those are the ones who are in charge of the volunteers.

So they're the ones who will work with the volunteers on making sure that these reports are written of the observations that they make at these visits.

They go to court with them every six months for the permanency review hearings and things like that.

But the budget of all of this really stems from grants that we're able to apply for.

And then we all fall under the umbrella of Illinois CASA.

So Illinois CASA is kind of like our- - Parent company.

- Parent company of us, which helps us in that regards as well.

But fundraising is really a big part of how we do it.

And we do, I think, some pretty fun fundraisers actually.

- Well, CASAblanca, the Dancing with the Stars.

- [Mike] Yes, yep, yep.

- And you're one of them.

- This year, I am one of them, yeah.

I get to partner with Heather Oyler, she's the Local Star this year, and I'm kind of the fill in male partner for her, so.

(laughs) But yeah, it's our biggest event of the year.

It's always the first Saturday of November, and we are going to have 11 teams this year, which is the biggest that we've ever had for CASAblanca.

The event sold out in a matter of three days.

It was just crazy how fast it went, but it's gonna be a lot of fun.

- Well, people know it's a lot of fun.

And then grants, where do you apply for grants?

- We get a lot of, like ICJIA grants, federal grants, and things like that, some state grants as well, but also some local grants we apply for as well, like the community impact grants and things is where we... - Now, one thing different about volunteers, so it's different, boys and girls clubs, wonderful, but you don't establish relationships with the kids, like, you know, big brother, big sis, not boys and girls, big brothers, big sisters.

So CASA volunteers are not expected to take the kids for snacks or to the playhouse or anything like that?

- No, no, and you know what?

We don't even transport our children in our program.

When we go someplace, we really like to try to go to their house so that we can just see how the home life is.

But once that's been established that it's a very good, safe, and secure home, maybe we'll ask the parents, "Hey, would you want to meet at a park?"

And then they will transport the child to the park, and we'll meet up there together.

And the guardians can never leave the child alone with the CASA.

So they can be in the same room by themselves, you know, but they can't be, like, left- - [Christine] They can't go off and run- - They can't go run an errand or anything like that, you know.

So the liability and safety of the child and for us as well, we always just make sure that they're around as well.

- What has been the most enjoyable part of all of this for you?

- For me, I think the most enjoyable thing about working for CASA and have been a part of CASA is when a child reaches permanency.

That moment when the child is either returned home or has been adopted and you know that that child is where they're supposed to be and in a safe and loving home, that's the best part of this job.

Seeing these kids succeed and know that they're loved and in a safe and secure place, that's just, that's the best part about being a CASA.

- That's rewarding.

- [Mike] Yes, absolutely.

- And then kids who are in the system, I guess their stay in the system is shortened dramatically because of CASA.

- Right.

So you know, when a child is assigned a case worker from DCFS, that case worker oversees countless other cases and children that they have to go to.

And oftentimes it's not just in Peoria alone or whatever town they're from because if the placement that they have to be moved to is in say, LaSalle, Peru, Chicago, St. Louis, that's where the child goes, but it's handled out of Peoria.

So even our volunteers will go to Chicago, LaSalle, Peru, St. Louis, if that's where the child is moved to, if they're willing to do that.

And so because they just are over so many cases, sometimes it's hard to capture all of the information and observe all the things that you need to to really effectively care for these children.

I mean, they do an amazing job and they do a great job of all that, but sometimes having that CASA just say, you know, "Hey, let me help you with this.

Is there something I could observe maybe for you?"

And then just having that relationship with each other just makes that process go smoother and therefore quicker into the court systems because there's not so much, well, if the judge doesn't really have a good picture of what to do, then it just gets prolonged until they have a better picture.

This just helps put that picture together more complete.

- Do the judges get confused sometime?

Is there just not enough going on that they, not enough information available to them?

- Oftentimes they have enough.

Those reports are usually due before court is assigned.

The problem is sometimes is that there's a lot of turnover and it's a staffing shortage for case workers as well.

So sometimes those reports just get delayed, sometimes they're just not complete, and not at any fault of any one person, it's just because it's just- - The system.

- It's the system, right?

And so that's why having that CASA volunteer able to really make sure that all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed just helps the judge have a better picture.

- Yeah, well, let's make sure that people know where the website is so that they can find out more information.

- Sure, it's at casaofthetenth.org.

- So tenth spelled out or 10?

- Spelled out.

- Okay, and then what's the phone number?

- 309... - Oh, I wrote down- - Hang on one second.

- 669.

- Yeah, 669- - 2939.

- 2939.

- You are probably on speed dial.

- You're right, I have it as this number one in my phone, so.

(laughs) - What do you look forward to most ahead now?

Because you've been involved and you've seen success, you've experienced success in permanent placement, what do you look forward to in the future?

- What I look forward to in the future is just seeing these volunteer classes just keep continuing to rise.

So out of the pandemic is when I started there.

I've been with CASA for two years, and we were recruiting volunteers when we had to do everything virtual, including visiting with the children virtually.

It was very hard.

- I bet.

- And so now that we've gone out of that time, our classes are just getting bigger and bigger and bigger every other month.

And so that's what I just look forward to seeing that continue to grow.

- And then you have relationship with a lot of these volunteers as well just to keep them encouraged and going and- - Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, we do things throughout the year, CASA Choices where kids can see, like, what can they become.

And so we ask local people to kind of be on this web program that we have, and volunteers are more than welcome to join in on that as well.

They have CASA Times, which is just like a newsletter that kind of goes out and gives them information.

We also attend the National CASA conference, and oftentimes we'll, budget allows, take our volunteers who were interested in going with us.

We just went to Seattle earlier this year for that- - [Christine] Which is where it was founded.

- Yeah, which is where it was founded at.

Yeah, exactly.

So it was really special having it there.

This next year we'll have it in St. Louis, so it's gonna be a little closer to home, but yeah.

- [Christine] A little more affordable.

- [Mike] A little bit more affordable too.

We don't have to fly everybody all the way across the country for this one.

(both laugh) - Did you ever imagine that you would be involved in an organization like this?

- I did not, that was not in my original plans, but like I said, once I learned what CASA was, I reached out to them about working for them.

And when this position opened up, as at the time I was the recruitment coordinator, I gladly said yes because it's not hard for me to share the mission of CASA, considering I've gone through the mission, lived it, and supported 100%.

- And you see how it works.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So what are some encouraging words that you can give us right now to make sure that you get some more volunteers?

- Right, you know, I think the main thing is is that I really like to tell our volunteers, all it takes is just somebody for these children to warm up to and trust, and once you have that, you're helping change the life of these children in your community, and these are the kids who are gonna be working in our communities, living in our communities as they get older.

And I said, just knowing that you're helping change those stories, you know, helping change a child's story really is the big thing, I encourage you to do if you can.

And thanks for sharing your passion and your enthusiasm.

- Absolutely.

Thank you for having me.

- [Christine] You're a CASA.

- (laughs) Absolutely.

- Right.

And thank you all for learning the story about the CASA different than you may have thought it was in home, but home in your heart.

So thanks for joining us.

You stay safe and healthy and hold happiness.

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