FY17 CASA Program – Annual Report
Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program
Background Info (if needed)
The Iowa CASA Program began operations in 1986 based on a nation-wide model founded by Seattle WA Judge David Soukup in 1977. Judge Soukup initiated the Court Appointed Special Advocate concept due his concern over making drastic decisions about children’s lives with insufficient information. Across Iowa and the nation, volunteer Advocates are appointed to cases of abused and neglected children; many of whom have been removed from their parental homes. They are tasked with gathering and independently verifying information about their appointed children. Based on information gathered, the Advocate determines the child and family’s protective factors, risks and concerns. The Advocate then authors a report and makes recommendation to the court about the child’s needs, wants and best interest. Since a CASA Advocate is a valuable commodity, they are often assigned to the toughest cases that come before the court.
In 2014, the Iowa CASA Program began using the CASA Coach Model, where experienced Advocates are trained and promoted to the role of Coach. CASA Coaches are assigned up to five advocates and assist with case basics such as preparing a plan for the advocate’s work on the case, editing court reports, providing emotional support and attending court or meetings with an advocate if needed. In fiscal year 2017, 59 volunteers served as CASA Coaches. Coaches provided oversight on 179 cases for 162 CASA Advocates. CASA staff trained 12 new coaches in the fiscal year, while 11 left the Coaching program.
Program Basics
In fiscal year 2017, 1,268 children were served by 474 CASA Advocates and 59 CASA Coaches. Advocates served 495 new children in the fiscal year, while 549 children had their cases with CASA close. Advocates served 632 Iowa families.
Pre-Service Training Program
To become a Court Appointed Special Advocate, the National CASA Association mandates that each prospective advocate must complete a minimum of 30 hours of pre-service training. In Iowa, this training is conducted in six different modules; two independent study modules and four in-person trainings that take place in a classroom-type setting. The Iowa CASA Program uses curriculum developed by our training staff in 2015 and 2016 to meet the needs of our program and advocacy efforts. In fiscal year 2017, 171 individuals began training to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate. Many potential Advocates are screened from the process by themselves or by staff as they realize this volunteer opportunity is not for everyone. Of the 171 potential advocates in training, 50 individuals withdrew or were withdrawn from training, 117 new advocates were sworn and four individuals were still in the training process.
In-Service Training Program
The National CASA Association mandates that each advocate/coach receive a minimum of 12 hours on-going training each year. Training must be offered in the following subjects: Disproportionality/Disparate outcomes, Confidentiality as an Advocate, Cultural Diversity/Cultural Humility and Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect. In Iowa, in addition to these mandated training topics, we meet this need through locally developed training that is pertinent to both the skills and knowledge needed for effective advocacy. In FY17, advocates participated in many different training sessions focused on skills such as on writing effective reports to the court and gathering information that is important to the case. Additionally, Advocates are training to advocate for children’s educational needs, learning to advocate for children with a trauma-informed lens, re-visiting the concept of the minimum sufficient level of care for children in the court system and advocating on cases with parental substance abuse, mental illness and/or domestic violence are present. It is estimated that Iowa CASA Advocates and Coaches spent over 3,200 hours participating in in-service activities in FY2017.
In 2016, Fostering Futures training a curriculum focused on strengthening and improving outcomes for older youth, became mandatory for all advocates serving youth age 14 and over. In FY2017, 34 CASA Advocates participated in Fostering Futures training.
DIA Performance Standards:
The CASA Program kept track of the following performance standards which were reported to the Department of Inspections and Appeals in.
1. Time children are under court jurisdiction when served by a CASA Advocate: 24.86 months
2. Percent of children who achieve permanency within 12 monthsafterbeing assigned a CASA Advocate: 40%
3. Percentage of reports submitted to the court within specified timeframes and considered on-time: 99.5%
Expected Changes for FY2018
FY2018 will bring many changes for the CASA Program. Most of the changes will improve our program’s advocacy efforts, but one change will have a drastic impact on rural Iowa. In July 2017, CASA Programming was suspended in 54 of Iowa’s counties after budget cuts and increased expenses forced the agency to make difficult decisions about staff coverage areas. The counties suspended have lower populations, lower DHS caseloads, low out-of-home plate rates and a low number of CASA cases. The Child Advocacy Board is looking at ways to bring back programming without hiring additional staff.
Other expected changes for FY2018 include a first year advocate training program designed to strengthen Advocate skills and knowledge, centralized recruitment efforts to garner more volunteers and a new data system that is being designed specifically for the Child Advocacy Board programs. The new data system will allow CAB to track outcomes at all levels, from the individual child to the all children served in the state, improving the quality of advocacy and the likelihood of positive results while a CASA advocate is involved in the child’s life.
2017 09 18 Drafted
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