What do these people have in common? A former school superintendent; the chief financial officer of a timber company; a retired book publisher; a sewer district commissioner; a former guardian ad litem; the former owner of an Internet business; a social worker; a practicing attorney. All actively participate in giving children’s needs a voice in court when their families are involved in contested custody disputes. They are community volunteers acting as court-appointed special advocates (CASA) and board members of Family Law CASA of King County, a non-profit organization.
Family Law CASAs handle cases under the auspices of RCW Chapter 26. The cases involve divorcing parents with children, paternity actions and third-party custody, as well as modifications of those cases. Private individuals initiate these cases to deal with difficult circumstances in their lives. Unlike cases involving Dependency CASA volunteers [please see story on Page 18], no one is attempting to terminate parental rights nor are the children facing foster care. The State [usually] is not a party to the lawsuit.
The court appoints a CASA in family law cases where the court needs neutral information concerning how to decide custody and parenting issues. The court may take the initiative to appoint a CASA or one of the parties may request that a CASA be appointed. Volunteer CASAs perform a similar function to a guardian ad litem for families without the financial means to hire a GAL. The volunteers receive the same training as GALs.
Family Law CASA volunteers work under the direction and supervision of program staff, which includes a social worker and an attorney. The program benefits low- and moderate-income families facing the ordeal of child custody contests.
In some cases, both parents are under age 18. The parents may be living with their own parents (rather than each other) and may still be in high school. In these situations, the custody/parenting arrangements may involve considerations of readiness to be a parent, the family environment of each parent, the relationship of the parent to the grandparent, child care, school and/or work schedules for the parents, work schedules for the grandparent(s), income and parenting time. In other cases, parents may face serious mental health or drug abuse issues or may be in jail.
“As a volunteer for Family Law CASA, I am able to provide information to the judge to help the court make a more informed decision for the children and their families,” said Courtney Cain, a CASA volunteer and board member, who also is a lawyer.
“After being assigned to a case, I contact the parties and set up times to visit with them,” Cain continued. “I visit the homes the children spend time in to see what the environment is like — I look for everything from safety, to age-appropriate toys, to sleeping situations, children’s art on the walls, and other people who live or spend time in the home. If the child is old enough, I have the child show me around the home. It is often a very telling tour that can provide information very different from what the adults in the child’s life provide.”
Cain said that if a child is too young to engage in conversation, she will spend time with both the child and the adults in the child’s life. “I observe how they interact and their demeanor,” she said. “If the children are old enough, I ask them what their favorite meal is and what mommy or daddy or grandma makes them for breakfast and dinner. I ask them where they eat and where they sleep and what they like to do after school.” In other words, Cain gets a sense of the child’s world.
Cain also seeks out the people who make up that world. “In past cases, I have interviewed teachers and daycare providers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins and friends,” she said. “I make a point to speak with people that interact with the child regularly and can provide some insight as to the behavior of the child in different situations.”
This allows her to assess the larger family environment — whether the parents are ready and able to perform as parents, whether there are intra-family conflicts over parenting and what might be done about problems in these areas.
Family Law CASA cases often involve third-party custody with another family member — typically a grandparent. The parent may have left children in a grandparent’s care for months or years. It may be that the grandparent seeks custody to obtain medical benefits for the children or to enroll them in school or out of concern that the children not be returned to “unsafe” circumstances.
A CASA volunteer assesses the situation as a trained, neutral observer. “We must consider the child’s safety,” Cain said. “Depending on the status of the parent, we ask, ‘What is the best way for the child to spend time with the biological parent? How should the parent-child relationship be structured where a parent is working to overcome mental illness or drug abuse?’ … [A]nother consideration is the nature of the relationship between the third party (grandparent or other) and the parent — how will that relationship impact the child’s environment?”
After conducting an investigation to gather information relevant to the child’s situation, the CASA volunteer writes a report to the court, which may contain recommendations about the time the child should spend with each parent, based on the child’s best interests, and for services that may benefit the child and other family members. The CASA’s report may alert the court to factors to consider in its decision-making process that would not otherwise be available, all to the end of achieving the best outcome in the circumstances for the children and their families.
Why is Family Law CASA important? According to CASA volunteer Karen Kalzer, “By interacting with people in their environment, you gain a flavor and intuition about their situation. Seeing a person’s home and observing their interaction with their children provides an opportunity to see into their lives beyond what the court can otherwise see. You can use your training to ask questions, to understand the family’s situation and provide information to the court that it would not ordinarily see.”
Kalzer volunteers because “I have always been concerned about the way society deals with children,” she said. “As a civil litigator, I deal with adults trying to fix things that happened in their childhood. It is hard to go back and fix what’s wrong. As a CASA volunteer, I can have a direct positive impact on a child’s life so they are not ruminating 20 or 30 years later about the problems in their childhood. I can help them see that someone is advocating for them.”
Cain has a similar outlook. “I have seen that, in most situations, children love their parents no matter what and parents love their children even where they are not ready or available to parent them,” she said.
“Children also crave love and someone to take care of them. Our job as volunteers is to help create such an environment for the children in our cases. We provide information to the judge that contributes to the court’s parenting decisions for the family. Our goal is to assist in creating an environment that allows children to thrive.”
Perhaps current CASA volunteer Cadence Miller says it best in describing her childhood experience with a CASA volunteer. “When I was four years old, a CASA volunteer helped my family. It was a scary time for my brother and me. It helped to know that we had someone who was looking out for our best interest. And it worked. I have had a positive relationship with both my parents.”
For more information about Family Law CASA of King County, visit its Web site at www.familylawcasa.org.
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Susan McIntosh is an attorney with Forsberg & Umlauf, P.S. and is vice president of the Family Law CASA Board of Directors. Courtney Cain is an e-DAT (E-Discovery Analysis and Technology) attorney with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates and Ellis LLP, a board member and CASA volunteer.
