May 18, 2010

FOSTER CARE SUFFERS UNDER BUDGET CUTS

Budget Shortfalls Force Layoffs That Double Caseloads for Child Advocates' Supervisors

By Rebecca U. Cho

Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Michelle Oyler received a late night call from a social worker in March. One of the foster children Oyler represents had gone missing. She suspected the teen had hopped on a train to San Diego to see his girlfriend. But should she go get him? Would that be going beyond her duties as a court volunteer?

In the past, Oyler would have turned to her supervisor at the Los Angeles County Superior Court for guidance. This time, she was on her own.

Her supervisor in the Court Appointed Special Advocate, CASA, program, along with the five others funded by the court, was among the 329 employees laid off in March due to a budget shortfall.

The cuts mean hundreds of foster children's cases have been divided among four supervisors who remain through funding from the CASA nonprofit, doubling their caseloads to roughly 100 children each.

In the wake of the layoffs, the court suspended new advocate assignments until June. As a result, fewer children will have their points of view presented to a dependency court judge - at least temporarily while CASA revamps.

These advocates have served historically as an extra pair of eyes to courts in the most difficult cases, helping to make decisions such as where an abused or neglected child should live.

"We can't survive without a CASA program," said Judge Michael Nash, the supervising judge for the juvenile courts, describing CASA volunteers as those who "fill in the cracks in the system."

Some of these children are in need of immediate attention. In one case, a teenager working in a dangerous neighborhood needed transportation at night, said Judge Margaret Henry, the supervising judge of the dependency court. She could not get a court advocate on the case despite her request for one, she said, and shortly after the youth was found beaten.

With the cuts, the Superior Court has abandoned staffing for the CASA program. Last year, the court spent nearly $1 million on the CASA program.

CASA volunteers in Los Angeles County number about 350 and served nearly 600 children in dependency court last year.

Advocates are brought into cases when a judicial officer decides a child's situation warrants an independent investigation. The advocates also have been key to pushing for treatment for conditions, such as mental illnesses or learning disabilities that have gone untreated.

Supervisors are experienced juvenile court workers who guide and direct volunteers through the court system and to hard-to-find resources.

CASA of Los Angeles was created in 1978. Five years later, its private fundraising arm, Friends of CASA, entered into a public-private partnership with the court. The court supported the program by providing supervisors and office space. The court continues to provide the group with office space.

Presiding Judge Charles "Tim" McCoy said in making the budget cuts, he tried to strike a balance between closing courts and reducing staffing for programs such as CASA. He expects the program to continue through funding raised by the nonprofit side of the organization, he said.

"We know every reduction will have an adverse impact on court operations, but a subjective determination has to be made as to which to reduce first as we go through the process of reducing all of them," McCoy said.

He also made cuts to clerks in the traffic and criminal division, among others.

The nonprofit side already had been paying for three supervisors before the cuts and now one of the supervisors who was laid off was hired by the nonprofit.

Nash said the reductions sped up a long-term goal to one day have the CASA program stand on its own through private funding, which he said is the way most of the programs operate nationwide.

"It was something that we were moving towards in any event," Nash said.

While a case may go forward without a court-appointed advocate, the delay in assigning a volunteer can lead to serious harm to children in the dependency court system, Henry said. Last year, an average of 18 children a month were assigned a CASA volunteer, according to court statistics.

"It doesn't delay the case, but it can really mean a child isn't getting what they need," Henry said.

For weeks after the layoffs, volunteers such as Oyler worked without a supervisor.

Oyler drove out to San Diego the day after the phone call and brought back the youth. She still questions if she overstepped her boundaries.

"I would say pretty much every move we make is run by a supervisor," Oyler said.

Supervisors work with volunteers to guide them through the dependency system's bureaucracy and help them write reports to the court. The supervisors also point volunteers to resources for the child, such as on-site psychologists, counseling centers or psychiatrists.

CASA's remaining supervisors are now racing to work through cases as quickly as possible, said Bruce Herron, the interim executive director for CASA of Los Angeles.

"What we're doing is working through the transferred cases, getting them closed successfully, so we can create space for the program supervisors," Herron said.

He hopes to bring in experienced volunteers to help direct the advocates and fill in the holes left by the departed supervisors.

Ultimately, the program will have to raise funds to make up for the cuts, he said.