By: Valerie Burchfield Rhodes
Inside CASA is a series about the child welfare system and the role CASA OC plays in providing trained volunteers to advocate on behalf of youth within the system.
A young teen apprehensively enters the courtroom for her first appearance in GRACE Court. She is accompanied by her Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), who assures her this courtroom is not “judgey” and is a safe place for her. The young woman is nauseous from a combination of nerves and her early pregnancy. Judge Lindsey Martinez, who presides over GRACE Court, excuses herself and ducks out of the courtroom, quickly returning with crackers and water for the nervous teen. She reassures the girl that everyone around the table is there as her support team. The judge tells her that they are all “shock-proof” and she can share anything she wants confidentially with the team.
The child welfare system is a maze of acronyms; STRTP, TAYP, RTC….the list goes on. But one has a pleasant ring to it; GRACE Court. GRACE is an acronym for Generating Resources To Abolish Child Exploitation. What that means in practice is a dedicated team of people with expertise in mental health, law enforcement, social services, the legal system, education, and healthcare.
The team, led by Judge Martinez, gathers around a table to focus on the needs of a child who has been, or is at risk of becoming, a CSEC victim (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.) The GRACE Court team is often rounded out by the presence of a CASA, who is a trained volunteer matched one-on-one with a youth in the dependency care system. Cadence, a gentle Golden Retriever, is often present as well and exudes a sixth sense about who in the courtroom most needs a loving nuzzle. Judge Martinez calls Cadence the, “Star of the Courtroom.”
GRACE Court was developed in 2014 by then Juvenile Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez as a way to help direct victims of human trafficking to supportive services. It is one of a number of collaborative juvenile courts here in Orange County designed to support certain populations of youth coming before the court. Others include Teen Court, Youth Development Court, Crossover Youth Court and Recovery Court.
Many of the youth who come through GRACE Court straddle both the dependency court system and the juvenile justice system (formerly known as delinquency court.) The goal in the juvenile courts is to provide rehabilitation rather than to punish youth. According to Judge Joanne Motoike, who formerly served as the Presiding Court Judge of Juvenile Court in Orange County, “Juvenile justice operates differently than criminal court….it is designed for rehabilitation to reduce recidivism. Youth are always developing and can learn from their consequences and move towards becoming successful adults.”
Another busy collaborative court in Orange County is Teen Court where Judge Craig Arthur now serves as the Juvenile Presiding Court Judge. According to Judge Arthur, “We see kids much more frequently in Teen Court than in a traditional court calendar so we can wrap them in services, have a hands-on relationship, and walk them through the very difficult issues they confront. We have some really great successes with the program.”
“CASA plays a HUGE role in our Teen Court cases. They participate in our morning staffing meeting with all team members including the judge, attorneys, social worker, probation officer, and mental health professionals. They provide insight to the team since they have such hands-on experience with the youth.”
On a recent visit to Teen Court, a young woman enters the courtroom with her newborn baby in her arms and her CASA by her side. Judge Isabel Apkarian, who is presiding that day, recognizes the young woman who enters the courtroom and asks if she can hold her new baby as they talk about the young woman’s progress and future plans. A visitor is struck by the spirit of collaboration and problem-solving that is evident in the courtroom as each youth makes their appearance.
Meanwhile, in GRACE Court, the professionals gathered together listen patiently as one youth after another share details of their daily challenges. One young single mom struggles to make ends meet due in part to the costs incurred using public transportation to attend court-mandated appointments and visits with her child. Another youth is apprehensive about moving out of state to live with a relative due to worries about losing access to medications he needs for mental health issues. Another young woman needs funds to purchase scrubs for work. In each case, the team collaborates on tactics to help connect the youth with needed resources.
After further discussion with the first young pregnant teen, who is appearing in GRACE Court for her first time, a plan is made for how best to keep her in school during her pregnancy and arrangements will be made for baby-care on-site at the school once the baby is born. The young girl leaves the courtroom with a gift card and a plan to return for a follow-up appearance in a few weeks.
These collaborative courts have become a model for other counties and, while it’s a big undertaking to coordinate the many stakeholders involved, the results are worth it. However, there is much more work to be done. When asked what more can be done to support these children, Judge Motoike responds by saying, “Youth really need placement options. Often an immediate return home to a parent is not a viable option and placement options are very, very limited. Additionally, a lot of our youth come before us with complex issues with respect to their trauma and a variety of mental health issues. Getting the appropriate services the youth may need, we just do not have a lot of those services and programs for identified CSEC victims with respect to substance abuse issues or high level mental health issues.
Judge Arthur echoed many of these concerns and added, “More CASAs in the system would be beneficial. Although CASA has grown tremendously over the years, there are still not enough CASAs to be matched with every youth who wants one. To immediately be able to link up a youth when they come into the system with a CASA would be huge.”
He got more specific about the role CASAs play as part of the Collaborative Court team, “When I read a CASA report, it’s more personal and in tune with the youth. It gives me a different perspective than a social worker’s report, which contains specific required information. I may not get the in-depth look that comes in a CASA’s report.”
There are currently over 275 youth on the waiting list for a CASA volunteer. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a CASA please visit www.casaoc.org or contact volunteers@casaoc.org
Thank you to the Honorable Joanne Motoike, Associate Justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 3 and Dr. Sandie Morgan, Director, Global Center For Women & Justice for providing some of the content for this story. The complete interview between Dr. Morgan and Judge Motoike can be heard here.