January Newsleer 1 CASA of Cochise County News & Views Abby Dodge — CASA Coordinator • Lissete Borbon — Support Staff Coordinator’s Comments……………………2 Cochise County CASA Council……………..3 Training Opportunity………………………….3 CASA of the Month…………………………….4 CASA Support Group Photos……………..10 Kudos………………………………………………..11 New Volunteers………………………………...11 Anniversaries……………………………………..11 January Calendar………………………………..13 From the Manual…………………………..14-16 A Message from LuRue Troyer…………...18 Christmas with CASA Photos……………...19 Priories—Submied by Mary Blanchard...5 School—Submied by Mary Blanchard...6-7 The Avocado Adventure—Submied by Mary Blanchard...7 Bloodwork—Submied by Mary Blanchard...8 Aenon CASA’s Who Work With Teen- agers—Submied by Mary Blanchard...8 CASA Support Groups—Submied by Lissete Borbon...9 Siblings, together or apart?—By Dr. Eliza- beth Jacobs...12 CASA Christmas Party—Submied by Mary Blanchard...18 Features Arcles Www.CASAofCochiseCounty.org JANUARY 2017 1ST EDITION
Save the date for January: Sharon Travis (DCS Assistant Program Manager) and Miranda Rich (Independent Living Skills Expert from AZCA) will be providing training for us on the Independent Living Program. The Independent Living Program is available to de-pendent youth once they turn 16. If you work with teenagers currently, have the desire to start working with teenagers, want to learn more about the services available for older youth, or simply want to get a good start on your 12 hours of training for the year, then this is a great opportunity for you!
January 25, 2017
1:30 PM — 3:00 PM
SVJPO Conference Room
January Newsletter 4
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Patti Hager It’s my pleasure to announce that the CASA of the Month for December 2016 is Patti Hager!
Patti has been with CASA of Cochise County since 1994, which is amazing! She took a few years’ break from taking cases, but almost exactly 2 years ago (it was right around the holidays in 2014), I convinced Patti to take on a case. And by a case, I ac-tually mean 3 cases… These cases shared a connection, but they were separate cases. This meant separate court hear-ings, separate CFTs, separate foster homes… I could go on, but I won’t. Currently, only 1 of these 3 cases remains open, and will hopefully be closing soon. Throughout the past 2 years, Patti has never once complained to me about getting her to take on these cases. Although she constantly fights with her “dinosaur computer,” she always gets everything turned in on time, even if it means coming to the office to work on court reports. On top of that, she always does this with a smile on her face.
Those of you who are newer to the program may not have had a chance to meet Patti, but I hope that you get to soon. She is a wealth of information, and she’s been doing this for quite some time. I’m sure she’d be glad to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you Patti, for everything that you do!
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
January Newsletter 5
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Articles by Mary Blanchard, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
Priorities
I arrived for my visit with my two girls feeling very relaxed at the prospect of a fun day. One girl was ready to go. The other had chosen that morning to have a meltdown, and she refused to do her Saturday morning chores plus she took her sister’s clothes out and threw them around in wild disarray.
The foster mother told me all this before I saw the girl. It was
not exactly a perfect start for an outing. My mind quickly re-
viewed the importance of an outing versus backing the foster
parents. I only wavered a micro second and firmly announced
that I couldn’t take the girl out if she hadn’t done her chores. I
told the foster mother I would tell her this. I went back with
the foster parents hovering in the background. I told the girl I
could see she hadn’t done her chores. I asked her if she re-
membered I was coming. She nodded her head. I calmly told
her, “I am so sorry you are not ready to go. It is time for lunch,
so your sister and I will have to go to McDonalds without you.”
McDonald’s is their favorite place to eat. Her face fell. Her
whole body drooped. I told her we’d be back in an hour, and if
she was ready we would take her for games and ice cream.
I made sure lunch was especially fun for the sister but never
made a comment on us being a twosome. After lunch, we
went back, and the girl was still not ready. The foster mother
reported it took the girl 30 minutes to realize I meant busi-
ness.
I was crushed, but I offered a final crumb of fun. I told her we
would come back after we played games, and if she was ready, I
would take her to get ice cream.
I had quickly picked games two people could play and made sure
game time was a good time. This time when we came back, the
girl was ready. The three of us went to get ice cream. We only
had 30 minutes out of the two and a half hours, but the girls
loved their blizzards and drew pictures with colored pencils.
The visit ended successfully. The foster parents appreciated my
support. There was never any conflict. Parents must parent, and
proper parenting has certain responsibilities, such as doing sim-
ple chores. If the child has issues and refuses to do the chores,
there are consequences which must be enforced. I backed the
foster parents one-hundred percent. Was I upset? Was I frustrat-
ed that our visit was not happening as I had planned? Of course I
was, but redirecting a child who is defiant and refuses to comply
with a reasonable routine activity is tough business, and I was
ready to support the foster parents do what they needed to do.
Hurray for these foster parents. They are teaching a reluctant
child to take responsibility, and I am fulfilling my mandate as an
advocate when I support their efforts.
January Newsletter 6
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Articles by Mary Blanchard, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
School
In the past, I have written several articles about visitations to school. This is a very important part of your young person’s development, and most of you are very comfortable with the process of getting your court orders on file with the school and visiting the school and classroom.
As a retired teacher, I am very familiar with the nuts and bolts of the dynamics in the classroom, and I will share some useful things to know about school, life in the classroom, importance of recess and lunch.
As you slip in unobtrusively, you locate your child and take a
few moments to observe the overall classroom atmosphere.
My favorite class is one where the children ALL listen when
someone is teaching or contributing. Check out where your
child is sitting. A good teacher will arrange for a child who
needs extra supervision or who has poor vision to sit in the
front of the class. The desks next to a wall are useful for chil-
dren who do not do well with too many neighbors. Some chil-
dren need a desk where they can get up and quietly move
about a bit. Some hyper or disruptive children do best in the
midst of a very quiet group of children. Children in the back
are usually good workers or distractive influences who need to
be deprived of an audience. A child who sits alone is a red flag
indicating problems with behavior or ability to focus. It is very
popular these days for the students to be seated in clusters of
4.
I found this to work quite well with classes who are super well behaved, but it is not a good idea if the class is chatty. Students lose focus and don’t give their full attention and they frequently don’t work independently. I prefer groups for group projects and pairs for working together. What do you expect?!!! I am a dino-saur, and I taught middle school.
Observe the students next to your child. If your child and his/her immediate neighbors are all working and the class is pretty much on task, then some conversation is healthy (not on a test). If the class is working in groups, is everyone in your child’s group either working or discussing the project? If you can observe progress, the group is functioning well. The same goes for working with a partner.
Sometimes you come into a class where the class is naturally high
energy. If the teacher is channeling that energy into productive
work, then all is well, so take a chill pill and relax. If the teacher
cannot control the class, learning is not going to take place.
Hopefully, your child is in a classroom with a teacher and class
that provide the necessary ingredients for learning.
Talk to the teacher and find out how your child is doing academi-cally and socially. Ask the teacher if your child is having problems in any academic areas. Report any problems to the team and fos-ter parents.
If your child is an outlaw, you may be able to observe this. If the teacher can control the behavior or makes arrangements for the child to be removed (behavior referral or time out), it may be
January Newsletter 7
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Articles by Mary Blanchard, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
School — Continued
possible for learning to take place when the child returns. Dis-ruptive behavior must be addressed and dealt with.
If I have a child in elementary school, I always observe recess. Socialization is crucial for the healthy development of children. If your child is interacting appropriately with friends, recess is positive. If your child is alone or only interacting with one of the adults, this is a concern. If your child is rowdy or a bully, this is a concern.
Lunch is a great place to visit. You can see what your child eats, check out table manners, observe behavior, and interac-tion with friends. If your child is eating alone, this is an indica-tion that there is a lack of friends. Be concerned because lunch is basically social eating. Paying close attention to the lunch dynamics can be quite informative. It is golden if your child cleans up all his/her trash.
I always try to catch a few moments with the counselor to find out past academic progress, behavior concerns, and general paper trail. Also have a final chat with the office staff. Every-one loves to hear your positive comments about the school. Listen to what they have to say. Find out about Parent Vue or whatever grade/attendance program is in use and find out how to get on it. Get the e-mails of teacher/s and counselor. Find out upcoming school events.
In general, be a positive advocate and make the school part of your team.
The Avocado Adventure
I was asked to bring the salad to a small dinner party. I don’t cook, and I rarely shop. When I got to the wall of packaged sal-ads, I was blown away by all the choices. I finally made my selec-tion and decided to jazz it up with an avocado. There was a sale on avocados and there was quite an abundance in the bin.
A woman was buying a large number of avocados, and she was still buying them when I came back from getting dried cranber-ries to add color to my salad. I settled in to wait, and it was quite clear it was going to be a while. I finally asked if she could grab a ripe one for me. She was so focused on the avocados that she didn’t even respond. A man (probably her adult son) who was bagging her selection, nodded at me and gently maneuvered the woman aside, and he stared intently at the pile for a moment and reached out and made his/my selection. He presented it to me and said, “I hope you find this one to be just right.”
I thanked him and went on my way. The next day I cut up my av-ocado. It was perfect! And it was special because the man had been kind enough to select it for me.
January Newsletter 8
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Articles by Mary Blanchard, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
Blood Work
I hate everything about getting my blood drawn. The first thing I hate is fasting, especially since I overslept and it was almost 9 and I had not had any breakfast. Much to my amazement, the first question that the man at the desk asked was if I was fasting. I said I was. He then asked if I was doing okay. I said I was hanging in there.
I had forgotten that one of my former students works in the office. He recognized my voice and came rushing out to visit. He showed me the picture of his daughter who will be going to Buena in two years. He proudly told me she is in the honors program in 7th grade. Her daddy was also very bright.
Finally, I was whisked back to the lab. I braced myself and stuck my arm out. Either the technicians are more skilled or the needles are a huge upgrade, because I didn’t feel a thing. I was so comfortable that I watched the technician swiftly draw out three full vials of blood. I have never watched before, and I was proud that I was able to look at my blood and remove my-self from any emotion about what it was.
I can’t say I was sorry to leave the lab, but somehow it did seem more like an experience than a major downer. Maybe I am growing up. Maybe I am enriching my activities by becom-ing more aware of the potential of ordinary experiences. I can either tough it out and get blood drawn, or I can tune in to the microcosm of life in lab.
Attention CASA’s Who Work With Teenagers
I signed up for the training with Miranda Rich and Sharon Travis on January 25 from 1:30 to 3:00 in the conference room across from the Juvenile Probation Office. I have been working with teenagers for 16 years, and I rely on Miranda as my go-to person to navigate the services that are available to teens through the independent living program.
Teens who are still in the system when they turn 16 are eligi-ble for independent living services. And if a teen is still in the sys-tem at 16, that teen needs the life skills training and the infor-mation about the services that are available to teens who age out in the system.
Out of the 40 + CASA kids I have had in my time as a CASA, more than a dozen have taken advantage of the independent liv-ing subsidy that is available for kids who qualify and elect to go into the voluntary independent living program when they turn 18.
Miranda is the director of the Independent Living Program in our area. She also is quite knowledgeable about this program in other counties. I have two teens on my watch at the moment, and I consult with her about both of them on a regular basis. There are other people in her department who do the day-to-day work with the kids, but Miranda supervises every aspect of the program, and she is always willing to help whenever I call or e-mail her. She is an invaluable resource for your network of ex-perts to call for advice.
January Newsletter 9
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
CASA Support Groups Article by Lissete Borbon, CASA Support Staff
Over the course of this past year, during Abby’s maternity leave, I offered myself to attend support group in her ab-sence. Once she came back to work, I decided to stick with it and continue going. If you ever have an extra couple of hours, try to attend. These support groups are there to help you if you’re having difficulties on your case, share something you’ve learned, or simply to come in, sit down, and enjoy one anoth-er. I personally love to see your pretty faces at least once a month. I not only learn what’s going on with your case, but also go hoping that you leave knowing something new or simply get things off your chest!
This year not only did we have a morning support group but we also added an evening support group! Our wonderful host-esses, Lynn Vanderdasson and LuRue Troyer open their homes once a month to us. I personally can’t attend the evening sup-port group, but I know they both provide a wonderful place for you to come and talk. Beautiful people and beautiful outside views, can I sell it any better!? Over the course of this year I collected photos here and there from our gatherings that I thought I’d share with you. Maybe it’ll persuade you to give us a try! Hope to see you there sometime!
Morning Group
Second Thursday of the Month
10 AM—12 PM
Home of Lynn Vanderdasson
5776 E. Perry Lane
Hereford, AZ 85615
Evening Group
To be announced January,
February and March
January Newsletter 10
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
CASA Support Group during 2016
January Newsletter 11
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
CASA Kudos
Mary Jacobs
FCRB, 11/9/16
The Board acknowledges the CASA for the enthusiasm in
working with J and for successfully securing funding for a
homecoming outfit and a laptop computer for J.
Mary Blanchard
FCRB, 11/9/16
The Board commends the CASA for her commitment to H,
her support of the placement and being a consistent, posi-
tive, involved adult role model and advocate for H.
Welcome New Volunteers!
Carol Welsh
Rosalinda Marshall
Darla Parker
Anniversary
Misty Briseno – 1/14 (1 year)
Bud and Jan Dragoo – 1/23 (13 years)
January Newsletter 12
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Article by Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs
Siblings, together or apart?
I recently met with a grandparents group in El Mirage to dis-cuss a number of issues they were having while caring for their grandchildren. Some grandparents were concerned that their grandchildren had been separated between kinship place-ments and asked me to research policies on keeping siblings together. “Sibling” is generally defined more by relationship than by their genetic relatedness. Unrelated children who have lived in the same family together are “siblings” more than children who share the same parents but have not lived together.
An article from the Child Welfare Information Gateway (January 2013) highlights the pros and (a few) cons of siblings placed together.
The benefits of keeping siblings together are obvious: siblings provide a sense of safety and emotional support. As a foster child myself, I was always placed with one (or more) of my three older brothers. This gave me an ever present feeling of protection when surrounded by strange people in an unfamil-iar environment. Research indicates that these supportive re-lationships last throughout childhood and into adulthood, i.e., forever. In addition, research indicates that siblings placed to-gether have a higher probability of family reunification than siblings placed in different foster homes.
Siblings placed together also tend to have better academic performance than separated sibs. Having the children in
the same placement also makes communication between place-ment, children, case managers, and birth families easier than having to include two or more placements in the communication loop.
But there are some roadblocks to placing children together, the most obvious of which is the size of the sibling group -- the most common reason for not placing siblings together. Sibling groups of three, four, five, or more may be difficult, if not impossible, to place because of the licensing requirements for differing num-bers of children. Siblings may also be separated if one (or more) of the children needs a higher level of care than other siblings, requiring a therapeutic foster home which may not be able to care for all of the children.
In addition to the number of siblings and required level of care, research has uncovered other factors that discourage keeping some siblings together. They include: serious behavior problems in one child that may place siblings/foster siblings in danger; and the tendency of siblings placed together to focus on each other and ignore the foster family’s efforts to include them in family activities. Separating siblings may also provide "parentified" chil-dren, who have spent their lives taking care of younger children, an opportunity to find their own childhoods.
The take-away from the research is that keeping siblings togeth-er is best but, in the end, this decision, like all foster care deci-sions, should consider the best interest of each of the children.
As the youth for whom you advocate get older and your work in-creasingly encourages self-advocacy and independent living, the line between mentor and volunteer advocate may seem to change and become less clear. However, there are some significant differ-ences between the roles of mentor and volunteer advocate. Mentoring involves developing a personal relationship with a youth, being a buddy and serving as a role model. Advocating involves learning about the youth’s needs and wishes and serving as a voice for the older child’s best interest within the child protection system and the courts. As a CASA volunteer, you will continue to serve in your role following the same standards and practices you learned regarding advocating for the best interest of a child: •Investigation: Volunteers carry out an objective, systematic exam-ination of the situation, including relevant history, environment, relationships and needs of the adolescent youth. •Facilitation: Volunteers identify resources and services for the ad-olescent youth and facilitate a collaborative relationship between all parties on the case, helping to create a situation in which the youth’s needs are met. •Advocacy: Volunteers speak up for and plead the case of the adolescent youth for whom they are appointed.
•Monitoring: Volunteers keep track of whether the orders of the court, as well as the plans of the treatment team, are carried out. They report back to the court and work with the treatment team when any of the parties do not follow those orders and plans. However, the volunteer advocate’s role in working with an older youth shifts to ensuring that resources and services are in place to prepare the youth for successful independent living. Because services are so crucial to this vulnerable population, your role in advocating for the youth to obtain needed services is critical to the ultimate outcome. Further, the youth’s plan for permanence should include provisions for a long-term connection to at least one committed and caring adult. This is a youth-driven decision. Foster parents, teachers, community leaders, relatives, neighbors and service providers are just a few of the adults who might be capable of and willing to take on this role. In short, you are helping youth create webs of support and interdepend-ency that will increase their success as they transition into adulthood. Tips for Volunteers •Move planning discussions away from concern with temporary place-ment issues and behavior management of teens toward long-term planning for education and employment.
January Newsletter 15
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Mentor vs. Advocate — Continued
•Promote ways for foster parents, family members and service pro-viders to support teens. •Connect teens with a network of adults to help them with educa-tion and employment. •Give family members and teens opportunities to build relation-ships by focusing together on the future. •Integrate foster youth into the larger community.
Principles of Engagement for Adolescents Principles/Ideas to Keep in Mind
Meeting the youth where the youth is: Be aware of the world in which the adolescent lives: what are the pressures, expectations, supports? Visit them in their own space when appropriate. Building on strengths: First and foremost, identify a list of strengths with the youth. This is critical with adolescents who lack confidence and expect you to think of them as “less than” and in-competent. Empowering youth: Be forthright with your recognition of them as operating in the adult world with the power to make decisions and to act for themselves. Be direct in placing responsibility on them as their own agent of change. Adolescents expect you to tell them what to do and how to do it. You will have to work hard to get them to make their own decisions and self-advocate based on the information you provide. Involvement in court hearings is an excellent way for youth to feel empowered and to learn self-advocacy skills. Involving youth in assessment, planning and decision-making: Ask them what would feel helpful. Because this is a transitional and confusing time in development, they may need different things from you at different times. Check in frequently because what they need can change from visit to visit. Make sure the adolescent is choosing and developing goals in order to hold him or her accounta-
able to outcomes and progress. If the adolescent doesn’t develop the
goals, it is easier for them to say this was never their plan. Make sure
adolescents participate in all planning meetings and court hearings
that discuss their future.
Recognizing steps to success: Recognize progress and movement to-ward improved decision-making. Immature brain development in ado-lescents contributes to the tendency to over-generalize and over-dramatize. Help them keep perspective by recognizing small steps and change. Inform decision-makers, including judges, of positive change and successes the youth achieves. Keep the historical perspective for youth in order to help them recognize where they started and where they are now. Building hope, expectancy: Convey your hope and belief that they will be successful and can accomplish their goals. Adolescents regular-ly fluctuate between grand ideas that can be unrealistic and despairing perspectives, which can also be unrealistic. You may have to act as the constant to their changing perspectives. Maintain realistic hope and expectancy. Involving youth in planning their future helps maintain realistic goals. Honoring and connecting with cultural resources: Many times, an adolescent may have rejected a supportive cultural resource in their own attempts to separate and individuate. It may be critical to help them recognize support and how to tap into available resources as an adult versus the old relationship they may have had with the resource as a dependent child. Conversely, it may be necessary to help an ado-lescent recognize a culture that is detrimental to progress and the need to separate from this identity while forging a new identity. For instance, the culture of drug abuse.
January Newsletter 16
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Linking to concrete services: There is a fine balance between tell-ing adolescents what to do and providing the concrete services they need when they feel overwhelmed. Adolescents may not admit that they need a particular service because they are not sure what will be required of them. It is important to find out what concrete services they need, what they don’t know they need and what they absolutely do not want. These may change frequently, so it is im-portant to stay in frequent contact. Assist the adolescent in advo-cating to obtain these services either from the social worker or di-rectly from the service provider. Facilitating skill-based practice: Adolescents require more skills practice than adults do. A positive aspect of this state is that you may not be trying to undo entrenched patterns but simply shaping positive patterns for the first time. Think of it as a blank slate. For this reason, adolescents must perform the functions and tasks themselves, especially when their histories have not demanded these behaviors in the past. Avoid “classroom-style” skills develop-ment and focus instead on real-life activities. Knowing thyself: Recognizing your own biases in working with adolescents is critical to being successful. Your experiences might be very similar or very different from the youth with whom you are working. Separate out what you believe from what the youth be-lieves. Support and validate the youth’s own beliefs and experienc-es. Modeling interaction: Your interactions with the adolescent will represent the model with which they interact with others in their lives. This includes the adolescent as a parent, student, consumer, client, advocate, etc.
Mentor vs. Advocate — Continued
January Newsletter 17
CASA OF COCHISE COUNTY NEWS & VIEWS
Article by Mary Blanchard, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
CASA Christmas Party for Kids & CASA’s
Lissete and Abby hosted a fantastic Christmas party for the children who have CASA’s. They decorated, bought multiple presents for the children and a special gift for each CASA. They brought in tons of food, and had a decorating project where each child decorated a snowman ornament. Four members of the CASA Council attended. Ned Letto, who is a super active CASA and a council member, Suzanne De Rosi-er, Anita and Kevin Farrow were there. These wonderful peo-ple approve our requests for funding for things our CASA Kids need. My CASA kids were not able to attend, so I had time to ob-
serve all the other CASA’s interact with their kids. The older
kids were pretty independent. Several knew each other and
visited. The others watched “Rudolph the Red Nosed Rein-
deer” and chilled.
I spent most of my time watching the younger children
with their CASA’s. There was a definite connection between
each child and the CASA. It was beautiful to watch how nur-
turing each CASA was and how attentive to the child’s needs.
Sometimes I am clueless to body language, but I couldn’t help
but noticing every CASA’s body was shifted towards their child.
I realized that these CASA’s are more than advocates. They
are people who care deeply about their children and who will
always be dedicated to the best interests of that child.
A message from LuRue Troyer, CASA of Cochise County Volunteer
Received by Mary Blanchard, during one of the many trips LuRue
embarks on:
“Coming to you from a lovely room with a large deck that edges a koi pond. Tall tropical vegetation and flowers gives us only a peek at an-other cottage across the pond, so feel very secluded (though can hear traffic from the busy road in front of the hotel). Our travel time was 48 hours from waking up in a Tucson motel to going to bed here in Can-didasa...24 of those hours were spent one plane or another. So nice to be settled in here!
Glad to hear that the Christmas party went well. Such a great oppor-tunity for kids and CASAs alike! Abby & Lissete are first-class for mak-ing it happen.
More later. Headed to office to line up some activities.
