Smoke Signals
JUNE 15, 2012
Coyirfl: swears on ffiirsft three CASA volumifteeirs
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signalt ilnff writer
Grand Ronde Tribal Court Chief
Judge Suzanne Ojibway Townsend
(Ojibway) swore in the court's first
CASA volunteers on Wednesday,
May 30.
Sarah Cline, 25, an Oregon State
University Public Policy student
from Corvallis; Debra Jones, 55, a
medical transcriptionist from Wil
lamina; and Sylvia Schindele, 64,
a mother and grandmother from
Lafayette each recited the oath for
the open-ended appointment in
Tribal Court a little after 10 in the
morning.
Court Appointed Special Advocates
is a national volunteer group known
by its acronym, CASA Its volunteers
serve Tribal and county courts as
advocates for children made wards
of the Tribe or state. The Grand
Ronde Tribal CASA program, the
only Tribal program of its kind in
Oregon, serves only Grand Ronde
Tribal children who have been made
wards of the Tribal Court.
Forty-eight Grand Ronde Tribal
children are currently wards of the
Tribal Court. Thirty-two are wards
of different states, though the ma
jority are wards of Oregon.
One of the most important jobs
for Tribal CASA volunteers, said
Angela Fasana, Tribal Court ad
ministrator, is to make sure that
Tribal wards are able to maintain a
connection with Tribal culture. ,
'The role for CASA here," Fasana
said, "will be largely to connect
kids with the Tribe's culture and
history, and really enhance that
connection."
Most of the children who have
been made wards of the Tribe and
state are represented by attorneys,
Fasana said.
CASA volunteers serve as second
ary advocates for these children;
first ensuring the cultural connec
tion and, more generally, being a
voice for the child's best interest.
"How I view CASA," said Kristi
Petite, Foster Care supervisor, "is
as another caring adult in a child's
life. Kids in foster care need as
cT I
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Sarah Cline, left, if worn in as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, as Sylvia
Schindele, middle, and Debra Jones wait to also be sworn in in the Tribal
courtroom In Grand Ronde on Wednesday, May 30. The three are the first set
of CASA volunteers for the Tribe.
many supportive people in their
lives as they can have. CASA vol
unteers bring a fresh perspective
about how to meet those needs."
The Tribe's Indian Child Welfare
program intercedes in troubled
families when necessary and rec
ommends treatment programs
for Tribal families and youth in
trouble. The program sees to the
day-to-day needs of a child.
The Tribal CASA program was
initiated in 2008 "out of concern
that the kids' only Tribal contact
was with ICW," said Fasana. 'That
contact comes in a difficult situ
ation. Children were leaving the
foster care program and feeling like
they didn't want to have anything
more to do with the Tribe.
"The ICW program began taking
steps to expose kids to a lot more
cultural activities and Tribal events
and the court's response was the de
velopment of the CASA program."
Today, said Petite, the Indian
Child Welfare program pays for
transportation to powwows and
other cultural events, along with
lodging and meals for a child and
their foster family to ease the cost
of attending.
Cline, who has lived and worked
with Tribes in Montana and has
volunteered to work with teens in
prisons and homeless shelters, has
long had as her goal "to help , kids
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The challenge for her, she said, is
"how to properly support cultural
values." Part of that, she added, "is
getting to know the community, and
helping the kids feel connected."
Schindele saw this position as "a
great way to help and contribute."
She experienced family difficul
ties as a child, "and support was
not there," she said. "I've always
wanted to help kids who need it."
Jones, a long-time supporter of
animal rights and environmental
causes, first responded to an ad
vertisement for the Tribal Court's
Peacemakers program, but she was
ineligible because those positions
are reserved for Tribal members.
"They said they were also look
ing for CASA volunteers and that
sounded right for me," Jones said.
"It sounded real right."
She thought to herself, "Let's see
if we can help a child go down, the -right
road. I felt it would be pretty
worthwhile if we could do that."
Volunteers, in short supply here
and in CASA programs across the
country, have been recruited since
the Tribe began the CASA program
in Grand Ronde. The effort, which
was taken up by Tribal Court Pro
grams Specialist Adrea Korthase
in January, has sought volunteers
with advertisements in Smoke Sig
nals, with displays at powwows and
"every possible community event in
the area," said Korthase.
Potential volunteers complete
40 hours of training, 10 in cultural
awareness issues. Their time com
mitment is "case specific," said
Fasana, but "10 hours a month at
the most."
"The court or the ICW program
can recommend that a certain child
needs a volunteer," said Petite. "We
try to get the best fit between loca
tion and age, or maybe the amount
of time needed on the case."
Each volunteer will be assigned
one or more cases by the Tribal
Court judge.
Korthase said she is hopeful that
a second group of volunteers may
be ready to begin another round of
training by July. Although none of
the first group is Native American,
the Tribal Court also has two other
volunteer programs where every
position is filled by a member of the
Grand Ronde Tribe.
Five volunteers currently are
signed up for the Tribal Member
Review Board. Of the five, three
are chosen to hear each case. These
volunteers impartially review each
case, consider the perspectives of
all of the parties involved and make
findings and recommendations
about the case to Tribal Court and
the Indian Child Welfare program.
Four volunteers are currently
involved in the Tribal Peacemaker
program, designed to provide a non
adversarial way to resolve disputes
for both Tribal and non-Tribal
members of the community.
"One thing that has intrigued me
about starting the CASA program
--ia'tha'tlt gives Tribal members
the opportunity to give back to the
Tribe and to help Tribal children
who need it the most," Fasana
said.
For more information about be
coming a volunteer for any of the
Tribal Court programs, contact
Korthase at 503-879-4623 or adrea.
korthasegrandronde.org.
"The benefits you will bring are
just enormous," Townsend told the
volunteers at the swearing in.
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