A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
LIFESTYLES
CHILDREN’S CHAMPIONS
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
A
lberta Akers cares
for her disabled hus-
band and son at their
home in Boardman. The
former school bus driver
and potato plant shift coor-
dinator decided at the age
of 73 she still has the time
and drive to do more.
Alberta swore the pledge
Wednesday to volunteer as a
court appointed special ad-
vocate for children in state
foster care. Her daughter,
Sariena Garrett of Heppner,
also jumped into the adven-
ture and took the pledge.
Both have raised families
— Alberta has two boys and
two girls, and Sariena has a
son and two daughters —
and said they want to help
foster children in their com-
munities.
“The main thing is learn-
ing how to stand by the chil-
dren and be there for them,”
Alberta said.
“We speak up for them,”
Sariena said. “We’ll be the
constant person in the child’s
life. No matter how many
times they get assigned
families, we’ll be with that
child.”
Umatilla-Morrow County
Head Start operates CASA,
and Jesus Rome manages
the program. He said CA-
SAs are legal parties to the
child’s case, so they attend
court proceedings and can
meet with the child’s law-
yer and case workers. They
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Alberta Akers of Boardman and her daughter, Sariena Garrett of Heppner, both decided to become Court Appointed Special
Advocates, or CASA, volunteers. CASA volunteers advocate for children in state foster care.
are responsible for observ-
ing the child and making
recommendations to judges,
he said, and the judges take
those reports seriously. The
average assignment lasts
about two to two-and-half
years, but can be longer.
As Sariena put it: “Once
you get a kid, you need to
stick with them until the
end.”
Just as the title indicates,
they advocate for the needs
of the children. Maybe they
need new shoes, Sariena
said, so the CASA relays that
to the child’s case worker or
attorney. Maybe they have
concerns about their foster
home. The volunteer relays
that, too. But the advocates
do not take on the onus of
providing for the needs.
Rome said the relation-
ship also goes beyond the
courtroom. The volunteers
can visit children at their
schools, watch them at af-
ter-school events, visit their
foster homes. The program
recommends visits of at least
once a month, but Alberta
and Sariena said they plan
to visit children more often.
After all, they said, Board-
man and Heppner are small
towns.
The mother and daugh-
ter were among six who
recently completed the pro-
gram’s 40 hours of training
to become CASAs, which
included hearing from state
social workers, judges and
attorneys. They said the pro-
gram stresses learning to ac-
cept cultural differences and
to set aside personal opinion
and beliefs to make observa-
tions and recommendations
from an objective stance.
“It’s a huge responsibili-
ty,” Sariena said. “There’s a
lot we need to know. There
are so many laws we need to
know.”
“We’re going to be learn-
ing as we go,” Alberta said.
But they are not going it
alone. Rome said the pro-
gram provides new volun-
teers with a CASA mentor,
a veteran who can help nav-
igate situations that might
seem overwhelming. Some
of the children have compli-
cated cases, he said, so some
guidance can help a new
advocate learn where to get
started on a case and what to
prioritize.
Alberta, Sariena and the
other advocates have to keep
information
confidential.
They cannot reveal what is
going on with a child, even
to their spouse. Rome said
to help with that isolation,
the program holds monthly
meetings in Hermiston and
Pendleton so the volunteers
can talk and brainstorm. And
there are opportunities for
more training, Rome said,
which makes for better ad-
vocates.
Alberta said the program
can use more volunteers.
Rome said there 43 spe-
cial advocates in the two
counties, and the new moth-
er-daughter team are among
the five in Morrow County.
The number of children in
foster care in Umatilla and
Morrow counties fluctuates
each month, he said, but his
last count showed 170 chil-
dren. The goal of the CASA
program is to have one ad-
vocate per child.
“These are the highest
needs kids in our communi-
ties,” Rome said, and some
have endured and suffered
abuse and neglect. For peo-
ple with time to make the
commitment, Rome said it
can be fulfilling work.
Sariena, who operates
a home-based online retail
business, said her husband
told her “no” because she
would want to bring the chil-
dren home. She explained
that is not what CASAs do.
Still, she said, her husband
warned she would end up
with a broken heart.
He might be right, she
said. Like her mother, she
drove a school bus. They
said they saw children in
their communities who were
in need.
“You really want to help
every child,” Sariena said,
“but if I can make a differ-
ence in just one child’s life it
will be worth it.”
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