CASA looking to expand Silver Valley influence

KELLOGG — In the state of Idaho, a juvenile under the age of 12 is not assigned representation in a court room for Child Protective Service cases. This leaves these younger children no way of making themselves heard during what could possibly be a defining moment in their lives.

This is where the North Idaho Court Appointed Special Advocates come in.

Shoshone County CASA supervisor Jessica Cagle explains that “what we try to do is give the voiceless a voice in court.”

CASA does this by training advocates to investigate child protection cases and report their findings. They talk to anyone that is involved in their assigned child’s life to get a sense of what their needs are. These reports can then be used by judges when determining what course of action to take in legal matters involving a CASA represented child.

Recently named CASA’s advocate of the year, Cagle was a volunteer for the last two years before she was contracted by the organization to be the county supervisor. Cagle says that this move to assign a full-time influence to Shoshone County shows CASA’s commitment to the area and opens the door for them to help even more.

In a county where the child poverty rate sits at 25 percent (compared to the state average of 17 percent), CASA certainly has their work cut out for them.

The organization as a whole covers the five North Idaho counties (Benewah, Shoshone, Kootenai, Bonner and Boundary) and has 252 open child cases. Shoshone County CASA contributes 15 cases (22 children involved) to that overall number and is struggling to get advocates for them. Currently only 7 of these 15 local cases have been assigned, meaning that 14 children (8 cases) do not have representation in court.

Cagle is hopeful that with her new position and the soon-to-be addition of a local CASA office in the Silver Valley (location is to be determined), she can attract more volunteers and bring in more fundraising dollars. The local office is important because it would ensure that any money raised would stay in the county and help local children. CASA has taken criticism in the past on this subject due to locally raised funds going to the Coeur d’Alene office and not staying in the community.

Attracting new advocates is also important because of the demand that is currently not being met.

When Cagle started volunteering with CASA two years ago, there were no other advocates in Shoshone County. In that time, she has done her best to represent many voiceless children (in many cases, literally).

“I’ve been in CASA for about two years and I’ve had 14 children in my cases,” she explained. “I just recently got a case where it’s the first time the child was over the age of 3.”

With some time as a volunteer advocate under her belt (she still advocates for four children in Shoshone County), Cagle understands that the position comes with a bit of a commitment, but the amount of time required is manageable.

Advocates must see their assigned child at least once every 30 days and needs to be present for court appearances. This is on top of a 30-hour certification program (broken down into five-hour classes) where a trainee gets paired with an established advocate to learn the ins and outs of the business.

Cagle states that the most time consuming part of the position is doing interviews and investigating the child’s household situation. Broken down, an advocate looks to spend roughly four to 10 hours a month working for their assigned child.

With the new position, she is hopeful that she will have the flexibility to help advocates with their cases and even make court appearances if the child’s assigned advocate can’t be present.

“Many hands make light work,” she said. “The goal for an advocate is to never have more than three cases.”

An advocate is not a social case worker or a foster parent, but they do work closely with those individuals if the need arises.

“The relationship between a foster family and a CASA is huge because we talk to them before we talk to anyone else,” Cagle explained. “We try to help our foster parents as much as we can.”

When CASA receives physical donations such as diapers, food and clothing, it is given to advocates, who then pass it to foster parents when they check in on their assigned child.

Although there is a lot to do before the organization can grow, Cagle is excited to meet the challenge head on and help Silver Valley children in need.

“Our goal is to make sure they are getting the services that they need and to talk to them and find out what has happened to them,” she said. “We’re really excited to get CASA up and running in Shoshone County because it’s definitely needed.”

For more information on CASA in the Silver Valley, contact Jessica Cagle at 208-667-9165 or email her at jessica@northidahocasa.org.