DC organization works with legal officials and social workers to restore lives of DC foster teens

March 24, 1:51 AMDC Youth Issues ExaminerAisha Ali

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Too often youths from “undesirable” backgrounds are cast-offs viewed as never having aspirations of greatness. Their thoughts, desires, talents, and worth are overlooked. Unaware of circumstances contributing to these youths' fate, adults often prejudge and dismiss them. However, if adults were to engage rather than prejudge, they would discover the youth who acts violently for instance, was consistently abused by his or her parents until placed in foster care, where he or she never found a permanent, loving home, eventually “aging out” of a system promising to restore his or her life. Nonetheless, one DC organization, which acts on behalf of and along with DC youths, ensures youths within the District child welfare system have a fighting chance of finding a permanent home. Those unfortunate to find a permanent home and face “aging out” of the foster care system, are prepared for an independent life as an adult.

CASA DC, an accredited member of the national organization Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association For Children, helps neglected and abused youths placed in the District child welfare system. Since its inception in 2002, CASA DC has helped roughly 400 youths achieve a normal, happy life  through one of the following four programs: Family Drug Treatment Court, and the Dual-Jacket, Preparing Youth for Adulthood, and GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered) Youth initiatives.

The Family Drug Treatment Court, formed through a partnership with the DC Court, helps youths and their mothers who have been charged with neglect, due to treatable substance abuse or mental health issues.  Family treatment courts have a higher success and completion rate than traditional juvenile dependency courts when helping substance-abusing parents reunite with their children.  In the family treatment court model, parents maintain constant interaction with their children throughout the entire treatment process, which reinforces parents' need to change their lifestyles.  The Dual-Jacket Initiative serves youths within the child welfare system that have been subsequently placed in the juvenile system for committing a crime. The GLBT Initiative provides support in assisting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youths with identity formation. The Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative, a collaborative effort with the DC Family Court and Child Family Services Agency (CFSA), helps youths transitioning into adulthood within the child welfare system that have “aged out” of foster care.

Even though all four programs have a high success rate, as youths undergoing one of these four programs have acquired permanent, stable homes and relationships with caring adults, the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative is most interesting, as it helps those youths who receive the least love, affection, or guidance: teens.

When babies and toddlers, adults display much compassion for children this age because they are “cute” and “adorable". However, as children grow older, the sensitivity and understanding adults once held disappear.  The adult sympathizes less and therefore, fewer initiatives are created to nurture teens, as many adults believe this is the time youths no longer need rigid instruction.  Hence, many teens are left to raise themselves and if they happen to make mistakes, the fault lies solely on them. 

However, what if this teen never received the proper guidance during his or her childhood?   If an adult never took the time to nurture, understand, or recognize the troubled child and his or her circumstance or capabilities, it is only natural that this child rebels in the future, once becoming a teen.  Yet, at the onset of a destructive path, adults point the finger at troubled teens saying, “Teens today have no morals, walking around with a chip on their shoulder, as if the world owes them something.” When in fact, the world does owe them something: direction, love, and attentiveness.  For, these teens did not ask to be present on earth— yet, all they have received is broken promises, abuse, and neglect. Teens within the foster care system face similar stark situations.

“After years of not engaging with children, social workers and other adults, now try to become involved in these children's lives once reaching the teenage years.  Adults become frustrated when they fail to yield positive, long-lasting results from these same teens they ignored as children-- well, it’s because they didn’t take the time to reach these teens as young children,” Shane Salter, executive director and CEO of CASA DC, told me in an interview. “Once children reach a certain age, you can’t just pop into their lives wanting to help, but give up after the first attempt when you don’t receive the results you want, claiming these teens are a lost cause. Where were you before?”

Fed up with too many youths' fates resting in the hands of uncommitted adults vowing to change the grim futures of foster teens, CASA DC, along with devoted volunteers of the DC Court and CFSA, has developed the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative.

“They have social workers who constantly come in out of their lives making promises-- they have potential foster parents who express interest and then become disinterested,” Salter said. “If you had all these people making you promises of restoring your life and constantly breaking them, never seeing your case through to the end, you tell me how you would feel? Wouldn’t you be upset?”

Many youths within the child welfare system slip through the cracks for this very reason— a lack of devoted adults working within the child welfare system that are able to see these youths’ cases through to the end. The Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative consists of devoted child welfare workers and judges that understand many youths within the system slip through the cracks. Realizing the most important thing youths need, especially teens, is stability, patience, yet stern love, CASA DC has partnered with legal authority and social worker volunteers to ensure troubled DC youths do not become just another statistic within the legal and/or child welfare system. Currently following 30 DC youths through the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative, CASA DC, along with judges and social workers, have developed life plans for each youth, ensuring each of these 30 youths follows through on his or her goals.

“Before CASA became involved with developing the life plans of these 30 youths, many of these teens were not engaged in their life plans-- they didn't feel any ownership," Salter said.  According to Salter, the current plans are more effective since teens are now allowed to develop their own life plans, instead of having their life plans predetermined without their input. 

It can be assumed teens were previously uninterested in pursuing their life plans because they were meaningless, excluding teens' personal goals or desires, which made them very generic and unchallenging.  Furthermore, before CASA DC and devoted legal officials and social workers became involved, many DC foster teens' life plans were not closely monitored. With following generic life plans that excluded teens' wants and needs, paired with uncommitted adults who had not closely monitored these foster teens' life plans, it is safe to say many of these teens probably felt hopeless, as if no other option would ever be presented before them.  Feeling hopeless, stuck, unloved, and silenced is what often leads teens down dangerous, destructive paths. 

Reflecting upon Salter's comments, it seems as if the plans the DC Court previously monitored to keep these 30 youths on the straight and narrow path were unsuccessful because they were not individually tailored per teen.  These plans cheated each youth out of his or her input, as he or she was denied the opportunity to incorporate his or her most desired goals . According to these generic plans, it was assumed these 30 youths had no aspirations or goals of being anything great, especially with being in juvenile and/or child welfare systems.

Yet, Salter is proud to say that through committed judges and social workers and CASA DC, many youths are excited and actually sticking to their plans because these are goals they have made for themselves.  Additionally, each youth's plan is being closely monitored this time around.  Salter also argues these DC teens have set high goals, such as going to college and pursuing careers.  

Adrienne Cox, president of the CASA DC Board, was gracious enough to share a success story with me regarding Delonte, a youth who was one of the previous 30 youths who had undergone the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative.

Cox praises Delonte's CASA volunteer, as she was adamant about helping Delonte through a smooth transition from foster care to an independent life as an adult.  Delonte was assigned a wonderful team consisting of CASA and GAL (Office of Guardian Ad Litem) volunteers, which found him permanent housing, a job, and restored his hope in life.  When finding Delonte permanent housing, his team of volunteers identified several possible placements and after careful consideration, decided his aunt was the best option. Establishing a firm relationship with the help of his volunteer team, Delonte moved in with his aunt after leaving foster care. After finding a permanent home, his volunteer team assisted Delonte in finding a job. Even in the midst of a crippled economy, Delonte was lucky enough to secure a job within three days, prior to him leaving foster care. However, understanding a job won’t secure Delonte's ultimate dreams, his team suggested that he apply for several local colleges, Prince George’s County Community College being one of them. 

On May 12, 2009, Delonte will participate in a panel discussion at the Youth Permanency Conference held by CFSA. Grateful for encountering individuals who finally expressed interest in restoring his life and other youths in similar situations, Delonte will serve as a mentor for future youths undergoing the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Initiative. Additionally, Delonte has served as an ambassador of CASA, as he sung for Volunteer Appreciation dinners and regional fundraisers. It’s refreshing to see youths like Delonte finally receive help, proving those wrong who had claimed them as delinquents and menaces.  

Something to think about...

Nationally, 500,000 youths are entangled in the court and child welfare system due to dangerous and unstable domestic lives. Imagine how it feels to be stripped from the only environment you’ve ever considered home due to abusive and neglectful parents. Fearful, after being stripped from your home, dozens of strangers enter your life: potential foster parents, who may, but most likely not, be patient and caring enough to help you transition into a “normal” life; therapists who poke at your brain, conjuring up complex theories of how and why you display particular behavioral patterns; uncommitted social workers who are constantly in and out of your life, breaking promises of seeing you through to a permanent home; and police officers, judges, and lawyers who claim you as another lost cause subject to a life of crime and destruction. If you’ve experienced this cycle for nearly your entire life, wouldn’t you feel jaded?