Resolution Center of Jefferson and Lewis Counties, CASA seeking volunteers

Rachel Burt, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·6 min read

Aug. 7—WATERTOWN — Dozens of children and families are served every year by the Resolution Center of Jefferson and Lewis Counties through its various programs. Volunteers put in countless hours to make it all possible.

The organization hopes to continue to grow its capacity to serve the community, but is in need of volunteers. All programs of the Resolution Center are volunteer-based.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the Resolution Center has experienced a decline in volunteer retention that has hit all its programs, especially the Court Appointed Special Advocates, CASA, program, which has provided a voice for children who have experienced abuse or neglect in Jefferson County since 1986.

Natasha F. Delaney, program coordinator for CASA and family visitation program coordinator, said that before the pandemic, CASA was holding training classes two to three times a year, and from that would get five or six people signing up. Some people would always fall off, and CASA would typically end up with three or four volunteers. Now, with training done virtually, some people find it easier with work schedules, but since the pandemic, CASA has only had one to two trainees signed up throughout the year for training. Most often, they are not successfully completing the program, Ms. Delaney said.

CASA currently has eight volunteers and two staff members serving more than 60 children.

"In 2019, we had 29 volunteers, which is a high number for us," she said. "I would say on average, we have around 15 volunteers at a time. So having eight right now is difficult."

CASA advocates are appointed to abuse/neglect cases that are active in family court, and most often, these are the most difficult or complex cases. The advocates build relationships with the children and families to assist in the reunification process whenever possible. The rapport built with the children allows the advocates to report back to the judge on the child's wishes for permanency and what is in their best interest. Children with CASA have been proven to receive expedited permanency and have their cases closed faster than children not part of the program. Advocates differ from caseworkers in that the advocates are typically assigned one case at a time so they can dedicate all of their time to that one family.

"As far as CASA goes, I would say the importance is huge, it saves the community a lot of tax dollars because these are volunteer advocates, they're able to dedicate time to one specific family and work on the little things with them that caseworkers might not necessarily have the time to do," Mrs. Delaney said. "Caseworkers are so overloaded right now and there's so much change going on in the world that having a CASA advocate for the children just adds another level or layer of support for the families as a whole."

CASA's mission is simple: Using an advocacy model through specially-trained volunteers that create working partnerships with families, attorneys, and service providers, CASA speaks for children and helps facilitate collaborative solutions that promote timely resolution of child abuse and neglect matters. CASA assists children in achieving the best permanency outcome, whether that is reunification with their biological families or through adoption.

In 1991, the Jeff-Lewis Mediation Center Inc. was established to provide alternative dispute resolution services for Jefferson and Lewis County citizens through trained staff and volunteers. That year, CASA was placed under the nonprofit umbrella and in 1997, the agency began offering family court custody and visitation mediations and also launched the youth court program. In 2004, the agency changed its name to the Resolution Center of Jefferson and Lewis Counties.

The Resolution Center is a nonprofit umbrella agency for not only CASA, but conflict resolution services like mediation, arbitration, youth court/restorative justice, and the family visitation program. The small volunteer force has impacted all programs, and the youth court program had to close because due to school closures it didn't receive case referrals.

The youth court program is expected to restart this fall. The program gives youth the opportunity to take classes or the youth court diversion program, to repair the harm their actions may have caused while avoiding a criminal record. This is for youth who have been in trouble once, and gives them the opportunity to clean the slate. Often, these youth join the program later on as volunteers. There will be trainings for youth volunteers on Oct. 8 and 9.

The family visitation program is a sub program of CASA that provides supervised visitation services to children who are either in or out of foster care. Most often the kids are not in foster care and the parents need supervised visitation for a variety of reasons such as substance abuse, domestic violence, or long periods of separation due to incarceration. Visits typically begin at the office and transition to community-based settings after they are assessed for safety. Visits are once a week for two hours. Most often families are active in family court and the observation reports from visits are distributed to the involved attorneys to assist them in coming to an agreement on the custody or visitation dispute.

The mediation and dispute resolution services program provides conflict resolution services including mediation, conciliation, arbitration, conflict coaching and restorative practices (circles or family group conferences, for example). This program handles mainly city and family court matters such as breach of contracts and custody/visitation disputes and allows people to gather in a safe space and hopefully come to a peaceful resolution outside of the court room. A training to become a certified mediator under the New York State Unified Court System is being held this fall.

All of the services that the Resolution Center provides are either free or low cost based on sliding fee scales. Without volunteers, the center wouldn't be able to operate.

"I always say there's nothing to lose — you're gaining so much experience from working with children and families in our community," Mrs. Delaney said. "You're making a difference in the lives of local people, this isn't impacting people states away, it is right here. Be the change that you want to see. Everyone talks about all the things that they wish were different, and with our programs and the things that we do, they can be a part of that change and making things better for the families in our community."

Learn more

Those interested in the Resolution Center and its programs can contact the Center at 315-785-0333 to learn more about its programs and volunteer opportunities.