9 months into the case and I’m bored. I’m a CASA to a 16-year-old young woman who is currently placed at home with her mother. This is easy, I think. Nothing is happening. The issues at home seem to be under control. I even get along well with her mother. I worry that I’m not making any difference. I was just coasting until dismissal.

Then it’s January. My child starts canceling meetings or simply not showing. Frustrating! I begin losing interest in the case. I thought maybe she too was bored with the process and with me. There’s no real threat of her being removed from her home anyway, so why am I bothering?

When I finally see her again, she walks out of her front door with a very visible baby bump. NO{insert expletives here}! We talked about this! She told me herself months ago that she was too young to have a baby and wanted to enjoy being a teenager. Yet she now stands before me, pregnant, and intent on keeping the baby.

I have a court report to write in a week and no idea what to put in it. This dilemma caught me off guard. Up until this point, I really thought the case should be dismissed. I did not see any serious issues in her current living situation nor with her mother’s ability to care for her. But now she’s pregnant. Does that mean her dependency status should remain? Is that relevant? I’m not a lawyer or a social worker, yet here I was trying to interpret the law. Her lawyer thought her dependency status should remain. Her social worker was adamant that it must remain. Their concerns were valid. What will happen to her and her child if her case is dismissed? Who is going to make sure she does right by her baby? Even though I had the same fears, were those fears relevant to this young woman’s dependency status?

The reality is that teenage girls get pregnant. However, we don’t automatically make them dependents of the court at inception. If she wasn’t pregnant, what changes? Her home situation is stable. The issues her mother is dealing with really have nothing to do with her or her care.

I wrote my report. I recommended her case be dismissed and that her pregnancy should be considered irrelevant to her dependency status. The lawyer read it. The social worker read it. Begrudgingly they agreed I was right. The best we could do is work together to put a plan in place for her and hope she follows it. We slunk into the court and scheduled a summation hearing.

I have no doubt that my report directly changed the course of her future. That fact alone both scares and inspires me.

Do I think she’s equipped to have this baby? Not at all. No 16 year old girl is. But I believe she deserves the same rights to make her own way as any other girl in her situation. My advocacy ensured she got that right. Time will tell how she does.

SF CASA will be highlighting one volunteer each month to honor their achievements and give our volunteers a chance to become more familiar with one another. Some names, places and other identifiables have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

SF CASA will be highlighting one volunteer each month to honor their achievements and give our volunteers a chance to become more familiar with one another.

My sixteen year old young man announced that he thought his girlfriend was pregnant. I froze.

“What do you mean ‘think’?” I asked.

“Well, she thinks she might be. But we won’t know for sure for three months.”

“Three months? If she is pregnant you can find out right now with a test from the grocery, ” I sputtered.

“But those tests are expensive. I think she is going to tell her mom.”

“She has to tell her mom. You have to get her to tell her mom.”

Then I was lost. I didn’t see sex education for a high school student as an appropriate responsibility in my role as a CASA. I had only been on this case for about six months. I still believed we were establishing our relationship and was not prepared to take on the topic of sex and pregnancy. I have met his girlfriend’s mom. Do I tell her? Do I wait for them to tell her? How long do I give them to tell her? What if she’s not pregnant? She better not be pregnant.

There is a piece of him that very much wants a baby. Like all of the youth in the foster care system, he had a challenging home life. He is excited about the opportunity to create a strong and loving family for his baby. He is a thoughtful young man who acted as the primary caregiver for his younger sister when she was a baby and he was in grade school. He really doesn’t see getting up for feedings and diaper changes as all that difficult. He believes it is a sign of love and commitment. It is what family does. He can’t believe his girlfriend’s mom would respond in any other way but with joy and support for the growing family. He doesn’t believe there is any reason he and the baby’s mother can’t provide that for a baby. He believes he is ready.

I am not ready for him to be a dad. I have been mentally creating college plans, employment opportunities and crafting a perfect future far away from everything that first brought us together. He could be a muralist. He could be in graphic design at a premier school on the East Coast. Those are things I can help him navigate. But now those things aren’t as easy.

Being a CASA is constantly being reminded that it’s not about my plans and what I think he should do. I have been given the incredible privilege to support him in his life. I have to help him figure out what he wants to do and connect him with all of the tools to be successful with his dream and his vision for his future- even now that there is going to be a baby.

SF CASA will be highlighting one volunteer each month to honor their achievements and give our volunteers a chance to become more familiar with one another. Some names, places and other identifiables have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

I was sworn in as a CASA last November and was matched with a 6-year-old boy named Maurice a few weeks later. During the CASA training we heard quite a few horror stories and cautionary tales, so naturally I had a lot of concerns and apprehensions about the road ahead. Would I get along with Maurice? Would I get along with his foster family? Would I have a good rapport with his social worker, his lawyer, and all the other people in the system I would need to interact with? And, most importantly, would I be able to apply all the lessons and guidelines I was taught during the CASA training?

I can honestly say that the answer to all the above questions is a resounding “yes.” My experience of being a CASA has thus far exceeded all my expectations. Maurice and I seemed to “click” from the moment we first met. Our first outing was attending the CASA holiday party, and we both had a blast. We’ve had many enjoyable outings since then.  We’ve gone to a Warriors basketball game in Oakland, a children’s play in Berkeley, a Mexican music concert in the Mission, an Easter pancake breakfast on Mount Tamalpais in Marin, bowling in Richmond, a dance concert at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, and the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. This weekend we’re going to Marine World in Vallejo to celebrate Maurice’s seventh birthday.  Yes, we’ve gone to a lot of events and venues, but Maurice also enjoys just hanging out or taking a walk on the beach. And any outing that includes a McDonald’s Happy Meal is a winner, although I try to limit his junk food consumption.

Maurice is an outgoing, energetic little guy who seems remarkably well adjusted considering all the challenges he has faced and will continue to face. Is he an angel? Not at all, but have you ever met a 6-year-old who is? He can be mischievous, unruly, and uncooperative at times, but he is also a loving, sweet kid with a huge amount of potential.

What has made my CASA experience even richer is that one of my classmates in the training program, Amanda Clarke, is the CASA for two of Maurice’s sisters, who live in the same foster home. Amanda is great and we have gone on many beautiful outings together.  Sometimes, when I am unavailable, Amanda has taken Maurice along on outings with his sisters, and I have done the same with the girls when Amanda is not around. I feel very fortunate to have such a great teammate to share outings and also to discuss issues and concerns.

Maurice’s foster mother has been extremely cooperative and supportive. Whenever I go to pick him up she welcomes me as if I were part of the family. And I also want to give a shout out to my CASA caseworker, Carly New Beers, who has been extremely supportive and helpful.

I suppose I should mention some of the negative aspects of my CASA experience, but there really haven’t been any.  My only concern is that if and when Maurice gets adopted as I truly hope and expect he will be, I will really miss the little guy.  But of course there are plenty of other great kids waiting for a CASA.