CASA volunteers serve as voices for abused or neglected children.
By: Lea Kahn
Tyrone and Marquis were toddlers when they were removed from their home in Trenton. And they continued to be moved around until they landed at the Somerset Residential Treatment Center.
The boys, now 14 and 12, respectively, are developmentally disabled. They cannot read beyond a second-grade level, and a speech impediment makes it difficult for them to communicate with others.
That’s why the boys need the help of Lawrence resident Skip Conover, a volunteer advocate recently spotlighted by Ewing Township-based Court Appointed Special Advocates of Mercer County Inc. in its newsletter.
The idea for court-appointed special advocates was the brainchild of a Seattle, Wash., judge in 1977, Mr. Conover said. The judge noticed that in court cases involving abused or neglected children, there was often no one to speak up for them, so he envisioned an organization that would look out for their interests.
The judge’s vision came to fruition in the 1980s, Mr. Conover said. Today, there are 950 CASA programs nationwide, including programs in 19 of New Jersey’s 21 counties. Mercer County has 80 trained volunteer advocates. In Lawrence alone, four others, Roger Chloewiak, Miriam Mills, Lucy Halter and Marilyn Robinson, also are volunteers.
"In many cases, the CASA volunteer is the only confidante that a child has," Mr. Conover said. "The child may not open up to a foster parent. We have a little more personal interest in the child. We are not just another number to the child."
According to CASA’s mission statement, volunteers speak up in court for the best interests of the 500 children in Mercer County who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect.
CASA volunteers ensure that needed services and assistance are provided while helping to move the child into a safe and permanent home. CASA tries to minimize the length of time a child spends in the child welfare system, according to the mission statement.
While the state Division of Youth and Family Services handles children’s issues, each caseworker is assigned 20 to 40 cases, meaning a caseworker may not be able to give cases the same attention a CASA volunteer can give them because of the workload, Mr. Conover said.
Mr. Conover said he tries to ensure that Marquis and Tyrone’s medical, dental, educational and mental needs are being met. CASA volunteers are allowed to seek that information. If a professional does not cooperate, the volunteer lets the professional know that the information cannot be withheld, under court order, he said.
"(CASA volunteers) are actually researchers," Mr. Conover said. "We do research for the family court judge, so the judge can make a better informed decision on a child’s future needs and services. We are detectives, in a way. We do the same things that DYFS does, but in greater depth."
CASA volunteers typically spend five to 15 hours per month with the child, Mr. Conover said. He said he visits the two brothers once a month, and spends about two or three hours with each one. Sometimes, they play games, he said.
Mr. Conover said he remembers the first time he walked into the room and met Marquis and Tyrone. He told the boys someone who cares about them very much had asked him to stop in and see how they were faring.
Their initial response was lukewarm, he said, but eventually he was able to make friends with the boys by playing games with them. He brought along a label-maker one day, and they communicated through it. They also drew pictures.
"When I left, one of the boys asked, ‘When is that man coming back?’" Mr. Conover said. "I felt great. I was coming back, no matter what they thought or felt. My responsibility was to take care of them and to get them the best care they could get."
Now when he visits the boys, Tyrone runs up to greet him and jumps into his lap for a hug, Mr. Conover said, the child’s eyes lighting up to match his own.
Mr. Conover, who is the vice president, treasurer and secretary for the Lawrenceville Water Co., had not planned on becoming a volunteer advocate.
"I picked up the Lawrence Ledger one day and there was a blurb about CASA looking for volunteers," he said. "I read it and I said, ‘Wow, these children really need people.’ I have the time, the temperament and the desire to do this. I called CASA and bingo, I was invited for an interview."
Mr. Conover was approved, and he began the 30-hour training course in October 2004. He was given his first case the two brothers in January 2005. He has been working with them ever since.
"I feel like I am making a contribution in life," Mr. Conover said. "There are children who don’t ask for anything, so everything they get is a bonus. All that these children want is someone to care for them."
"We don’t know if it’s going to make a difference in a child’s life, but if it’s only one ounce of difference, it is well worth the time and the effort," he added.

