Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Professionalism – Part 5)
Volunteers lack “professionalism” is a primary argument management is using to eliminate the community CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer guardian ad Litem program in Minnesota.
In this instance, “Professionalism” is a word that needs definition within the context it is being used.
We are applying it to people communicating with, understanding, and advocating for abused and neglected children in Minnesota institutions of Child Protection and Courts.
GAL Management maintains that at a time of tight employment, $21/hour will attract a more diverse and talented population of professionals than can be found in the volunteer world.
The program’s argument is that recent college graduates and entry level people will learn the systems, services and protocol and better manage the lives of children they serve because they are more “professional” than community volunteers.
The CASA volunteer counter argument is that most community volunteer guardian ad Litems bring diversity and talent beyond that of entry level employees. Most volunteers are retired, semi-retired and come from years of teaching, social work, healthcare, policing/juvenile justice and have grounding in the lives of at-risk children and the systems involved with Child Protective Services.
Many CASA volunteers come to this work with established professional experience from a related field and years of involvement in and awareness of the needs and understanding of specific aspects of the institutions and the children involved.
Today, CASAMN has a list of 200 volunteers on hold until this matter can be sorted out. Many of these community members have been waiting for over a year. Many are people of color and other populations that represent the children in the system. Historically, our volunteers have been a feeder system for the program to hire experienced volunteers.
Eliminating the volunteer guardian ad Litems from this program also ends a significant level of transparency and other significant community involvement. These have been a huge part of this program over the last 40 years (about 10,000 volunteers past and another 10,000 volunteers future if we keep them).
There is something very wrong with excluding this community and its volunteers from a program so well established and successful.
Eliminating the community and the volunteer CASA guardian ad Litem program matters.
Less is not more in Child Protective Services.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children.
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