This former CASA volunteer Guardian ad Litem has a unique perspective of what happened to Minnesota’s CASA Guardian ad Litem program over the last 4 years. I had the good fortune to work for Suzanne Smith, who brought the CASA program to MN in 1986, and her successor, Laurie Kusek, in 2009 when Susanne Smith retired.
Both leaders were absolutely serious about “The best interest of the child” in decisions made within this governmental agency (the key principle upon which this agency was founded). Even then, there were almost always unassigned cases.
These children did not have a federally mandated voice of a GAL in the courtroom to speak for them and navigate the cold, hard reality of Child Protective Services. This was the priority and a common conversation in the GAL office.
Volunteers often volunteered to take more than the CASA National requirement of three cases to deal with the lack of GALs to speak for the children entering the system.
Keep in mind that quality time with children evaporates as caseloads go up. There is (or should be) something heartfelt about babies, toddlers, and children caught up in a government institution because of life-threatening things that have happened to them. The system is still cold even with a caring adult working alongside you as a caring spokesperson in the courtroom.
Some CASAs would take 10 cases or more to help these poor, frightened children struggling in the system.
Between 1996 and 2009 there were around 400 CASAs in the office and a few (2-5) staff GALs. As the caseloads grew in my last years, the CASA program began supporting efforts to hire more paid guardians.
Paid guardians were assigned 30 cases. Some took more (in some states, 50 is the norm). With 30 cases there is little room for quality time with the children in your caseload. 30 cases could mean up to 90 children to visit and keep safe each month (not easily done). My first two cases were of 7 and 8 children (in each family). One of those cases stuck with me for 11 years.
In 2019, Tami Baker-Olson took over State GAL program leadership at the time Laurie Kusek retired as Manager of the 4th District. Tami’s first order of business was to eliminate the CASA community volunteer GAL program. She could do this because CASAMN had helped lobby for the dollars she would need to hire more staff. As of today, Tami has succeeded in reducing the number of CASAs to 13 while increasing her budget to over 45 million dollars over the biennium.
This at a time when COVID locked children into toxic homes over prolonged periods. More violence, neglect, and trauma = growing numbers of children suffering from more trauma in need of protection.
From a purely business perspective, Tami has removed hundreds of trained and committed community volunteers from a struggling institution dealing with more cases and more severe cases fueled by the extended lockdowns in toxic homes during the COVID years.
This condition won’t diminish within the next decade because these troubled children become troubled juveniles in need of help from the community. Underserved children live with traumas and mental health issues making it hard for them to succeed in school and society. Most will go on to have families just like the one they came from.
Today, Hennepin County alone has over 200 unassigned children not being served by staff or CASA GALs with already high caseloads (there are disputes about some of the numbers reported by the program).
What is not disputed is the turnover of staff. The work is hard. Spending your days with neglected, raped and beaten children sticks to you. Secondary trauma is real. This work takes a special person to be successful (to stick around and be effective). The learning curve for this work is two years or more unless you already have experience working with troubled youth and families (which many CASA volunteers have).
Today, GAL employee dissatisfaction and underperformance are at an all-time high. Turnover in Tami’s office exceeds other governmental vocations because the office atmosphere is toxic, the work is unrelenting, and often incredibly sad.
To make matters worse, Tami is slow walking the hiring of volunteers months after losing the battle to eliminate the CASA program.
From a business perspective, eliminating the well-trained and experienced (passionate) community CASA volunteers over the last five years has been a tragic loss to the children in child protection, a catastrophe to the GAL program, and a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.
Can the MN State GAL board please find someone to run this office who cares for children and is fit for the purpose?
• KARA and CASAMN thank the MN GAL Board for reversing Tami’s effort to eliminate the Volunteer program. We appreciated the apology and appreciation letter the MN GAL Board Chair sent to all remaining Volunteers. But the BOARD needs to strengthen leadership now as the program needs strong, supportive leadership to encourage and not slow walk the rebuilding process.
WHEN YOU Share KARA’s reporting with FRIENDS, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK and most of all, your State Representative (find them here) change will come. When enough of us become informed and speak up for abused and neglected children, we will improve their lives and our communities! Please support KARA’s work with a small monthly donation:
This post written by former CASA Guardian ad Litem Mike Tikkanen
Gerard Bodell, CASAMN Rebuttal to MAD GAL report
Rich Gehrman, Safe Passage for Children of MN Rebuttal to MAD report
KARA’s Public Comments to MAD Report
INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION
#lauriekusek
#suzannesmith
#kidsatrisk
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#casa
#courtappointedspecialadvocate
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#tamibaker-olson
#safepassage
#richgehrman
#casamn
