Debbie Mayer has been a CASA advocate for a long while—sixteen years, in fact! Her previous life experience included working as a registered dietitian in a 300 bed hospital, but found that raising her two daughters had been a huge asset in understanding and being able to empathize with parents, kids, their respective feelings and to understand family dynamics.
During the past sixteen years, Debbie has has several cases, some more challenging than others. Her latest case just closed the end of October, after being open on and off for eight years! When the child came into care, they were a toddler. This case involved the child returning home to live with mom five times, sometimes when Debbie had advised against it. Fortunately, each time the child came back into care, Debbie was willing to take the case up again and continue to advocate for the child. Finally, the child found permanency in a permanent guardianship with relatives who had been faithfully there for them whenever necessary. As a nine year old, this child can look forward to the rest of their childhood being far more settled than the previous nine years. Debbie’s willingness to “pick up where she left off” over and over was a testament to her dedication to her role as an advocate, and her commitment to making a difference in the life of this child.
After sixteen years, you would imagine that Debbie has seen most everything—and you would be correct! She has seen multiple families facing very hard, challenging times, has seen the resolution of many problems, and has worked with a very diverse group of people—families, caseworkers, judges, and of course, the child/ren in each case. When working on a case, Debbie feels that having a “listening ear” from CASA staff for those times when she has questions or just needs to vent is invaluable. She finds the staff great at providing reassurance and helpful feedback.
During this time, Debbie has learned some things that have surprised her. One of the biggest surprises was the value of using her advocacy to work as part of the team with other parties to the case, including the caseworkers, resource parents, attorneys, teachers, and anyone else who is involved. She advises other CASA’s to get to know the child’s biological parents if at all possible. Though this might seem uncomfortable at first, many parents realize that the CASA really does have the best interest of their child at heart.
Debbie’s advice to other advocates is to educate yourself about your case by talking to the other parties, then don’t be afraid to write your report to include what you truly believe to be in the child’s best interests, even when you know others
might disagree with your recomendations. Your voice does matter in court, and the judges DO read and value the CASA reports that are submitted. Don’t be afraid to speak up in court and say what you believe.
The staff at Columbia Gorge CASA greatly appreciates the work that our advocates do to help the children in foster care in our community make their voices heard.
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