2018 CASA of HoCo Advocate of the Year
MEET Faye G.
"From my first case to the case I have now, I realize this is not something to be taken lightly. Even though a CASA is a volunteer, you still are responsible for making decisions that affect children’s lives and parents lives, too. It is scary…but also very rewarding.."
HOMETOWN - Seattle, WA
How did you learn about CASA? What made you want to become involved?
I learned about the CASA program when my husband, Gene, told me he was interested in it and was going to find out more information about it. After watching Gene be a CASA for a few years and when I retired from working, I decided that I would try it too.
What qualities do you think are important to have as a CASA volunteer?
I believe a CASA needs to have compassion, dedication, be caring, and be persistent.
What has been your greatest challenge as a CASA volunteer?
My greatest challenge so far has been to stand up in court and recommend that a child not go back to their parent.
What has been your greatest success as a CASA volunteer?
My greatest success has been to return children to a parent who tried their hardest to prove they could change and deserved to have their children returned to them. A parent who's own family should have been a support to them, but instead they wanted to keep the child in hopes of adopting her.
Briefly tell about a CASA case you've had.
My first case was a hard one. I was sure the mother was going to succeed and get her child back but every time she got close to an accomplishment, she would fail. After awhile, it became apparent she really wasn’t ready to have her child returned to her. I had to decide that after this went on for almost a year that the best interest of the child was to be adopted by the foster parents, who had her since she was a week old.
Staff perspective:
Faye is a foundational piece to the advocacy efforts of our program as a whole. Her voice is always heard, and her presence is always felt whenever she's in a room. She took her advocacy to another level when she didn't take the validity of drug test on a parent at face value. She went the extra mile and purchased said legal substance and then researched it. She needed to know how accessible it was (how do you purchase it), and exactly how would a substance abusing parent use this particular supplement. She presented all of her findings to the court and the mom was allowed a little more time to make significant progress on her case plan. Although the mom still failed, Mrs. Faye's efforts set her apart from the Judge's perspective from the bench. The Judge asked could we clone her, and she's been asking for a clone ever since. She is always on time, and her reports are never late. And she's present to just about every training.
