Submitted by Cindy

I became a CASA because I had hoped to keep at least one child from going threw unnecessary pain in the foster care system. I believe in my training and I believed in my oath.

I got my first case. I was a very difficult on going case, and was given to me because of my abilities as para legal, and knowledge of investigation.

I went to my first meeting with CPS and listened as these people, including the county attorney, pounded their chests, at what great people they were, and how stupid the legal custodians of the children were, and how much they personally hated the mother of the children, and how the mother of the children had been raised by the system therefore obviously worthless. Then they said they were adopting the children out (2 of them that is) and the other two would stay with their grandparents. That the foster parents were going to get them and that was that. They said if the judge forced them to give the mother a treatment plan that it would be a treatment plan that she could not possibly do, they would then sit back and watch her fail, and terminate.

The foster parents said that the children were brought to them and that they were told that the parents were out of the picture and that they could adopt right away.

The foster parents became unhappy when they had to bring the children to visits with their mother and legal custodial parents. Finally they hired an attorney who called social services and said if they did not pick the children up right now that they would drop them off in front of the building.

So two of kids went to a foster home in another county.

First I was told I was out. Then I was told I was in. So I continued to see these two children.

The foster parent maintained that they did not want to adopt, that they were just in it for a few months until the kids could go home or another foster home was found.

My supervisor decided to move on to a job that suited her better. So I got a new one, plus a new rural supervisor. We are in Colorado and the district is totally in the country, no cities to speak of at all.
By this time I had my report for court and needed it to be edited, and my former supervisor said it was a great report, one of the best she had ever gotten, and I did not recommend that the kids remain in foster care nor did I recommend that they be adopted by strangers. She said give to my new supervisor to edit and I would be done.

My new supervisor, who is a paid employee of the State of Colorado, and has never been trained as a CASA did not want to edit it so she gave it to the new rural supervisor, who also has never been trained as a CASA and never taken the oath, called me and ordered me to loose the investigation and change my recommendation to stranger adoption. I refused and sent an email about the appropriateness of ordering a CASA to lie in court.

My new untrained supervisors decided not to file it. I however believed that there intent was to rewrite it to suit their agenda, which in my rural supers case is she is a full time employee of a colorado adoption agency. So I sent it to the judge with a letter telling him that I had been ordered to lie.

When I got to the court house my supers were waiting for me and spent hours grilling me about my report and demanding that I tell the judge that I want to with draw the report. Out of all of that the only thing I heard was "you don't want the judge believe what have to say doesn't have merit do you?" So when the judge said that he was going to inter it into the recorded, and asked if I would stand on it as written, I said "yes."

So I have been terminated as a CASA. They will rewrite the report.

The foster parents have decided they want to adopt, so social services have changed there mind about giving the kids back.

If you live in Colorado, and you are in the 13th Judicial District, if you can avoid getting a CASA do so. If not, they will not represent your children under their rural supervisors direction. The CASA IS UNDER ORDERS TO SAY STRANGER ADOPTION.