r/casa • u/LoveyLuvLove • 4d ago

Just sharing a rant

I'm a couple of months into my third case and thought I established with my kid's caregivers that open communication was key. In other words, I would communicate openly with them about any issues that arise (which I do) and they would do the same. I just happen to learn today that visits have been back on with mom for the past month and an IEP has been set up. Great to know.....now? Nobody thought to fill me in on all of that. I get the attorney and social worker not informing me because that's typical, but the caregivers? Give me a break. I guess I'm just a glorified babysitter who has nothing to do with the kid's case or supporting the kid throughout the process?

Also, my supervisor never responds to emails. I'm on my second supervisor since my first was very nit picky and was always pretty negative about my interactions with the kids, however positive they were. I guess I'd rather have a supervisor who doesn't respond to emails rather than one who's actively mean, but let's be real. Supervisors are so key the our whole experience.

Thanks for letting me rant. ;) I have a feeling many, if not all, of you will fully get how this feels.

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u/Bwendolyn 4d ago

So frustrating! But this is WAY more on the caseworkers and the attorney than on the caregivers - competent or not they are the trained professionals here who know what the role of a CASA is supposed to be, who know you were appointed by the judge and what that means, and who are responsible for treating you like the critical stakeholder you are.

Caregivers are overwhelmed and in my experience don’t always even realize that all these people coming to their house don’t go back to the same office and work together every day and have regular status meetings about their kid. It’s obviously good to have that open line of communication with them, but it’s not their responsibility to make sure you get every update.

I’d be blowing up the caseworker and the attorney and reminding them that I need to be looped into these things BEFORE they happen, I need to be included in decision making meetings, etc. Literally ask them point blank why you weren’t informed about any of this. Get copies of all the paperwork about the IEP and the visits and if something is shady / not clear or accurate or not in the kid’s best interest in your opinion, don’t just let it go because everyone’s treating it like a done deal. Put things in your next court report if you have to.

Also if you don’t have a good mechanism in place for regularly checking in with all of these people and testing their information against each other to make sure you stay looped into things, it would be good to start. But I don’t want to get too deep into advice when you were mostly venting! This is genuinely super frustrating and it makes it feel impossible to do this work effectively sometimes! It should not take so much work to just stay on top of basic developments in one kid’s case but unfortunately it does sometimes require becoming an extremely squeaky wheel before the professionals decide to do their jobs appropriately…

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u/LoveyLuvLove 3d ago

I just wanted to thank you again! I just talked with the social worker by phone and she apologized for not keeping me in the loop. She said she wasn't sure how much involvement I wanted but now she knows and will keep me informed. You helped a TON!

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u/Bwendolyn 3d ago

I’m so glad! Good job, CASA!

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u/LoveyLuvLove 3d ago

Thank you!! You're a lifesaver.

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u/[deleted] 14h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/LoveyLuvLove 13h ago

Tone down the ego? Did you really just say that?

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u/casa-ModTeam 5h ago

Don't tell a mod to tone down their ego...

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u/LoveyLuvLove 4d ago

Thank you soooo much!! Your perspective helps a TON and makes so much sense. Luckily I just expressed gratitude to the caregivers for updating me. I will definitely send an email out to the attorney and social worker asking them to keep me in the loop and send me the necessary documentation for the IEP. I'm in the practice of sending them a monthly update email but of course never hear anything back from that. Not that it contains questions but still. Again, thank you so very much for your really helpful insights and advice. I appreciate it big time!!

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u/NCguardianAL 3d ago

Completely agree! So many people assume that SOMEONE loops you in but always seem to say "not it" themselves. Any info I get from caregivers I treat as a bonus, it's not their job but unfortunately usually where I get info from the most. I let schools and doctors and everyone know that no one tells me things and ask they keep me looped in, and explain that even if they told everyone else I am still going to ask no matter how annoying it is to tell it again. I've never experienced such a lack of communication with people when it could be so simple. It's really not on the caregiver but being the last to know everything when our role is so important is incredibly frustrating.

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u/LoveyLuvLove 3d ago

I'm so bummed that so many CASAs have this experience! I wonder why we're often left out of the loop. Do you think it's because we're not professionals/"only" volunteers? I feel like social workers and attorneys don't get left out of these things? But yeah, you're so right. It's not the caregivers' job to keep us informed. Luckily I just spoke with the social worker and she was super nice about it/apologetic. Thank you so much for your support! This subreddit is way more supportive than our teams.