Welcome to the CASA Family!
On June 1st, 9 members of our spring training class were sworn in by Judge Melchionne in a ceremony at the Bergen County Courthouse. Having completed 36 hours of pre-service training, these volunteers are ready to be assigned to children in need of a CASA. 

Pictured left to right: Tonja Feingold, Judi Herrmann, Maureen Lavin, Moira Boccellari, Robert Borell, Judge Melchionne, Tom Lynaugh, Carlene Daniels, Angel Zheng, Jane Iozzia


On June 10th, two more members of our spring training class, Jim LoPresti and Kristin McLellan, were sworn in by Judge Mizdol. 
Volunteer Appreciation Open House
Thanks to everyone who attended Bergen CASA's Volunteer Appreciation Open House on June 14th at Theresa's house. This event is a perfect opportunity for the Board of Trustess and staff of Bergen County CASA to show their appreciation for the tremendous efforts and commitment of our volunteers. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with fellow advocates, staff and members of the board.

Faces of CASA

Vince Fiorello
CASA since 2011
Vince Fiorello has been a Bergen County CASA volunteer since 2011.  He was born in New York City, grew up on Long Island and graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he earned BA degrees in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Education. Vince has been a resident of Bergen County for over thirty years.  His work experience primarily has been in the graphic communications industry. In 1991, he founded and managed one of the first computer graphics service companies in the New York metropolitan area, Access Images, which was later acquired by The FLM Group.  After working for 15 years as the president and COO of The FLM Group, Vince currently serves on its Board of Directors.  In addition, he provides management consulting services to creative design companies and publishers.  To relax and reboot, he enjoys playing music, reading, being active outdoors, and traveling with his wife, Joan, a clinical psychologist. 
 
Vince recently shared an amazing and introspective look inside the world of a CASA volunteer and we are proud to share his thoughts and reflections with our readers.
What drew you to the CASA program?
 
A few years ago, after deciding it was time to realign the priorities in my life, I decided to research options to do some volunteer work.  Early in my adult life, I found volunteering on a regular basis to be both challenging and rewarding.  Since then, focusing primarily on building my career, and supporting and caring for my family, I occasionally would do some volunteer work in the community, especially around the holidays, but mostly I found it easier simply to write some checks to make donations to worthy causes and then move on and forget about it.  After working many years as a business executive and then becoming an empty-nester, one of the things I resolved to change was to find a volunteer organization where I could contribute something of myself and also challenge myself perhaps in a different way.  I did quite a bit of research into many groups and causes but the one that resonated with me the most was CASA.
 
When I first discovered and looked into the prospect of getting involved with CASA, what impressed me most, in addition to the mission, were the people and the overall organization.  The staff and case supervisors at Bergen CASA are really quality people and they also work great together as a team.  The inspiring, progressive, positive leadership spirit that comes from our Bergen CASA executive director, Theresa Drennan, has been something I've rarely seen during my over forty years working in the private corporate for-profit business sector.  That positive spirit extends to all the volunteers as well, many of whom have been incredibly helpful sharing their own experiences, ideas, and suggestions with me.  It's very reassuring to have a support network I can go to when I need some help or feel a bit stuck with a case, and there's an array of different people with different perspectives.  The women and men involved with CASA, as well as some of the DCP&P caseworkers, court-appointed law guardians, and judges, have helped me learn by setting examples and giving me feedback and they've really made a positive difference for me, especially at this stage of my life.
 
The CASA training is intensive.  There is so much information to absorb about child development, social services, abuse, neglect, the law, child protection and the court system, health and educational resources, cultural sensitivity, conflict management, and identifying, monitoring and reporting on the unmet needs of each individual child.
  
Describe your volunteer experience over the past 5 years.
 
One thing that stands out for me is that advocacy is not about rescue, not about feeling good about doing good, not about the comfort of compassion. It is first and foremost about hard work. And if you have any expectation or vision of being some kind of knight riding in on a white charger to save people, then, think again...maybe this work is not really for you.
 
CASA advocacy is most certainly hard work. Part of it is the challenge of navigating the overburdened and slow-moving court and social services system just to make simple things happen for the benefit of the child or family.  This can be extremely frustrating and exasperating at times.  Then there is learning to be an effective advocate while maintaining an arm's-length, dispassionate objectivity.  As a CASA, you become an evident part of this one child's world and it is impossible to not have any affect or be affected by that child's life and the realities and events occurring within his or her life and family.  It's all about relationships and whether addressed directly or not, emotions abound and create a complex reality for all involved. So, there's that ultimate Zen challenge of balancing objectivity with the subjective experience and keeping it all real and genuine in the process.

Being a CASA is the most challenging "job" I've ever had. At the end of the day, the advocate's work is all about persistence, effective communications, and building relationships.  We get to see the needs, wishes, obstacles, challenges, frustrations, and lives of the kids in the system more keenly perhaps than we see our own family members.  We are talking with and getting detailed evaluations and reports from teachers, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers, social workers, judges, and family members, neighbors, friends and acquaintances.  It's like getting an ongoing, detailed X-Ray of the child, his/her health, psychological condition, emotional, intellectual and physical capacities, family dynamics and dysfunctions, to an extent that we hardly ever even focus upon our own children and family.  We are volunteers in a management position that nobody else really recognizes as a management position, with no assigned authority to speak of other than our own inner curiosity, ability to ask questions and to communicate.
 
As a CASA, I have one person, a child, to focus on. I must maintain objectivity and be able to report on anything and everything that impacts that young person. At the same time, I must care because it is impossible to not care when you get close and up front with anyone, especially a vulnerable young child who's been taken out of his or her home and has little if any sense of stability or security. And I must confess, in those cases I have experienced sleepless nights. Asking. What can we do as a team, and who should I speak to and how do I say it most clearly and effectively so that we can try to make the next small move to benefit the well-being, progress, and future of this young person who deserves a shot at a real life and future?  How can I help the child's overworked caseworker and law guardian, maybe, to move the ball up the field?

Describe some frustrations of being a CASA.
 
I am not a patient person, as the people in my family have learned and know only too well. Working as a CASA, sometimes that works for me and sometimes it works against me.  The DCP&P staff and many of the hard-working people in the system are overloaded with cases.  With all good intentions, they often fail to return phone calls or follow up on important matters.  The same is true for teachers and school officials, law guardians, and other people whose decisions and actions, or inaction, can affect the lives and welfare of the children who need our help.  That can become very frustrating and wearing, especially for an impatient person like me who is accustomed in business to having people respond quickly.  That's not necessarily the case in these family court cases where most things are more complex than they seem and take a lot of effort, processing, documentation, and official approvals to get things accomplished.

What have you learned from your CASA kids?

I have learned so much from the young people whose cases I work on. More often than not I think they are helping me more than I could ever help them. They truly are relationships of give-and-take. Each child's unique personality, resilience, and hopefulness speak loudly. Perhaps I've just been lucky but each of the boys whose cases I've worked have had an amazing ability to articulate the narrative of their life, their family, their disappointments, and their hopes. For me that is at least half the job. And it's a special gift for me because it helps me realize all humans are essentially the same - our strengths, vulnerability, emotions, needs, and hopes - the shapes and colors just change. They teach me in ways I could never have imagined. Plus, they help me appreciate more my own family members and how I can do a better job being there for them, listening, being patient and, yes, relaxing.
 
Each of Vince's 3 cases to date have involved teenage males separated from their biological parents for various reasons and in need of permanency.  

Did you know...
  • That 90% of foster children with a CASA do not re-enter the child welfare system?
  • That 85% of the CASA recommendations are accepted by the court?
  • That 20% more children with a CASA pass all school courses?
CASA's can change the trajectory of a foster child's life because they are able to focus one-on-one on their child(ren) and, therefore, are a source of caring focus, consistency and stability.  Our volunteers make a difference in the outcomes for many children.
Are you interested in becoming an advocate or know someone who would like more information?
 
Our next Information Sessions:
July 20th @ 10am or 5:30pm


Fall Evening Training
9/8, 9/12, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 
10/6 & 10/17
from 5:30pm-9pm

Call 201-336-7520, email lauren@bergencasa.org or 
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