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Looking for a Worthy Pastime? Must Love Children
August 18, 2006 •By Lindsay Jones •The Daily News
Susan Combs of Cordova admits to being nosy, but in a good way.
For the past year or so, she's volunteered locally as a court appointed special advocate (CASA) for children. That means she makes it her business to investigate cases of suspected abuse or neglect for juvenile court.
"We went through training, and after our training the judge actually brought us into his courtroom and swore us in," she said. "We have an official badge and picture and the whole thing."
Combs, a homemaker, became involved with the nonprofit CASA of Memphis and Shelby County because of her son and daughter-in-law, who live in Nashville and served as foster parents for a little more than a year. A CASA volunteer there worked closely with the couple.
"When they were involved in it, I learned more than I wanted to know about the system," Combs said. "I wanted to learn and try and help change the system because there are so many children in it and there has to be someone there ... an extra set of eyes and ears."
So Combs took her eager faculties to 30 hours of training. The training sessions taught her role-playing techniques, how to interview a variety of people, what signs to look for when parents or other guardians are suspected of wrongdoing, how to build rapport with children, how to conduct home visits and detailed research.
Her volunteer work is similar to that of her counterparts at the Department of Children's Services (DCS), except Combs' only loyalty is to the child or children under her watch - minus the salary.
"We just represent the child," she said. "We do not represent parents, DCS or anything else, but we advocate for the child."
If a child is fearful of his or her guardians, Combs puts it in a full-page report and presents her findings in court. If a child wants to return to his or her parents, she communicates that, too. But not until she's interviewed teachers, other relatives and anyone she possibly can to get a better sense of the truth.
And all that running around adds up. The average CASA volunteer clocks between 15 and 20 hours a month running down leads, making calls and conducting interviews, said executive director Keisha Walker.
Combs only has "two little clients" right now, but said she would volunteer all the time if she could. Health problems have been holding her back.
"Anything that's valuable takes time," Combs said. "Anything that counts for anything is going to take time. It just depends on where you want to spend it and how you want to spend it."
If you're interested in becoming a CASA volunteer, an orientation class will be held Oct. 2 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Courtroom 1 at the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, 616 Adams Ave. Call Nikki Hughes at 405-8840 to register.
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