ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / May 17, 2000

RESERVE – In the Spanish language, the word “casa” means house. In theEnglish language, CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocate.

In a sense, both casa and CASA provide the same thing – a place of shelter and relative safety.

CASA ‘s mission is to be the advocate for abused and neglected children who end up in the judicial system. In St. John the Baptist Parish the rights ofthese children are protected by social worker Druhetta Jenkins-Borne, executive director of CASA.

It is not an easy mission.

Tucked away in a tiny office that stands in the shadow of the Reserve water tank on the corner of River Road and East Seventh Street, Jenkins-Borne works hard to make sure abused and neglected children in the parish are represented in the district courts and given decent homes if and when the need arises.

Jenkins-Borne is the only employee of CASA at the present time. She has nooffice staff or secretary and depends on the help of six volunteers.

CASA is a non-profit national organization that has been in existence for 25 years. Started by a judge frustrated that neglected and abused childrenwere not being represented fairly in the courts, CASA tries to help out children who have no where else to turn.

“We are the eyes and ears of the court,” said Jenkins-Borne, ” and we are here to speak up for the children.”There are over 880 CASA programs all over the country, and there are 15 parish offices in Louisiana. Jenkins-Borne has a goal of putting a CASAprogram in every parish in the state.

CASA works hand-in-hand with the Louisiana Office of Community Services.

The OCS is responsible for placing children in foster homes or putting them up for adoption.

CASA’s job is to investigate cases given to it by the court then tell the OCS where a child should be placed.

“We place a child in whatever environment is best for the child,” said Jenkins- Borne, “be it with foster parents or with their natural parents.”Jenkins-Borne works with all three 40th Judicial District judges in St. JohnParish and with the district attorney’s office as well.

When a complaint of neglect or abuse is made a judge will order the OCS to investigate the charges, and it is given 72 hours to investigate. The childprotection services arm of OCS then contacts Jenkins-Borne at CASA, and she assigns the case to one of her volunteers. The volunteer goes into thehome and reports on what they find.

The report is then given to the judge, the OCS, the parent’s attorney and the child’s attorney if necessary. A decision is then made from the CASA report.Jenkins-Borne said the judicial system and lawyers are happy to have CASA around as a liaison to the child.

“CASA is sometimes the only contact a kid has with the authorities,” said Jenkins-Borne. “Even their state-appointed attorneys sometimes never meetthe child.”CASA is called into court about three times a month and is given an average of three to four cases. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but Jenkins-Borne said sheand her staff of volunteers are stretched to the limit.

“I really, really need volunteers,” lamented Jenkins-Borne.

Even though there are only three or four cases of abuse reported monthly, Jenkins-Borne said child abuse is very prevalent in St. John Parish.”There is a lot of abuse in St. John Parish,” admitted Jenkins-Borne. “We onlyhear about four or six cases a month, but we know there are more. Theproblem is that people are too scared to talk. Plus, a lot of people just don’twant to get involved.”Getting volunteers and money takes up a lot of Jenkins-Borne’s time. She hasto train volunteers and also has to spend time getting grants and funds to pay for operating costs.

At the moment, she and Parish President Nickie Monica are working to convince the Parish Council to hire a part-time professional grant writer so Jenkins-Borne can spend more time actually helping children.

Jenkins-Borne said that Monica has been a big help to her. When she firststarted CASA in the parish three years ago she was working out of her house. Monica and the council found her the office space on River Road, andsoon she will be moving to larger offices on N.W. Second Street in Reserve.Getting CASA volunteers is also a taxing problem. All volunteers have to gothrough a rigorous 44-hour program where they learn how to write reports, how to recognize and report abuse, how the OCS works, laws dealing with child abuse, confidentiality and how to work with the OCS attorney. Becauseof time restraints Jenkins-Borne can only hold training sessions twice a year at River Parishes Hospital.

“A lot of people want to volunteer, but they don’t want to go through all that training,” said Jenkins-Borne. “But they have to.”Another problem with attracting volunteers is the idea of having to face the reality of abuse. Objectivity is a key element in CASA investigations.”You have to be objective when handling these cases,” said Jenkins-Borne.

“I’m human first though, and some of these cases upset even me.”As an example, she told of how a stepfather had been accused of sexually molesting his two step-daughters. Despite overwhelming evidence against theman, he kept telling Jenkins-Borne he was innocent.

“In times like that, it is hard to be objective,” said Jenkins-Borne.

To be a volunteer a person must be 21 years old and have a love of children and a high school diploma. Even though volunteers for CASA come from allwalks of life, Jenkins-Borne is also looking for people with degrees in social work or criminal investigations. If people are interested in helping out CASA,they should call Jenkins-Borne at 536-1732 or fax her at 536-6100.

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