New Hampshire’s child welfare system has evolved significantly over the last few decades.
That includes the establishment of Court Appointed Special Advocates, also known as CASA, which supports and trains volunteers to represent the best interests of children experiencing abuse and neglect in and out of the courtroom.
Marty Sink founded a CASA chapter in New Hampshire in 1989 to address some of the gaps in the child protection system that she saw as a foster parent.
After nearly four decades at the organization, Sink, who’s the CEO and president, recently announced her retirement. She joined NHPR's All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to reflect on her career and the future of New Hampshire’s child welfare system.
Transcript
Marty, you've been in this role for over 30 years. What are the biggest changes you've seen take place in New Hampshire's child welfare system over the years?
I think we've seen some great changes. Some things are very much the same. We still have many children in foster care similar to what we had then. But one of the things that we have done — and this is really because of changes in the law and because of the amazing support of the judiciary — the time frames for children who, as a result of child abuse or neglect, enter this whole system of child protection, we've shortened the time frames for permanency so that children and youth no longer linger in foster care [or] in residential placements as long as they used to.
The opioid epidemic in the state has negatively affected many children and families, and at its peak, it exacerbated the challenges New Hampshire's child welfare system was facing. How have you seen substance abuse affect the children that your organization works with over the years?
Unfortunately, it's a problem that doesn't seem to go away. I think the opioid epidemic, in roughly 2015, really created challenges for all the systems involved in not only protecting children, but also in supporting families. We saw a dramatic increase in our caseload. We really struggled to keep up with the demand of and the number of cases coming in through the court system. And then building those resources for families for treatment, that's been an ongoing challenge for the state and for our families.
Starting next year, all kids in abuse and neglect cases who are out of their homes will be provided attorneys in addition to CASA volunteers. What do you think the outcome of that shift in state policy could mean for kids?
I think there's a lot of unknown yet. There's a struggle in some areas of the state to even find attorneys that are willing to and able to do this work. So I think that is a potential hurdle that will need to be overcome.
We are providing an incredible amount of training to all of our CASA GALs [guardians ad litem] on a regular basis. I’m hoping that the system that they’re building for attorneys also provides that kind of oversight — oversight, number one, but also additional training and support of the folks that are doing this work.
I think in some situations, in some cases, having an attorney appointed to represent what the child wants, it's [the child’s] stated interests that [the attorneys] are responsible for representing in court. Whereas the CASA volunteer is really there to represent the best interest of the child and to advocate for what's in their best interest. Many times, what the child wants and what is in their best interest are exactly the same. In some situations, however, they do diverge and it is still the responsibility of the CASA guardian ad litem to represent the best interests. So we've always had the opportunity for counsel to be appointed for children and that's always been at the discretion of the court. As the guardian ad litem, it's our responsibility to ensure the court knows that the child's wishes are such, but the best interests are something different.
Well, what do you hope to see change in how the current system works?
I hope to see eventually that there will be resources available so that we can increase the protections for children [and] that families can get the services that they need. I think of the North Country in particular, and in some areas of the state, it is so difficult for parents to avail themselves to resources because of the geographical spread, because of lack of transportation, because of poverty and inadequate or lack of affordable housing. There's so many factors that get piled on some of the families that we work on. I think that we have a lot more work to do.
My hope is that every child that comes into the child protection system or our juvenile court system, has a CASA volunteer available. So my hope is to increase CASA’s capacity over the next couple of years, that's always been my dream. I've always said I can retire when 100% of the children that need a CASA have one. We're still working on it. And I don't know that it'll happen necessarily before I retire, but it is still a goal of the organization, and it's part of our mission. So I have great faith that at some point every child will have a CASA representing their best interests.
CASA of New Hampshire is an NHPR underwriter. They have no influence over our coverage.
