Sounds great on paper (or maybe in the paper)
With many local governments finding themselves without sufficient money to run basic government services (like policing in Richmond), there seems to be very little sympathy over in Indianapolis. Taking a page from the fed’s playbook, the Indiana Legislature, according to the Indianapolis Star today, has passed onto the counties yet another unfunded mandate: 9,000 youths in state lack an advocate.
Earlier this year the legislature changed one word in Indiana Code 31-34-10-3. Effective July 1, 2005, the statute governing child in need of services (CHINS) proceeding reads ”the court may shall appoint a guardian ad litem, court appointed special advocate, or both, for the child.” Simple enough, but as the Star points out, there was no additional funding provided for these programs. There is limited funding in place, but many local court appointed special advocate (CASA’s) programs rely on trained volunteers.
The CASA’s work is not easy. It is tough to find capable and willing people to serve, especially when you have no money to pay them. My wife went through the training locally, and served as a CASA for a few years, but the pace of events, court dates, keeping up with a family in crisis, DFC procedures, added to the heavy emotional content in cases involving children at risk, made it too big of a commitment for volunteer gig.
Look to a county like Union County, down south, where, as the print edition of the Pal Item recently reported, the attorney who was handling their public defender work recently started refusing cases because the county owes him more than $20,000.00 and does not seem to have any way to pay him, and you have to wonder how this new requirement will be met.
In a companion article, the Star points to a recent federal court decision that would have an even greater impact on CHINS proceedings. The court ruled that the children in a termination of parental right case are entitled to counsel. If this decision is brought to bear in Indiana, CASA’s will not do. Attorneys will need to be appointed. The counties are already having to incur the costs of appointing attorneys for the parents in these cases: Federal court ruling could affect Indiana
