Volunteer Profile Michael Hackett Winner of the 2006 G.F. Bettineski Child Advocate of the Year Award CASA Jefferson Harvey, LA

I was introduced to the CASA program in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, when my wife, Jan, was getting ready to retire. She started investigating different programs and settled on CASA. As classes were about to begin, we realized they were being held in an area where Jan didn't drive at the time. I saw the handwriting on the wall and started some investigations of my own. Yes, I went to all the classes. A little over three years ago, I was sworn in with Jan.

Working with Court Appointed Special Advocates fulfils many of my ordination vows as a deacon in the Episcopal Church. Deacons were started in the early Church to care for widows, orphans and the poor. When I think of CASA, I think “What a natural match!” I am still surprised that more deacons of every faith are not working with CASA. But I'm slowly working on that.

So far I have advocated for seven children, ranging from six months to kids aging out of the system. Some of the issues we have dealt with have been substance abuse in parents as well as children who have been sexually abused and are now sexual perpetrators. Many of my CASA children have to deal with family members who are incarcerated.

The CASA community in Jefferson Parish—pre-Hurricane Katrina—was a growing, vibrant, healthy organization with a staff of 12 and 105 active advocates. CASA Jefferson serves three sections of juvenile court, presided over by three very caring and supportive judges. Everything was going just fine, with classes for new advocates being held about once per quarter.

The evacuation that preceded Katrina was unprecedented. The storm came, and it went. We all prepared to go home after three days. But then there were breaks in the levee system, and the pumps were shut down for 24 hours. My house, which had never flooded in 35 years, had four inches of water. The water is not so bad in itself, but then it becomes polluted and stands for three weeks. The mold takes over everything.

We watched the rescues on TV day after day, along with the rest of America, as well as the growing crowds at the Superdome and the Convention Center. With the complete evacuation, our CASA kids, staff and advocates were scattered in all directions. The children in institutions were believed to be secure. Our kids in foster homes got a lot of prayers as we did not know where they were.

Through cell phone text messaging, the only technology that was working, we learned that our CASA program staff were spread throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. A nucleus of staff and volunteers scheduled a meeting in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana CASA office, which was very gracious in hosting this band of displaced persons. At our first meeting, we identified tasks: locate as many advocates as possible, research shelter locations and put in place public service announcements of our 800 number for reporting the location of CASA kids and their foster parents.

We risked arrest for violating curfew to gather important records from our damaged offices. We called advocates and visited kids in shelters and institutions. At that point, we had about 500 children we were looking for. Over time: success! We found advocates, and we found our kids.

Now we come to the present. Seven months later we are visiting some of our kids in Mississippi, Washington, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. These visitations of our displaced children are made possible by a grant from National CASA. Seven months later, we are three short on staff positions. And we have a little over 30 advocates rather than 105.

I am blessed is with many communities that help hold me up and support me in all of my efforts. The main one is my family. This is the community that most of our children are missing. I benefit from so many others, such as my CASA family and my church family.

Now think of the children CASA volunteers advocate for and what is missing in their lives. Without the primary community of family, it is very difficult to connect with other positive communities. We cannot replace the family unit for the children we represent; it would be a mistake for us to try. But we can fulfill some of the functions that these children are missing.

So where are we in Louisiana, New Orleans and Jefferson Parish? We are struggling to come back. We are pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We are fighting an uphill battle, but we will win.