1. CASA opens new office, seeks volunteers
Published Friday, September 9, 2005 6:21 PM MDT
GRANTS -- The Cibola County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer
organization has recently opened an office in
Grants and is seeking local volunteers.
"We want to recruit and train 10 volunteers," said
Marie Aberant, executive director of CASA. Each
volunteer is trained by CASA officials and appointed by a judge to represent a child's best
interests in court, according to CASA. The volunteer works with social workers, attorneys and
the judicial system to help a child.
The volunteer is expected to spend 10 to 20 hours a month and at least one year to 18 months for
one or two assigned children, which is the typical length of time to resolve a case, she said.
"We call them children," Aberant said of those who CASA helps, even if they are 14- to 18-year-
old youths.
The initial start-up money came from the Valencia County CASA group, said Aberant, but it did
not provide money for an office or training.
After receiving a $25,500 grant from the National CASA this summer, the Cibola organization
now has an office, phones and a coordinator of volunteers. It is located at 411 W. Santa Fe Ave.,
No. 4, in Grants.
The Cibola CASA hopes to receive more funding for next year from New Mexico, which won't
provide for start-up organizations, but will fund existing organizations, Aberant said.
How CASA began in Cibola
Aberant said although funding is one aspect, the real advocate for Cibola CASA was Thirteenth
District Court Judge Camille Olguin. In 2003, Judge Olguin approached Aberant about starting a
program in Cibola County while at a press conference for the new courthouse in Valencia
County.
"I knew of CASA's existence," Judge Olguin said. In early 2001, Judge Olguin already knew
about CASA's statutory requirements for the courts, but she heard of CASA's work in the system
first-hand through Cibola County Attorney Sandra Nemeth, who was familiar with the
organization. Olguin had worked as a guardian attorney for youths, too.
"We started to move on it more," Olguin said of her colleagues and attorneys. "The court process
was one of the things discussed. At that time, it was very informal." She said the process for the

2. Thirteenth District Courts was already in place, because the district includes Valencia and San
Juan counties where CASA already exists. The district just needed to expand CASA into Cibola
County
In the meantime, Aberant spoke with Laurie Engelhard, a former director with CASAnet, at a
quarterly meeting of county directors in Albuquerque. Engelhard, a former psychotherapist and
disabilities professional and an executive director of CASA, has since begun working as a CASA
volunteer herself. To Aberant's surprise, Engelhard offered to come to Cibola County to help
start up the program.
Why male volunteers are needed
"We have a desperate need for male volunteers," Engelhard said, noting the recent swearing in of
Gene Johnson, who is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant. "It's so critical for some of the boys in
our cases. We need them desperately," she said.
Gene and his wife June Johnson were originally a husband and wife CASA team in Oklahoma,
said June Johnson. The Johnsons got involved with CASA three years ago in Claremore, Okla.,
when they received custody of their two grandsons because their daughter couldn't care for them.
In the Cibola/Valencia county organization, husbands and wives will work individually. "I was
surprised to be getting my own case," said June Johnson, who added she is still glad to help.
Gene is expected to return to the military for an assignment in Saudi Arabia in the near future, so
June will remain in Grants with her two grandsons and continue her work with CASA.
How CASA differs
from other organizations
"We are called the eyes and ears of the court," Aberant said.
"Our opinions don't differ from the CYF [Children, Youth and Family Department of New
Mexico]," Aberant said. And those opinions agree with the Citizen's Review Board (CRB), she
explained. Each organization has a different focus. For example, the CRB focuses on the
statistics of advocacy groups in New Mexico, and CYFD encompasses the entire case, including
the child's situation, his or her parents, physical and mental health care and dental care, and the
resolution of the case.
Aberant said CASA volunteers work with social workers and attorneys, and make sure that
parents follow their treatment plans affecting the children. Then the volunteers prepare a report
for the presiding judge with recommendations to work out a situation between the parent and
child without going to court. For example, CASA would recommend that parties involved either
rearrange a schedule or change an appointment time.
The CYFD social worker is typically assigned 30 cases, which includes following through with
the parents, child(ren), legal issues and the treatment plan of the situation, Aberant said.

3. "It's so overwhelming. You have a limited number of social workers handling huge caseloads.
They [CYFD] don't have the capacity to handle everything," Aberant said.
"A CASA [volunteer] can be appointed to one or two cases and tries to make sure things are not
falling through the cracks [for the child]," Aberant said. CASA exists to recruit, train and support
volunteers to help neglected and abused children, she said.
For example, a typical parent in the system may have an appointment every day of the week for
therapy, drug treatment, legal issues, marital issues, family issues, social issues, work issues, in
addition to health care and dental care, and going to a job. And that is just for one parent,
Aberant said. The child may experience a similar schedule, but he or she is usually in school.
One situation is a parent or parent(s) with addiction. "It [addiction] reduces the parent's ability to
care for their children," Aberrant said. "It's a huge burden to overcome."
Engelhard added that once these children are put in state custody, "Boom! These children are
ripped away from their families. Taken away." She said the children come from broken and
damaged homes, but their parents are still their parents. CASA will hustle if they can retain any
shred of continuity. "These kids desperately need something."
CASA volunteers have been known to find out how a child's dog is doing, because that's what
the child would like to know. And Engelhard said she actually got a child's turtle back to the
child.
"The ultimate goal is that in every case there is a CASA advocate," Judge Olguin said, adding
that not every case requires an advocate.
"I'm looking at the legal perspective," Olguin said. "CASA can figure out if a child is
experiencing school issues."
"If the child is doing well in school, they can get congratulated for it," Judge Olguin said, adding
that the CASA advocate may also see if there's something stressful going on in the child's life.
She said CASA is really an intervention program with positive benefits for the parents and
children.
"It adds a richness to the process that encourages the parents and kids, an emotional richness,"
Judge Olguin said.
By Ilene Haluska