CASA Advocate Supervisor Danielle shared,

“I had a successful return home in April! The case was open for 7 months, the minor was a 12-year-old girl.  The case closed at a status hearing and she was successfully returned home to her father in April 2023!  The child in care had been living with her father since the case opened in October of 2022.  The father did not have required services to complete and the services the mother had to engage in was parenting classes, individual therapy and substance use services.”

CASA Advocate Supervisor Ashley shared,

“A case came in for significant Domestic Violence as the mom was abused pretty badly by her boyfriend. Since the case came in, Mom has cut communication with the boyfriend and focused on herself and her children. Mom completed parenting education classes, parent coaching session, domestic violence victims’ classes, and individual therapy.

 

Mom has also secured housing for her and the children, despite having a learning disability she is working on completing her GED and just got a job at Walmart! She never missed a single visit, nor did she ever miss a single class or therapy session she was supposed to attend, despite having transportation issues.

 

This mom is the “poster parent” for learning from the services and correcting the conditions that brought her children into care! The case had been open for 17 months and there were two children taken into care.

 

I have not yet seen a parent do so much to get her children back and never once complained!!!”

CASA Advocate Supervisor Cara shared,

“There were two similar cases I oversaw, that were both returned home to dad who was not originally the custodial parent.

On one case, dad was actively involved in the child’s life; on the other, he had not been involved due to issue with mom. Both of these dad’s stepped up and completed services. They both engaged in parent education, parent coaching, individual therapy, and family therapy.

 

On both cases, there were some parties involved that weren’t comfortable with dad being the return home option due to them not originally being the custodial parent; however, both dads proved they were willing and ready to do what they needed to do to bring their children home to a safe environment. We often have non-custodial parents involved in our cases due to the fact that DCFS is required to explore them as an option. Sometimes we are shown why they haven’t been a part of their child’s life and they continue to not be a good option. Other times, we get to see just what these parents can provide for their children now that previous barriers aren’t in their way.

 

Anytime a child gets to reconnect with a safe parent and have more people on their team loving them and fighting for them, it’s a win!”

CASA Advocate Supervisor Alexis shared a successful return home:

“One of my cases had a successful return home of three minors. Ages were 7, 6, and 1. The minors that were 7 and 6 minors were in care for 2 years and the 1-year-old was in care for just one year.

 

Originally, parents were struggling with the reason why the case came into care and challenged DCFS and CASA a lot with some push back. However, they found a new therapist in the middle of last year that became a huge part of the return home. The parents had a rapport with this therapy provider that allowed them to open up to the hard conversations DCFS and CASA were trying to get them to understand and talk through.

The parents were engaged and completed the services below for the return home.

• Parent Education

• Parent Coaching

• Individual therapy

• Random Drug Screens

With the team working together and ultimately parents putting in the hard work they were able to progress through therapy. From there unsupervised visits and overnight visits were approved, and they were able to go home.”