Child advocate agency seeks lasting haven.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

After working more than a decade to find safe, permanent homes for the area's abused and neglected children, the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Lane County has a permanent home of its own.

Almost.

The nonprofit agency is launching a fund-raising effort to pay off the historic farmhouse where it has operated, rent-free, the past three years on Sony Disc Manufacturing property in northwest Springfield.

The purchase was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, CASA Executive Director Megan Friese says. But it was a deal for which CASA had no money in its $230,000 annual budget.

The farmhouse, which Sony moved to the two-acre Deadmond Ferry Road site and renovated for CASA, came up for sale after Sony closed its plant in early 2003. Although appraised at $400,000, Sony agreed to sell it to CASA for just over half its value - another generous gift from the company, Friese says.

With only days to seal the deal, the CASA board had to take a leap of faith that the community would support the purchase by contributing to its "Permanent Home Campaign."

But the campaign is about more than money.

"We're trying to seize this opportunity we've had from Sony to purchase this house. But just as importantly, we're looking for volunteers," Friese says. "Their time is just as important as a financial contribution. It's important that the children we are trying to serve have a permanent home."

The need is large and growing.

Child protective workers for the state Department of Humans Services remove children from homes where substance abuse, crime, unemployment, domestic violence or other factors create child abuse and neglect.

"Last week they took in 10 babies," Friese says. "The highest number of kids in care are babies."

Currently, 902 Lane County children live in foster care. Almost half are age 5 and younger.

CASA's 70 volunteers can serve only 184 Lane County children this year, Friese says. Although they've served more than 1,000 since the agency opened in 1994, the need is much greater.

By law, each of the children is entitled to a special advocate - a trained, objective adult appointed by a judge to oversee how the system deals with the child and to advocate for appropriate help from state agencies, schools, care providers, the court, foster parents and others.

Advocates make written recommendations to a judge, who then decides when, and under what conditions, a child may be returned to a family or placed for adoption.

Each CASA volunteer typically is paired with one child and the assignment lasts for up to two years, after which the child is usually out of the state system and back in a home.

The role of CASA volunteers is well understood by Steve and Sally Lee, owners of Stingray Development. The Lees have worked more than 15 years with the area's other major non-profit child protection agencies - SCAR/Jasper Mountain and the Relief Nursery.

When CASA asked them to head up part of the Permanent Home Campaign, they saw it as "an awesome opportunity," Sally Lee says.

"Children don't choose this situation to be in. Building a successful foundation for a child's life is all we can hope to do," Lee says. "CASA is almost the beginning in the process of mending some of these kids. CASA is there to be a voice."

Lee says the couple will focus on rallying local builders to renovate a 2,000-square-foot warehouse on the Deadmond Ferry property into a training center for CASA volunteers.

Each volunteer gets 40 hours of training and spends about 10 hours per month gathering information and observations. Each volunteer also gets support and advice from the full-time CASA staff.

"You're not ever alone, making decisions in a vacuum. You have staff who have seen a lot, who can guide you," Friese says. "Ultimately, the volunteer's job is to know everything there is to know about the child and that family. What they do is go before a judge and make a recommendation that may affect that child for the rest of their life. The judge makes the final decision."

Friese says the local CASA program can afford to train and support about 25 more volunteers, but really needs another 70 or 80 to staff the most urgent cases.

"CASA is all about hope," Friese says. "If I can assign a CASA volunteer - these amazing people - to a child in need, I know that child has an opportunity to make it, that there is hope for their future because somebody is fighting for them."

PERMANENT HOME DRIVE

The nonprofit Court Appointed Special Advocates program for Lane County's abused and neglected children is launching a drive to pay off its mortgage and also to recruit volunteers to work as advocates.

What: The Permanent Home Campaign

Why: To pay off the mortgage on its office/training center

To help: Donations may be mailed to: CASA, 174 Deadmond Ferry Road, Springfield, OR 97477.

To volunteer: Call CASA at 984-3132 or e-mail [e-mail] for an information packet.

More information: Call 984-3132 or on the Web www.casa-lane.org

- CASA of Lane County

CAPTION(S):

Megan Friese, executive director of CASA of Lane County, and her organization are launching a capital campaign aimed at buying their house on Deadmond Ferry Road in Springfield. The agency is also recruiting volunteers to work as advocates for abused children.