Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

You're probably scratching your head over today's post and wondering, "What in the world does the movie 'Beetlejuice' have to do with CASA work?"

If you've seen the movie, you will remember that the main characters, Adam and Barbara Maitland, are killed in a car accident. After their death, they return to their New England farmhouse unaware of their new "undead" status, until the Deetzes, a hip, art-nouveau family moves in and starts making major changes to the Maitland's home.

The Maitland's take up residence in what was their attic, where they plot ways in which to drive the Deetz family away. In one of the scenes, Adam Maitland is working with a diorama, a small-scale replica of all of the buildings, roads, and land features of the quiet New England town they used to inhabit. Oh, and Beetlejuice, a two-bit, filthy ghost (bio-exorcist) has taken up residence in the diorama's cemetery, but that's another story for another day.

Back to the diorama...and my point. Think of the Beetlejuice diorama as your CASA case. You have all of the cast of characters identified. You've seen the environments in which these characters live and operate. You have a sense of the family's history. You're watching to see what the parties are doing and what they are not doing. You are not unlike an "eye in the sky," keeping tabs on what is happening with the case and bringing a report of those activities back to court when it's time.

This diorama example is a perfect representation of the CASA volunteer's boundary for involvement with the family. As a CASA, your role is not to effect any change on the parties to the case, but rather to watch and observe any and all changes and to report back to the judge regarding any progress that is being made.

This is a difficult proposition, because, after all, we're CASA volunteers. We signed up to help people. However, the CASA volunteer is only able to help the children on the case, not the parents.

Think about it. The parents are involved in a court intervention program because they need to identify weaknesses in their home environment. Recognition of these deficits is the first step in gaining the skills to correct the conditions that brought their children into care and to be a better parent for their children.

If the involved parties (DHS, CASA, the judge, the attorneys) make it too easy (i.e. doing the work for the parent), then those parents will learn very little and will be completely clueless when reunification time rolls around. Children who are reunified into these homes are much more likely to come back into temporary custody, with disasterous results.

Remember the diorama and your CASA boundaries!