1. As a President & CEO working in child advocacy, how would you describe your role in advancing safer, more stable futures for children and families?
As the CEO of Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), my role is to advance the agency’s mission of protecting children, restoring childhood, and helping victims of child abuse and neglect reach their full potential. Working with an extraordinary board of directors and an exceptional, long-tenured staff, I help provide the strategic and operational support Dallas CASA needs to continue accepting 100% of court appointments to advocate for children in Dallas County child welfare cases.
2. What path led you from a legal career in commercial litigation and regulatory disputes to leadership in child advocacy and the CASA community?
I joined the Dallas CASA board in 2002 and chaired the board in 2006. I was drawn to a model that so effectively combines public (state agency and local courts), private (Dallas CASA), and personal (each volunteer child advocate) commitments. The idea that each child has a court-appointed advocate dedicated to their best interests is compelling, especially when you bring it down to the child-level experience of anticipating a Dallas CASA volunteer’s visit and feeling less alone and forgotten because of that connection.
I enjoyed three decades of practicing law, but this Act III in my career has been amazing. A fellow board member reached out when I applied to become the CEO in 2014, suggesting I had fallen and hit my head and wondering what I was going to do when I came back to consciousness and realized what I had done. I can happily report that I have regained consciousness and remain honored to serve as Dallas CASA’s CEO.
3. How has your litigation and regulatory background shaped the way you evaluate risk, accountability, and outcomes in child-welfare systems?
In the first months serving as Dallas CASA’s CEO, I introduced and implemented a 360-degree enterprise risk assessment. Two lasting impacts of that initiative were earlier awareness of and protection against cybersecurity risks and a stronger emphasis on child safety.
Partnering with Praesidium, Dallas CASA was able to provide training to every program and recruiting staff member on the risks of child predation, and we have followed up with ongoing trainings.
4. From your experience, what does the CASA model contribute to a child’s journey through the court and child-welfare process that other participants may not be positioned to provide?
As Dallas County struggles through the difficult transition to privatization, Dallas CASA’s role in supporting each child’s path to permanency has increased. A Dallas CASA volunteer frequently remains the most constant and consistent presence in the life of a child in foster care who is living with uncertainty and fear.
Dallas CASA volunteers form a caring connection with each child, reducing the risk that a child will feel lost or forgotten. While providing fact-based reports to the court about each child’s educational, therapeutic, and medical needs, Dallas CASA volunteers also encourage each child not to see themselves as “less than” or defined by their time in foster care.
5. When a child’s safety and long-term well-being are both at stake, how do effective advocates help decision-makers keep the child’s voice and needs at the center?
Helping to keep the child’s voice at center is particularly a focus in our permanency court hearing dockets where older children appear and have an opportunity to be heard.
6. What is one practical way a prospective CASA volunteer can prepare to build trust with a child while maintaining appropriate boundaries?
Showing up is the best way to build trust. For many of the children Dallas CASA serves, their advocate models what a reliable, “I show up when I say I will” adult looks like. Dallas CASA has volunteer policies and trainings focused on appropriate boundaries, as well as staff trainings on recognizing “red flag” behaviors that may signal a violation of those boundaries and a possible pattern of grooming.
7. What have you learned about the collaboration needed among CASA volunteers, attorneys, caseworkers, caregivers, and the courts to support a child effectively?
Beginning seven years ago, Dallas CASA began accepting 100% of court appointments to Dallas County child welfare cases. Serving the entire need has greatly increased Dallas CASA’s impact and strengthened its relationships with other stakeholders. Opening our training space to all organizations serving children and families has also enhanced Dallas CASA’s role as a thought leader in child welfare.
Dallas CASA has served in leadership roles as founding board members of the North Texas Foster Care Consortium, as members of the Dallas County Child Welfare Board, as the host of the annual Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness event, and in leadership of the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking. In addition, Dallas CASA’s hosting of regular “judges update” sessions over many years has proved very effective.
8. For professionals outside the child-welfare field who want to make a meaningful difference, what skills from business, law, or other careers translate especially well to CASA advocacy?
Dallas CASA invites any interested individuals to register for one of our weekly virtual information sessions at dallascasa.org. No prior experience in social work or law is required or expected.
Dallas CASA provides extensive training and exceptional supervision so that interested individuals can become effective child advocates. We hear concerns from individuals who wonder if they have the skill set, and then realize they were born to fulfill this role.
If you don’t live or work in Dallas County, just Google your county name and CASA to check out local opportunities.
9. As President & CEO, what lesson from your work would you most want Texas Adoption Center readers to carry forward when supporting children and families involved in the child-welfare system?
The message I’d like to share with adoptive and foster parents and advocates for our children is to think of ourselves as carrying out a sacred mission as trustees of the safety of each child. I’m grateful to all of you who help protect children and restore childhood, while helping each child fulfill their full potential.
10. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Dallas CASA urgently needs more volunteer child advocates. Anyone interested can register for a virtual information session at dallascasa.org. If you do not live or work in Dallas/Fort Worth, please Google CASA and your county name to connect with a local CASA program.