South Park resident passes the 25-year mark as a volunteer advocate for San Diegan foster children

By Hutton Marshall | SDUN Editor

This year, more than 5,000 children will spend time living in San Diego’s foster care system. Each child is assigned to a lawyer and a social worker tasked with the tireless job of representing the youth as they’re navigated through the system. Both positions have a reputation of daunting workloads, and for good reason. Each lawyer in the foster care system represents an average of 200 children at any given time. A caseload of 40 or 50 families isn’t uncommon for a social worker. Understandably, this can leave the foster child feeling a little short-changed.

That’s where CASAs, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, come in. There’s about 1,000 in San Diego, all of whom are volunteers. They’re each assigned to just one child or family at a time. Formally, their job is to appear in court a couple times a year to give their personal take on the situation, free of court jargon and the burden of dealing with a hundred other cases. But CASAs do much more than that. They fill a much needed gap in the many challenges not accounted for by the foster care system, the problems that every child faces, but might not have an adult there to see that they’re helped. A CASA is a much-needed human relationship in a foster care system that’s often tumultuous for children in their developing years.

It’s a difficult job, sometimes comprised of interaction with children and their families that see a CASA as nothing more than another cog in a machine seeking to separate child from parent. Even when a child is appreciative of a CASA’s altruistic efforts, the weight of wading through the foster care system with them can be equally trying.

So when a person chooses to dedicate a significant part of their life to this—say, 25 years—it’s notable. Cheryl Greaves, a marketing executive turned Pilates instructor living in South Park, has been doing this longer than anyone she knows. Most people who know her don’t have a clue about her deep-rooted place in the foster care system; CASAs don’t tend to involve themselves in the program for public accolades. When interviewed, Greaves seemed genuinely surprised a story was being written about what has become such a natural aspect into her life.

“That’s the thing about being a casa,” Greaves said. “It’s kind of lonely in the sense that you don’t really talk about it at a dinner party with your friends.”

In 1988, when Greaves took her first case, she didn’t know what to expect. She joined with a co-worker, seeing it as a good way to benefit the small but growing San Diego community. Greaves and the co-worker started their respective first cases simultaneously. The co-worker’s case lasted a couple years, and she drifted away from the system after it ended. Greaves’ case? It lasted 12 years.

“I’m kind of a loyal person.” Greaves said. “If I commit, I commit.”

The case began with two young girls, ages four and six. Both would “age out” of foster care by the end of the case. The biological mother of the first two had had a third child, which Greaves inherited into the case as well.

After a dozen years with the family, Greaves formed an unusually personal connection relative to other CASA cases. She still hears from them every once in a while.

“I know in some way I’m touching these children’s lives, and whether it shows immediately or 10 years down the road, it’s going to make a difference,” Greaves said. “And if that’s the least I can do in my life, then why not.”

While the CASA program is nationwide, the CASAs in San Diego belong to a program called Voices for Children. Commendable among the many CASA organizations nationwide, VFC has grown from ten full-time employees 15 years ago to 63 staffers today. With 1,000 CASA volunteers, they’re able to represent more than 25 percent of San Diego’s foster children.

After 25 years, 11 cases and a big bundle of challenges, one would expect Greaves, who escaped the stress of a 27-year marketing career, to be ready to cease being a CASA and focus on the relaxing work of running a Pilates studio. She has no intention of doing so.

“How long will I continue? Until we’re no longer needed,” Greaves said without hesitation. “I guess when child neglect and child abuse no longer exist, we won’t have a job anymore.”

VFC President and CEO Sharon Lawrence shares this vision, aspiring to find a CASA for every foster child who needs one by the year 2016, but judging by current CASA-to-child ratios, that will require more than tripling their current amount of CASAs. Still, Lawrence believes that by spreading awareness, people will be motivated to do something about the tragedies that happen every day here in San Diego.

“The children have often told me that the good times they have with their CASA volunteer help them get through those really bad or really sad days,” Lawrence said. “If you think about it, foster care is pretty scary … having somebody by their side is really important.”

CASAs spend about ten to 15 hours a month working on their case, and those interested in the program can visit speakupnow.org to learn about requirements to join the program and any informational events coming up. Currently, VFC is looking for men, who are much easier for boys in the system to relate to, and Spanish speakers.

“It’s definitely purposeful work,” Greaves said. “There’s 5,000 children in the system, and they all need a voice, and that’s what we are.”