The Advocate: 3rd Quarter 2022

It is time for evaluations (in accordance with mandates from National CASA). Those of you who are new
to this do not need to feel your heckles rising! Unlike in the corporate world, our evaluations give you a
chance to provide us with feedback about your advocacy such as: “What supports or resources do you
need in order to be more effective?” Your case supervisor will send you a questionnaire and will
subsequently arrange a zoom or in-person meeting to discuss it with you personally and confidentially.
You will see that we have several questions about in-service training in the questionnaire. This is
because NJ CASA is now monitoring the 12 hours of mandatory in-service training per calendar year. (So
far, 32% of our Advocates have 6 hours compared to the statewide average of 43%). I noticed that
the same Advocates keep attending our trainings. The evaluations will allow you to tell me what
subjects and topics you need us to cover, when you want us to provide the training, and how you would like to
participate.
We received some positive feedback about our program from NJ CASA recently. I want you to know that
Bergen CASA had the greatest rate of contacts with the Division compared to all the other programs
(96% for Bergen compared to 65% average statewide). That means that you are more in touch with
your case workers and collaborating closely. We also stacked up very well regarding our court
reports: 82% of our hearings had court reports and 99% of our recommendations were accepted!
Interestingly, the average length of service for our Advocates was high at 50 months compared to the
State average of 37 months. For those of you who are a little competitive, (especially me), we stacked
up pretty well against the rest of the programs in NJ. But we still have room to go in order to outshine the rest!
Thank you for your caring advocacy on behalf of your foster children.

Best wishes, Lucy