I was a CASA volunteer for a few years (Court Appointed Special Advocate). A CASA volunteer is appointed to monitor a particular case, spending time with the child, attending the mandatory meetings involving the parent who is working through the required steps to remediate whatever the concerns were that led to the removal of the child, and report to the court of the volunteer's observations and assessments.
I had to quit. Not because there was no need. There was an unending stream of children being removed from harmful situations and put into the system. But by the training to become a volunteer, and more so as I interacted with the staff on my reports to the court, it was clear (sometimes directly stated) that the goal above all else was family reunification. I was counseled not to include anything in my reports that might be upsetting to the parent (as the reports are provided to the parent's attorney and presumably to the parent). This was to avoid the parent from feeling uneasy or unduly judged (even if the judgment was quite *due*). Being censored, and contributing to a system that put returning the child to the parent above the risk of continuing harm to the child... I couldn't do it.
Being involved in the system, then also with a layer of race-based skewing of the data... I doubt I could have last one year much less more.
I don't know which state you were a CASA in, but I was a CASA in California and also worked in the California dependency justice system. Family reunification is the overriding goal of the relevant statute (California Welfare and Institutions Code). The courts and all parties are mandated by the California code to reunify the family by most any means necessary. Likely it is the same in your state. It is not the fault of CASA, it is the fault of the legislature.
I have been a CASA for 13 years. I have witnessed magistrates who were magnificent advocates for protecting children being replaced by a magistrate who doesn't read our reports and is a strong advocate for the parents, no matter what they've done to their children. I feel so helpless.
1. Integrity is a rare commodity. Mr. Mangual has it.
2. It is infuriating to see the neo-racists hurt people they allegedly want to protect. Instead they are protecting some abstract notion which can't even comprehend.
Absolutely agree. And this “protection” leads to more devastating and disparate outcomes. Dare I suggest we look at root causes? No, because that’s racist too.
I’m a teacher with 25 years experience in NYS public schools. Children are possessions to be shown off, discarded, manipulated for attention, abused in the most horrific ways possible, and silenced when they object. They are victims of a society with no boundaries, narcissistic adults, pornography, and adult political agendas. My heart breaks for them. 💔
I was a teacher in California. Unfortunately, this is not news. My observations were ignored, my objections were silenced, my tears stained my pillow, but moved no one else’s heart.
Not my kid, not my problem. Sweep it under the carpet and it will go away.
so so tragic. I remember my native elders talking about a time when all children were so valued by our tribe that there would never ever be any abuse of them by any tribal member. Not because of any draconian laws or punishments, but because it could not even be imagined. Now sadly the same abuses of children go on within our own tribe as elsewhere in America.
True, but what cultures, not just parents, teach and model for their kids is definitely a determining factor as to which parts are going to be acted out and tolerated.
I think a lot of cultures still value children but not ours. When we travel internationally I’m always struck by how other cultures love seeing kids. Here they are seen as a nuisance in public.
Yes, but culture used to be dependent on community. Now it is dominated and created by political parties, internet influencers, media franchises. Even parents (of any race or creed) who try to fight back have only a slim chance against such forces.
Well, this is what over half a century of doling out welfare and other subsidies to single mothers will do: create generations of intellectually impoverished, unmotivated, angry people -- many of whom are drug addicted and incapable of controlling their fists.
Bad enough that they maim and murder their own children. Or produce pint-sized gangstas with big guns; who, years later, walk half-dressed and deranged among us.
But they are also dragging hardworking black families into their own dysfunction. Because those gangstas can't shoot straight, the nights are riven by idiot shouting and the loud noise that passes for music, and the mornings are littered with the leftover revels of people who should have been in bed and getting up to go to jobs -- like the rest of us, and like the black people whose neighborhoods are turned into slums by their vicious brethren.
One day the black community will say "Enough!" to the race hustlers who call them Uncle Toms for living law-abiding, normal lives and wanting their kids to do likewise.
Hooray for Rafael Mangual! We need more leaders like this who stand up for children's rights. Beaten, raped, berated, starved and unloved kids aren't concerned about their perpetrators' rights. Who else will speak for the most vulnerable among us?
just for fun I went though the comments on the Times article. Here is a simple break down:
Bewildered readers who can't understand how it could a racist structure when most of the employees and leadership are black and the data that shows black kids are more likely to die at the hands of black family.
Readers who argue lack of a two parent household and problems within the black community which no one wants to talk about are primarily responsible.
New-racists (Anti-racists) who claim racism and white supremacy is responsible. These were actually the fewest.
This time in our history will come to be known as the dark age for children. What I do see is numerous opportunities for the kids in the Midwest to excel in life while the kids from the coasts and elitist large cities run by Dems will have dim futures ahead of them selves. The coasts, especially CA are becoming third world type autocracies. Maybe theocracy is a more succinct word to use.
I agree that there is an assault on children on many fronts: promoting hormonal and surgical treatment for gender confused adolescents; abortion up to birth (I am for compromise), lack of charter schools although parents in poor districts want them, a welfare system that encourages dependence....I could go on. Now this - these vulnerable children need help.
Nobody is aborting children who could survive outside the womb (that starts around 24 weeks) that doesn't even make sense...abortion up to birth. You are misinformed.
Nobody? Dr. (If you can use that word) Cesar Santangelo runs a thriving practice in DC performing late term abortions and a few years ago opened a second practice in the Bay Area. After the Dobbs decision California made a big point of declaring itself an abortion sanctuary, which includes late term abortions. Hence Santangelo's business decision. Most are completely elective - i.e. not done to save the lives of the women who choose to have them. Yes they do constitute a small fraction of overall abortions- but even just in New Jersey they number in the tens of thousands. There is a website that catalogs them and the results are disgusting. For something that 'never happens' there are a suspiciously high number of 'doctored photos.'
You are onto something… the ‘State’ inevitably becomes the ‘Deity’ when God (especially the Christian one) is abolished/minimized. And States on the coasts are the most unchurched in our nation.
Child welfare is a HARD world. As a former foster mom I saw so many situations where I felt equally sorry for the child(ren), the parents (who are functioning out of their own trauma) and the welfare worker, sandwiched in the middle, trying to navigate the complicated system where common sense is often regulated into oblivion.
I applaud you, Mr. Mangual, for standing upon principle, and I sincerely hope your stand and your article here at TFP will bring attention to more than just the retributive racial policies within an already-broken system.
Too many progressives are afraid of the truth when it conflicts with a predetermined world view. Even ugly truths are important to recognize and understand.
I am increasingly convinced it's not just ideology that drives this madness but a concerted effort to impoverish and hurt populations. Then the affluent and established interests have less competition for their perks and privileges.
Once you perceive that white Democrats are just as racist as they ever were, you can't unsee it. When Civil Rights became the law of the land, they had to find a new way to oppress the black population, and their efforts to supposedly "help" were the perfect cover for that.
Sadly true. But it will give those of us with eyes to see and hearts to care a little more encouragement and real world raffirmation of our own observations.
Mm. Here in Washington state, I do believe we’ve done away with any worries about parents who use drugs around children. Oh sure, they just have to have a “safety plan” in place for when they get the hankering to get high and their kids are around. Didn’t work out so well for some kids, including the most recent victim, 4 year old Ariel Garcia, who was allegedly stabbed to death by his meth addict mom.
I feel this is a stereotypical DEI example of cherry picking data and redesigning an entire system to a fault without proper foresight. These myriad examples show either ignorance, corruption, or both. This is why people are against DEI, because it is so untethered from reality and basic and necessary checks and balances. Ithink many people feel the bad outweighs the good of DEI and has for some time. I try to fight for common sense DEI when I can, but the overall mistakes are just so monumentally bad.
I was a CASA volunteer for a few years (Court Appointed Special Advocate). A CASA volunteer is appointed to monitor a particular case, spending time with the child, attending the mandatory meetings involving the parent who is working through the required steps to remediate whatever the concerns were that led to the removal of the child, and report to the court of the volunteer's observations and assessments.
I had to quit. Not because there was no need. There was an unending stream of children being removed from harmful situations and put into the system. But by the training to become a volunteer, and more so as I interacted with the staff on my reports to the court, it was clear (sometimes directly stated) that the goal above all else was family reunification. I was counseled not to include anything in my reports that might be upsetting to the parent (as the reports are provided to the parent's attorney and presumably to the parent). This was to avoid the parent from feeling uneasy or unduly judged (even if the judgment was quite *due*). Being censored, and contributing to a system that put returning the child to the parent above the risk of continuing harm to the child... I couldn't do it.
Being involved in the system, then also with a layer of race-based skewing of the data... I doubt I could have last one year much less more.
Maybe you should write a book, article, do an interview or a make a documentary about it hoping they fix this systemic problem.
I don't know which state you were a CASA in, but I was a CASA in California and also worked in the California dependency justice system. Family reunification is the overriding goal of the relevant statute (California Welfare and Institutions Code). The courts and all parties are mandated by the California code to reunify the family by most any means necessary. Likely it is the same in your state. It is not the fault of CASA, it is the fault of the legislature.
I didn't say it was CASA's fault, just how it is. I understand that CASA works within the legal framework of that State that it operates in.
I have been a CASA for 13 years. I have witnessed magistrates who were magnificent advocates for protecting children being replaced by a magistrate who doesn't read our reports and is a strong advocate for the parents, no matter what they've done to their children. I feel so helpless.
It must be hard, but please keep it up if you can. But if you can’t, please take care of yourself to fight another day.
1. Integrity is a rare commodity. Mr. Mangual has it.
2. It is infuriating to see the neo-racists hurt people they allegedly want to protect. Instead they are protecting some abstract notion which can't even comprehend.
Absolutely agree. And this “protection” leads to more devastating and disparate outcomes. Dare I suggest we look at root causes? No, because that’s racist too.
I’m a teacher with 25 years experience in NYS public schools. Children are possessions to be shown off, discarded, manipulated for attention, abused in the most horrific ways possible, and silenced when they object. They are victims of a society with no boundaries, narcissistic adults, pornography, and adult political agendas. My heart breaks for them. 💔
I was a teacher in California. Unfortunately, this is not news. My observations were ignored, my objections were silenced, my tears stained my pillow, but moved no one else’s heart.
Not my kid, not my problem. Sweep it under the carpet and it will go away.
so so tragic. I remember my native elders talking about a time when all children were so valued by our tribe that there would never ever be any abuse of them by any tribal member. Not because of any draconian laws or punishments, but because it could not even be imagined. Now sadly the same abuses of children go on within our own tribe as elsewhere in America.
Human nature (good and bad) recognizes no racial boundaries.
True, but what cultures, not just parents, teach and model for their kids is definitely a determining factor as to which parts are going to be acted out and tolerated.
I think a lot of cultures still value children but not ours. When we travel internationally I’m always struck by how other cultures love seeing kids. Here they are seen as a nuisance in public.
good reminder
Yes, but culture used to be dependent on community. Now it is dominated and created by political parties, internet influencers, media franchises. Even parents (of any race or creed) who try to fight back have only a slim chance against such forces.
good points
I have taught special education for 30 years and am seeing the same reactions - ignore, excuse, don't create a problem.
I commend Mr. Mangual for his thoughtfulness, courage and sense of morality. We need more people like you.
Well, this is what over half a century of doling out welfare and other subsidies to single mothers will do: create generations of intellectually impoverished, unmotivated, angry people -- many of whom are drug addicted and incapable of controlling their fists.
Bad enough that they maim and murder their own children. Or produce pint-sized gangstas with big guns; who, years later, walk half-dressed and deranged among us.
But they are also dragging hardworking black families into their own dysfunction. Because those gangstas can't shoot straight, the nights are riven by idiot shouting and the loud noise that passes for music, and the mornings are littered with the leftover revels of people who should have been in bed and getting up to go to jobs -- like the rest of us, and like the black people whose neighborhoods are turned into slums by their vicious brethren.
One day the black community will say "Enough!" to the race hustlers who call them Uncle Toms for living law-abiding, normal lives and wanting their kids to do likewise.
Hooray for Rafael Mangual! We need more leaders like this who stand up for children's rights. Beaten, raped, berated, starved and unloved kids aren't concerned about their perpetrators' rights. Who else will speak for the most vulnerable among us?
just for fun I went though the comments on the Times article. Here is a simple break down:
Bewildered readers who can't understand how it could a racist structure when most of the employees and leadership are black and the data that shows black kids are more likely to die at the hands of black family.
Readers who argue lack of a two parent household and problems within the black community which no one wants to talk about are primarily responsible.
New-racists (Anti-racists) who claim racism and white supremacy is responsible. These were actually the fewest.
Thanks for sharing that. Yet another indicator that those running the show do not reflect the majority opinion.
Amen to that.
This time in our history will come to be known as the dark age for children. What I do see is numerous opportunities for the kids in the Midwest to excel in life while the kids from the coasts and elitist large cities run by Dems will have dim futures ahead of them selves. The coasts, especially CA are becoming third world type autocracies. Maybe theocracy is a more succinct word to use.
I agree that there is an assault on children on many fronts: promoting hormonal and surgical treatment for gender confused adolescents; abortion up to birth (I am for compromise), lack of charter schools although parents in poor districts want them, a welfare system that encourages dependence....I could go on. Now this - these vulnerable children need help.
Help that the left isn't willing to give nor have they given as promised for the last 60 years.
Nobody is aborting children who could survive outside the womb (that starts around 24 weeks) that doesn't even make sense...abortion up to birth. You are misinformed.
Nobody? Dr. (If you can use that word) Cesar Santangelo runs a thriving practice in DC performing late term abortions and a few years ago opened a second practice in the Bay Area. After the Dobbs decision California made a big point of declaring itself an abortion sanctuary, which includes late term abortions. Hence Santangelo's business decision. Most are completely elective - i.e. not done to save the lives of the women who choose to have them. Yes they do constitute a small fraction of overall abortions- but even just in New Jersey they number in the tens of thousands. There is a website that catalogs them and the results are disgusting. For something that 'never happens' there are a suspiciously high number of 'doctored photos.'
Leftists have certainly embraced their ideology with all the fervor of religion.
You are onto something… the ‘State’ inevitably becomes the ‘Deity’ when God (especially the Christian one) is abolished/minimized. And States on the coasts are the most unchurched in our nation.
Child welfare is a HARD world. As a former foster mom I saw so many situations where I felt equally sorry for the child(ren), the parents (who are functioning out of their own trauma) and the welfare worker, sandwiched in the middle, trying to navigate the complicated system where common sense is often regulated into oblivion.
I applaud you, Mr. Mangual, for standing upon principle, and I sincerely hope your stand and your article here at TFP will bring attention to more than just the retributive racial policies within an already-broken system.
Too many progressives are afraid of the truth when it conflicts with a predetermined world view. Even ugly truths are important to recognize and understand.
I am increasingly convinced it's not just ideology that drives this madness but a concerted effort to impoverish and hurt populations. Then the affluent and established interests have less competition for their perks and privileges.
Once you perceive that white Democrats are just as racist as they ever were, you can't unsee it. When Civil Rights became the law of the land, they had to find a new way to oppress the black population, and their efforts to supposedly "help" were the perfect cover for that.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
This is what happens when The Narrative (TM) is placed ahead of facts, and indeed, ahead of lives.
"I hope my resignation will raise the alarm....". Don't hold your breath.
Sadly true. But it will give those of us with eyes to see and hearts to care a little more encouragement and real world raffirmation of our own observations.
Mm. Here in Washington state, I do believe we’ve done away with any worries about parents who use drugs around children. Oh sure, they just have to have a “safety plan” in place for when they get the hankering to get high and their kids are around. Didn’t work out so well for some kids, including the most recent victim, 4 year old Ariel Garcia, who was allegedly stabbed to death by his meth addict mom.
😭
Naturally, they are probably asking for a larger budget in order to do less.
So true. Appreciate the chuckle this am.
I feel this is a stereotypical DEI example of cherry picking data and redesigning an entire system to a fault without proper foresight. These myriad examples show either ignorance, corruption, or both. This is why people are against DEI, because it is so untethered from reality and basic and necessary checks and balances. Ithink many people feel the bad outweighs the good of DEI and has for some time. I try to fight for common sense DEI when I can, but the overall mistakes are just so monumentally bad.