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Hanford Insider: City Council Meeting Agenda, Insider Kings County CASA with Maritza Lemus

• Rob Bentley

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When a child enters foster care, their world transforms overnight. They face new homes, new rules, and a complex system of courts and social workers that can feel overwhelming. Who stands beside them during this tumultuous journey? In Kings County, it's often a CASA volunteer.

This week, we sat down with Maritza Lemus to explore the remarkable work of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Kings County. These dedicated community volunteers become powerful voices for children navigating the foster care system, standing beside them in courtrooms and ensuring their needs aren't overlooked. As Maritza explains, "Research shows it only takes one person to make a difference" – and CASA volunteers become that crucial person for vulnerable children who desperately need stability.

The stories Maritza shares are profoundly moving. One special needs youth, facing homelessness after aging out of the system at 21, found not just an advocate but a family when his CASA volunteer welcomed him home. For a young person who had never even celebrated a birthday with cake, this connection became life-changing. These volunteers serve purely from compassion, receiving no payment – a fact that often surprises the children they help and transforms their relationship into something truly special.

We delve into the comprehensive training CASA volunteers receive and how they're matched with children based on specific needs and circumstances. With approximately 300-400 kids in Kings County's foster system annually, the need for advocates remains urgent. Whether you're considering volunteering or simply want to understand how community members are creating brighter futures for our most vulnerable children, this conversation reveals how ordinary people become extraordinary heroes through their commitment to changing one child's story at a time.

Ready to learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer? Contact 559-587-9908 or visit casakingsco.org to discover how you can help transform a child's life.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
Thank you for supporting the show!

Speaker 1:

On this episode of the Hanford Insider we get a chance to visit with Maritza Lemus about the wonderful things happening with the Kings County CASA program. You'll get an update of Hanford news and the community calendar Then later I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, april 14th.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Hanford Insider. I'm your host, rob Bentley. This weekly podcast is a great way to learn about our community and meet interesting people. Best of all, it's listener. Supported. Insiders provide show ideas and contribute to the content, and there's no advertising. This is a hobby for me. If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. And don't forget that if you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it.

Speaker 2:

Now let's take a look at this week's community news. The Hanford City Council will be meeting on Tuesday, april 15th. During the afternoon study session they'll be reviewing a capital improvement plan and hearing a presentation of the goals and objectives for 25 and 2026. During the general meeting at 7 pm they'll be recognizing the Sierra Pacific High School girls basketball team for winning the Valley Championship last month. There'll be a public hearing about modifications in a new subdivision being built near Hume Avenue and in general business. They'll discuss the condition of the building on the northeast corner of Dowdy and 6th. The building is becoming unsafe and the owner has not presented any plan to sell, remodel or demolish it, so city staff will update the council on the condition of the building and next steps, including potential demolition. I've seen the pictures in the council report and agree that the building that's been up since the late 1890s is truly falling apart. It hasn't been kept up or reinforced in years and there's been no effort by the owner to keep the building, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the building is demolished in the future.

Speaker 2:

Most of you know by now that our current Miss Kings County, emily Carpenter, is suffering a setback in her cancer treatment. There'll be a blood replacement drive on Thursday, april 17th at Adventist Health on Mall Drive from 2 pm to 6 pm. Please consider donating blood in this time of need. Also, it was great to see that the Kings River Hardwick School held a fundraiser earlier this month for Emily's Golden Positivity Foundation for juvenile cancer patients and they donated over $25,000. I understand that Frontier Elementary School is holding a fundraiser as well. It's so heartwarming to see how Hanford has rallied around Emily and her family. In lighter news, how about a big shout out to Elsa Young of the Kings County Sheriff's Office, who was honored as Kings County Dispatcher of the Year last Friday evening at the ceremony held at the Hanford Civic Auditorium. Elsa's exceptional service, calm under pressure and unwavering commitment to public safety made her a standout choice for this year's top honor. Congratulations, elsa.

Speaker 2:

The Cinderella Project of Hanford is still accepting donations of new and used prom dresses, shoes, purses or jewelry for the upcoming prom on May 3rd. Donations may be dropped off at the Hanford High School District Office on Lacey Boulevard, across from Carl's Jr. The Hanford Police Department has announced the formation of the Citizens Police Academy includes over 20 hours of skilled and professional instruction. They require six consecutive Wednesday night meetings from 6 to 9 pm. To find out more, visit hanfordcagov slash citizens.

Speaker 2:

Let's take a look at this week's community calendar. At the food truck takeover in the Civic Park this Wednesday, april 16th, the lineup includes Taco, san Marcos and Chef Grey. The trucks are open from 11 to 2 each Wednesday in the beautiful Civic Auditorium Park. On Friday, april 18th, the City of Hanford is putting on the annual egg hunt in the Civic Park from 10 am to 2 pm. There will be food vendors, creative arts and crafts and fun and games. There will be five divisions for egg hunts, including an adult egg hunt category. The activities are free due to the generosity of Anthem, blue Cross. Kings County Special Olympics is holding a carnival at the Longfield Center on Saturday April 26th, from 10 am to 3 pm.

Speaker 2:

On Saturday April 26th, the Echoes of Courage celebration will be held, marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. There will be a parade through downtown Hanford at 10 and then there will be a ceremony at 11 in the park. There'll be food trucks, a beer garden and a car show. On next week's show we'll hear from several of our Vietnam vets and have more information about the event. Speaking of car shows, the downtown Hanford Car Show hosted by the Carnegie Museum of Kings County will be held on Saturday June 7th. Registration is now open at carnegiecarshowcom.

Speaker 2:

Saturday June 7th is also the date of the centennial celebration of the hanford civic auditorium. There'll be a ceremony at three and a ticket at gala dinner at 6 pm. Visit hanfordcagov slash civic 100 for more information. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Well, it's great to have on the show with us Maritza Lemus from the CASA of Kings County. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Hi, thank you for having me.

Speaker 2:

Maritza, the CASA of Kings County is such an important program and it serves so many people. Can you tell us a little bit about the CASA program and how it serves the children of Kings County?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So basically, casa stands for Corps Appointed Special Advocate, and what we do is we recruit, train and support volunteers from the community who then advocate for kids in foster care and they're a voice for them in court.

Speaker 2:

And what drew you to this area of work? What drew you to CASA?

Speaker 3:

You know I, like most people in the community, did not know about CASA of Kings County. I was doing some intern work when I was getting my associates at West Hills and through that I was interning at Champions where I facilitated a group of kids five to 12. So in this program families came together and a lot of the families I was seeing was parents trying to reunify with their kids or trying to get them back in their placement. So I kind of got to hear some of those stories. So when I heard about CASA and learned that they work with kids in foster care, of course then I didn't know at what capacity. I just thought it would be interesting to kind of see what that all was about.

Speaker 2:

Due to my exposure working with that group, so let's walk through a typical day at CASA. What are you responsible for and what is the outcomes? I mean, I've heard so many wonderful stories about placements and such Kind of walk us through the process of someone who is placed into the system this program grow from two-person staff to now six and how we've grown.

Speaker 3:

But essentially, you know when a child enters foster care. You know children are either in the home with their families or they're removed, and during this process they can experience so much change. Just in the system alone there's about five stages these kids can go through either at a home or in home placement, then they could potentially go to legal guardianship or adoption, and if none of those work, then you have your long-term foster care and then you have your AB-12 from 18 to 21. So there's just so many things, just changes that can happen without even the different circumstances of these families. So at some point a referral is made to the judge and they are then referred to us and then we receive that referral and then they get added to our wait list. So from there now we're trying to match advocates that we know have the skills to be able to work with this case.

Speaker 3:

So we do a lot of our recruiting out in the community, social clubs, wherever we can be and share information. We do that and then we recruit advocates for our training classes. Those are usually held in April and October, and I mean we don't ask for special qualifications to be an advocate. You know, everybody has different backgrounds professionally, career, wise but they just bring so much to the table in the fact that they want to donate their time to work with these kids, with these families. Because we know that reunification is important and if we can give families the tools for families to stay together, that is our goal and if not, of course, we will advocate for something different.

Speaker 2:

So what are the statistics versus someone who has not received assistance from CASA?

Speaker 3:

So kids who have an advocate are most likely to experience homelessness, troubles with the law, loss of connections with siblings. That's sometimes a little big when you have sibling sets and kids kind of get separated just due to capacity of you know being there. But you know, research shows that it only takes one person to make a difference and this advocate can do that for that child. And you know, sometimes they are the one person that they have for the rest of their life to count on and I think that's great. Our advocates, once they finish a case and they're relieved, it's up to them whether they want to stay connected with the family or the youth. A lot of them do. And then just recently we had one that decided that the last thing this youth needed was a family and that's what he was able to provide. So that's an amazing story as well.

Speaker 2:

So that leads us right into what I was going to ask you about personal stories. I'm sure you've got a whole book's worth Share with us a few more of the touching stories that have been affecting children.

Speaker 3:

I think the biggest one has been this year. It kind of makes us emotional here in the office but we had a youth who had been in a foster care system for a long time. He was special needs and this youth throughout the years went through different placements and really didn't have a lot of connections. And when he was assigned his advocate, you know the conversation with the advocate as soon as he was sworn in is you're getting this case and we have three weeks to be able to help this youth before he's homeless out in the street. Of course my advocate was freaking out and said you know, what am I supposed to do in three weeks? But you know he was really proactive in working with this youth and getting him to understand. Like, hey, we kind of got to pick up the pace and you know what you have here is not what it's going to be like if you know you're out in the streets and we're having to go look out for you just to make sure that you're okay, especially because this youth was already over the age of 18 and they have into 21 to have. You know the benefits that they get so slowly.

Speaker 3:

Within those three weeks he was able to get him in a good placement. And our advocate was just waiting for him to turn 21 and say, hey, you know, he's been in foster care for a long time. He really is not connected to any family other than the service members. So on his 21st birthday his case closed, which was just recently and now he said all right, bud, the last thing you need is a family, and my family has been waiting to meet you. We're so excited and to this day we now see him with them.

Speaker 3:

You know, all the time celebrating his family. He was so excited He'd never had, you know, a birthday cake, so it was just really nice to see how much that advocate was willing to give. More than that, that's just, you know, a dream of ours here and our advocates to see the change right, because sometimes you don't see the change. Sometimes the changes are small things and we have to celebrate those as well. But you know I also caution our advocates that we might never know what impact we have and that you know, youth will turn into an adult and maybe one day they think back and say, man, if it wasn't for a CASA advocate, I would have never. And then you know the blank.

Speaker 2:

So the fact that you know you have members from the community that are so dedicated to want to work with these. You know kids and families and help them make a difference.

Speaker 3:

Just speaks volumes to the type of community that we have. So what kind of training do they go through to prepare to be an advocate? Yeah, so that's great. We're just starting training. It started yesterday, so we do really have an intense training. It's 30 hours. That 30 hours consists of in-session training.

Speaker 3:

We have different presenters. Some of these presenters are going to be people that they work with in the community. Like for tonight, we actually have a foster youth panel for the first hour that gets to talk about their experience of being in foster care and they kind of give advice to the advocates. Some of them have advocates, some of them don't a panel of social workers, so we get to hear what it's you know, day to day like for them and the things that they experience. So we really want them to have a clear picture of you know what we'll be doing. We're not selling it that we're just going to change lives, like. No, this is difficult but it can also be very rewarding. So they do those trainings.

Speaker 3:

They also do what's called CASA University. So it's a platform online where you actually do the reading, all the codes, all the standards, all the different things that we have to abide to and how this program came about and they do many quizzes on that. All advocates are required to have a core observation. So this is a time when we go to the core and we show them all the different professionals that they will be working with, so they become familiar what it looks like to be in the courthouse and you know the verbiage that's used, because you know it could be a scary thing. You're going to court. So we kind of get them through that so that they have an understanding.

Speaker 3:

And then, once that happens, we do what's called on the job training. So once they finish the actual training they get sworn by the judge. So they raise their right hand and we have our wonderful Judge Giuliani here who oversees dependency and they repeat an oath and that's what makes them officially an officer of the court. But after that it's kind of OK, we've heard from the professionals and you read Now it's time to get going. So what we do is we introduce them to their cases, we let them know all the different information, we schedule meetings with the social workers to get information on the cases, ask any questions, we do a home visit. So basically what we want to do is gather information about the case, to see where we're at, to see where do we fit in, where can we help, where can we start, and then from there we just kind of continue to guide them through the process of you know ups and downs and whatever else they might experience on their case.

Speaker 2:

So these trained advocates do it for the love of children and they do wonderful things that are not paid, but they do receive a lot of support. Can you tell us about the support that they receive?

Speaker 3:

Of course. Yeah, no, you're right, our advocates are, just, you know, dedicated community members wanting to make a difference. And you know we have our program coordinator, roxanne, who helps assist the advocates, as well as our program assistant. So we're constantly having conversations and checking in with them and you know, just for instance, we had an advocate whose youth had to have surgery and she was visiting him at the hospital and you know she was asking him why he was upset and his statement was like, well, nobody's here to visit me. And she said, well, I'm here to visit you. He said, yeah, well, you're different, you're paid to be here. And you know she said no, I'm not, I'm not paid to be here, I do this because I want to.

Speaker 3:

And we find that a lot of times kids always ask that question and when they get the response, their first reaction is to say like why? And they're like response. Their first, you know, reaction is to say like why? And they're like oh, because you know I want to, I want to help you. So it just kind of changes the dynamics of their relationship versus their relationships with other service providers that you know are there to ask them questions. How's it going Right? Do you kind of have to. I always express it in the sense that they have to give and give. When the advocate, they can just sit there and not say anything. We're just asking if they want to share, if not. They kind of just get to be in that moment and do some of the stuff that might not be heavy, where they constantly have to check in with others. I think that's the opportunity that also helps the advocates connect with our youth, that leads them on a path to kind of working together to get through the rough times of, you know, kids being in foster care.

Speaker 2:

So you do receive a lot of support from the community and the county, but it's not exactly a county program. They support the program, but as I understand it, your program is funded mainly by grants and some of the fundraising activities that you have.

Speaker 3:

Yes, that is correct. So we have our annual Light of Hope fundraiser. That happens every Saturday at the end of September. That's usually our major recruiting. We do solicitations to like direct mailings through the end of the year. We recently have our Growing Hope campaign where we set a goal to raise $30,000 and we connected with a lot of donors in our community and we were actually able to reach that goal. So that was amazing. But as well, like you suggested, other grants, federal grants, anything that we can that supports our mission we're definitely applying and we hope to continue to grow. Federal grants, you know, anything that we can that supports you know our mission. We're definitely applying and we hope to continue to grow, have more events, bring in more income, provide more community awareness because, believe it or not, we're a small county, kings County but a lot of people still haven't heard from CASA, whether it's to recruit more advocates or raise more funds. But luckily, we are good. We're blessed to have a lot of donors who believe in our mission and continue to support us.

Speaker 2:

That's great. Well, before we wrap things up, I always ask my guests what is one big common misconception of your organization that you'd like to maybe correct the myth or get the word out about what actually CASA does and is about?

Speaker 3:

Sure, of course. Well, I want to say first, initially is in our title CASA. When you see CASA, you know a lot of people think house, right, they think that we provide housing services. And I think the other major one is that we help certify for being a foster parent.

Speaker 3:

I think it's, you know, pretty hard sometimes for people to differentiate between the advocacy part and the foster care and being a foster parent, because they kind of, you know they're both go hand in hand. But usually when we communicate and have them attend a session and we really break it down, then they understand have them attend a session and we really break it down, then they understand oh, this is not a housing, you know a place, or this is not somewhere where I can foster. You know which is really what we want to do and we say, okay, that's fine, we'll connect you straight to someone in the agency that will help you with that process, because we need foster parents too. I think the word advocate sometimes causes people to think like we get a lot of calls from people wanting to go to family court. I need help with this, I need an advocate for my child, and it's kind of like okay, well, let's talk about it, where we have to, you know, explain like our referrals come from the judge and we only serve foster youth. We wish we could extend it for all kids, right, but the reality is that that's not how our program works. But we can go ahead and refer you to the law facilitator at the courthouse, so we're always trying to provide all those different resources so that people can still get connected to whatever it is that they are looking for.

Speaker 2:

Well, this has been some outstanding information. I've learned so much, thank you.

Speaker 3:

No, and thank you so much for having us and, like I said, we're always recruiting, so if you are interested in becoming an advocate or learning more, you can go ahead and reach us at 559-587-9908. We also have our casakingscoorg website. I'm walking in because we know we can always use more volunteers, because usually there's about 300 or 400 kids in foster care each year. We might not need to serve them all, but we definitely need to serve more.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:

You're welcome.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me me, and now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley. We start with softball, where Hanford West continued their winning ways, picking up a pair of league wins last week. Tuesday's home matchup with Kerman saw both teams trade runs throughout the game, but a three-run Huskies first inning proved to be the difference maker in the 9-6 victory. In Friday's away game the Huskies fell behind early to Kingsburg, trailing 3-1 after two innings, but fought back and, with the game tied at four heading into the sixth, the Huskies played at a run in the sixth and added three more in the seventh to come away with the eight to four win. Emma Guzman highlighted the Huskies weak at the plate, going four for seven in the two games, with three doubles and five runs batted in, while pitcher Rylan Montoya picked up both wins in the circle. The 13-2 Huskies will ride a five-game winning streak into their busy week of action this week at the Clovis Easter Classic.

Speaker 1:

Hanford High went 1-2 last week, dropping both games of their league series with Tulare Union, but picked up an 11-6 win in a non-league clash with Sierra Pacific, where a seven-run bottom the third proved to be the difference in an otherwise back-and-forth contest. The Bullpups will also be busy in tournament play this week. As for Sierra Pacific, aside from the loss to the Bullpups, the Golden Bears went 1-1 in their two league games, suffering their first league loss of the season at the hands of Emmanuel 7-6 thanks to a late-inning Eagles rally but picked up a 14-4 run rule victory versus Washington Union, with Miranda Reyes going 2-4 with a home run and three runs batted in in the win. The Golden Bears also picked up a tournament win over Chavez on Saturday 8-3, and now sit at 10-7 overall.

Speaker 1:

On to baseball, where Sierra Pacific won both games of their league series with Kermann to improve to 3-1 in league action. In Wednesday's 3-1 win on the road, nathan Chavez picked up two RBI and in Friday's 5-1 win at home, justin Simas had a nice day at the plate, going 3-4. Five different pitchers combined to hold the Lions to only two runs, while striking out 14 over the two-game series. The Golden Bears are currently 12-4 overall on the year. Hanford High and Hanford West were both unable to pick up wins in their league tilts last week, with the Bullpups losing their series to Mission Oak and the Huskies falling in their two games to Washington Union. All three baseball teams will be in action this week at the 55th annual Fresno Easter Classic. As always, we like to cover as many local sports as we can, so if you have a score report, a story or a team update, please let us know. At hanfordinsider at gmailcom, I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Speaker 2:

I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider email list. Stop by my website at hanfordinsidercom to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or, like most of my listeners, just telling a friend For more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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