If you ask Streamwood resident Mary Lee Rutledge why she is willing to spend up to 20 hours a week as a CASA volunteer, she smiles and says, “I do it for the children.” As a court appointed special advocate, she represents children and is responsible for visiting families, schools and foster parents; checking and updating a child’s records; and, inevitably, appearing in Juvenile Court to speak on behalf of the children.
But that’s not her only volunteer role. She also works with teens at Spectrum, the youth arm of Schaumburg Township, and spends every Saturday overseeing the phones at the Elk Grove Village-based Talkline, which offers counseling and referrals. Some Sundays find her helping the homeless in Schaumburg.
Rutledge got involved in volunteer work after she was widowed in 1991 at the age of 51. Her three adult children were established in their own lives.
“After my husband died, I needed to get busy,” Rutledge says. “When you reach out and touch someone it helps you. To tell the truth, I like helping other people.”
Her mother’s good example of volunteer work (she often visited hospitals) led Rutledge to seek new ways of sharing her time and talents with others. A newspaper article alerted her to the need for CASA volunteers.
CASA (the Spanish word meaning “home”) was established in Illinois in 1986. It is a program of Illinois Action for Children (a statewide group that works on behalf of children who depend upon public policy for their well being), with funding provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Chicago Community Trust and the Field Foundation of Illinois.
“I was given a criminal background check, and after hours of classroom training, I was sworn in by a judge in March 1992,” Rutledge says.
Being a CASA volunteer is a longterm commitment since the volunteers are asked to remain involved with their cases as long as court action continues. “They tell us that 18 months is the average for a case, but it always goes longer than that,” she says. In fact, none of Rutledge’s three cases (one dating to May 1992) has been closed.
Her role is fourfold: as monitor, checking compliance with court orders; as facilitator, assisting social agencies in eliminating delays; as investigator, gathering facts and discerning options; and as advocate, making sure that a child will receive the best opportunities for a safe and permanent home.
“During my first case, a supervisor walked me through the steps,” she says. “I can report (findings) to the state’s attorney, the public defender, the child’s attorney, the Guardian ad litem, the Department of Children and Family Services worker, Catholic Charities and the Volunteers of America. It is the judge or Guardian ad litem who sees how difficult or complicated a case may be and asks for a CASA worker.”
Two of her cases are from the northwest suburbs and involve frequent on-site visits. “There’s lots of legwork,” says Rutledge. “We receive a service plan (for each case) and must make sure that it is followed through.”
Allen C. Schwartz, assistant program director for CASA of Cook County, says Rutledge is very dedicated to her job. He says that when several early attempts to contact one of her families proved unsuccessful, Rutledge “sat on the porch and waited for a couple of hours until the school bus arrived and one of the children got off the bus.” Rutledge introduced herself to the child and has since been the only person able to “get inside” this family, Schwartz says.
Schwartz singles out Rutledge as one of his favorite volunteers. “A CASA volunteer must possess an unyielding commitment to advocate for a child and the good judgment to know how,” Schwartz says. “Mary exemplifies these qualities and has proven to be invaluable to this program and the children and families she serves.”
Rutledge also remembers her first case for CASA when, during a court appearance, the judge asked her whether or not she recommended taking the children away from their parents. With tears in her eyes, she asked, “Do I have to answer that?” The judge responded, “Yes, you are my eyes and my ears.” Rutledge and others say this is a crucial element in the role of the CASA volunteer, who seeks either to reunite children with their biological parents or to find refuge for them from “foster care drift” in a permanent adoptive family.
Schwartz says the agency would like a volunteer for every child who needs one; there are currently 40,000 children in the court system in Cook County and only 250 CASA volunteers.
Rutledge’s deep care for young people also has led her to volunteer at Spectrum. The Monday nights she spends in the teen room and gym talking, playing cards or just listening to local teens offer stability for the kids and a sense of well-being for Rutledge. “My philosophy is that if I can help one person, it makes the whole day worth it,” she says.
That is echoed by Julie Hoeppner, assistant director for youth development at Spectrum, who characterizes Rutledge as “very dedicated. She has a good rapport with the kids, a genuine interest in helping.”
Rutledge doesn’t take the weekends off either. Every Saturday, she oversees the phones at Talkline, receiving calls from people with a variety of problems, illnesses and personal crises and offering them referrals or just someone to listen to them. “We have to take all calls seriously,” Rutledge says of this United Way-funded project.
She says even her 40 hours of training did not prepare her for the first AIDS sufferer who called, detailing a history of non-supportive parents, a recently deceased companion and loss of his job. She cried after talking to him “forever,” she says. “My heart went out to him. There are a lot of lonely people out there.”
Elisabeth Fangusaro, volunteer manager at Talkline, values Rutledge’s contributions to their service. “Mary is one of those women who is a pleasure to know,” she says. “She never says no.”
On many Sunday evenings, Rutledge can be found at the PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) site at Church of the Holy Spirit in Schaumburg. LaVerne Horgan, first-shift coordinator at the site, views Mary as a “warm, caring person. People tend to trust her.”
Rutledge says her faith has seen her through her own difficult times and has kept her focused on what is important.
Heather Hasto, associate pastor at Our Redeemer’s United Methodist Church in Schaumburg, coordinated the Redbird Mission Work Camp last summer in Kentucky, which Rutledge attended. Hasto says she was amazed at Rutledge’s “consistent giving spirit in learning to do things she didn’t know she could do,” such as drywalling, installing new plumbing or framing new steps.
But it is always the children who draw Rutledge back to her involvement as a CASA volunteer. She enjoys “making a difference in the lives of children,” she says.
———-
For information on CASA, call 312-433-4928. Talkline’s 24-hour crisis line is 847-228-6400.
