Champions for Children: Celebrating Hispanic-American Leaders in Child Welfare

By Laura Warne
Communications Coordinator
Passaic County CASA

Did you know over 50% of children in the Passaic County foster care system identify as Hispanic? Being able to support this population with advocates who can effectively communicate in their native language is key to successful advocacy. Every child deserves to have someone watching out for their welfare, health, and safety. In Passaic County, children in foster care who come from Spanish-speaking families are at a disadvantage due to an inadequate number of Spanish-speaking Court Appointed Special Advocates. We need more people who are willing to bring passion and dedication and make a difference in the lives of children here in our communities. If you are interested in learning more, please visit https://www.passaiccountycasa.org/getting-started.

Each year, September 15 marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which was designated as a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements of Americans whose ancestors came from Mexico, Spain, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we want to shine a spotlight on five individuals of Hispanic descent who have made significant impacts in child welfare, health, and safety. Whether the changes they made were through the courts, on television, in newspapers, or in the classroom, these people have worked to make significant improvements in the lives of many children. 

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Dominican Republic-born family court Judge Ramona A. Gonzalez is a leading family law expert with specialties including child abduction, human trafficking, LGBTQ issues, and domestic violence. She was first female judge to be appointed in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and the first non-white judge in all of western Wisconsin. She served as the 75th President of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges from 2019 – 2020, and today serves on the Wisconsin Circuit Court. Judge Gonzalez also serves on the Wisconsin Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and is a member of the Wisconsin Judicial Committee on Child Welfare.

Third-generation Mexican-American Julian Castro served as Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 2009 – 2014. While Mayor, he championed early childhood education, and established a new city-wide program for all four-year-olds. San Antonio’s Pre-K Program (Pre-K 4 SA) yielded impressive results in cognition, math, and literacy, and demonstrated that early-childhood education is key to giving children living in poverty an equal chance to succeed in school and life. It has become a model for similar programs in cities across the country. Castro went on to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 - 2017 under President Barack Obama, followed by a failed bid for the presidency in 2020. 

Dr. Antonia Novello was appointed to the role of US Surgeon General in 1990 by President George Bush. Born in Puerto Rico, Dr. Novello initially completed her medical training with a specialty in nephrology (the study of kidneys) but later specialized in pediatrics. She became the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where she focused on the growing AIDS crisis in children. While serving as Surgeon General, she used the power of her office to bring public attention to causes she felt strongly about, especially those affecting young people. She became a vocal critic of underage drinking and smoking, and took steps to limit advertising aimed at children, including the popular “Joe Camel” cartoon.

Sonia Nazario is an award-winning Argentinian-American journalist who is known for her stories tackling difficult social issues.  While working for the Los Angeles Times, she won a George Polk Award in 1994 for her series about hunger among schoolchildren in California, and in 1998, she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her story about children of drug addicts. She is best known for her piece “Enrique’s Story,” which followed a Honduran boy as he struggles to find his mother in the United States. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and was later published as a best-selling book. More recently, her work has focused on securing lawyers for unaccompanied migrant children through the non-profit Kids In Need of Defense, established by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie to provide children with pro-bono attorneys.

Puerto Rican civil rights pioneer Felicitas Mendez is best known for spearheading and winning the monumental 1945 lawsuit Mendez v. Westminster, which resulted in the first US federal court ruling against public school segregation. This court ruling was a product of Mendez’s own three children being refused access to their local California school solely because of the color of their skin. Unwilling to accept this, Mendez, her husband, and several others sued the district, demanding an end to the segregation of Hispanic children. The landmark verdict in this case paved the way for the integration of all California public schools that same year, as well as the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision ending the segregation of public schools seven years later. 

Volunteer Bilingual English/Spanish CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Needed to Support Children in Foster Care

By Alexandra Rivas-Smith
SVP, Marketing at William H. Sadlier, Inc.

I found out about the need for bilingual (Spanish speaking) Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) through a LinkedIn ad. I was searching for volunteer opportunities where I could use my native Spanish language skills and connect to the community of Hispanics where I feel most at home.

I had just finished nine years of being a girl scout leader, three years serving on the board of a mental health care organization, and a few years on and off as a catechist. I wanted to do something totally different.

What about my background made me well-suited to be a CASA?

Being raised in Miami as a Cuban-American, I have a real sense of what it is like to straddle two worlds: your home and family life and your school and professional life. Many of the children and families I assist through my CASA assignments also need help with navigating these worlds. To me it comes naturally and it’s a joy to help them. I’ve met wonderful families and I have found that the DCP&P bilingual social workers, their supervisors, and therapists are also outstanding.

What do you need to be a good bilingual (Spanish-English) CASA?

You have to visit your child once a month and write formal reports about them using information gathered from their social worker, therapists, doctors, and teachers. I’ve been assigned to be an advocate for toddlers through teenagers, only children as well as sets of siblings. During the pandemic the CASA role became even more important with so many children confined at home due to loss of in-person schooling, and many families dealing with financial struggles. Those are some factors that can increase risk of child abuse, so it is important to have someone checking in on these children.

We need more Spanish speakers to help foster children!

Did you know that 42% of Passaic County residents identify as Hispanic? Due to this high population of children from Hispanic backgrounds in Passaic County, there is a need for more bilingual (Spanish-English) CASAs. Though the children I’m assigned to often speak English, their families do not. It is also much easier to help children if you can speak Spanish and understand the Hispanic cultural context of many different situations. During my visits, I often spend time helping families navigate school websites and fill out required forms. I’ve also learned a lot about the Family Division of the Court system, which is really interesting.

Why do this important work?

Nothing makes you feel good like helping someone else! You learn about people, family relationships and all the services that exist to help children and families turn their lives around. If you are like me, and prefer to work directly with the people you are helping, then this volunteer work is for you.

What else do I enjoy about this work other than the obvious answer, the kids?

I’ve had the opportunity to venture into towns that I didn’t know about despite having lived in northern New Jersey for 15 years. After a visit, I often take my time to drive around and explore. I like to stop in at a local grocery store for all my favorite and hard-to-find food items or just have a Cafecito, empanada or pastelito at a local bakery. I even sit at restaurants like Noches de Colombia in Passaic to write my reports while eating some chicharron. I love the feeling of community and the mix of all the Caribbean, Central and South American cultures living together and trying to make a better life for themselves and their families in the U.S.A.

Do you think you’re too busy to take on this role?

I have a full-time job as an executive in Manhattan and also have to travel often for work, and while you do have to have some daytime availability, I do what I can on the weekends or in the evenings. My day job has lots of big picture, strategy and financial responsibilities, in addition to leading a team, and I wanted an opportunity where I could get out and be with people in their communities. Being a CASA brings great perspective to other parts of your personal and professional life. It’s been very rewarding work. I often say that if I did not need to work, I would be a full-time CASA!

If you are interested in being a CASA check out the application page and attend a virtual information session.

Reflections This Hispanic Heritage Month

By Keisha Maldonado,
Bilingual Advocacy Supervisor

The Hispanic/Latino population is the fastest growing minority group in the United States. If you have ever taken a stroll down Passaic’s Main Street, you’ve probably been enticed by the smell of pollo al horno wafting from the nearby El Cheveres (a Peruvian restaurant renowned for its roasted chicken), or have noticed advertisements and store signs written in español. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can spot a donna or caballero selling Italian ice from a trolley outside of Easy Pickins.  Over a whopping 30 percent of Passaic County residents identify as Hispanic or of Latino/a origin. For this reason, it is important for us, as Court Appointed Special Advocates, to recognize this significant part of the community that we serve.

During Court Appointed Special Advocate training we cover cultural competency, or the ability to effectively interact with people from all cultures. Culture is the shared values, beliefs, and customs of a community. Culture includes outwardly expressions such as food, music, and language. The inwardly expressions or “below the surface” characteristics include our beliefs regarding life, love, marriage, and death; they shape how we think about the world and how we interact with one another.

I am a firm believer that cultural competency cannot be taught in a 3-hour session, nor in a year-long course for that matter. Becoming culturally competent is a life-long, on-going process. During CASA training, we encourage our aspiring CASAs to show awareness and practice mindfulness when interacting with people from different cultures, and to take time to learn from and about different communities. With Hispanic Heritage Month coming to a close, I want to take this opportunity to share a bit about my personal culture in the hope it will help illustrate some important concepts about identity and family.

I am an Ecuadorian American woman and I identify as both Hispanic and Latina, at a bare minimum. I am also Quiteña, serrana, and of Incan and Spanish descent. The labels I use to describe my background carry significance. Each label makes up a part of my culture – it explains the way I interact with my family members, the way I see myself in the community, and the traditions and superstitions ingrained in me. Calling myself Hispanic or Latina can give you a general idea of my culture, but it is also important to acknowledge the micro-communities that I am a part of. Each micro-community within the Hispanic/LatinX community has its own history and culture. There are nuances and differences within the communities that are important to consider.

During conversations regarding race and ethnicity, you will often hear the terms Hispanic and Latino/a tossed around. These two terms are not interchangeable. Hispanic refers to people who originate from countries that speak primarily Spanish. Latino/a or LatinX refers to people who originate from Latin America. These two terms were created as “umbrella terms” to generalize a large group of people by using two shared characteristics; the Spanish language or country of origin. But by using these terms we also run the risk of alienating communities. Brazilians and Haitians, for example, are not considered Hispanic, but they could identify as Latino. Spaniards, on the other hand, could identify as Hispanic, but are not a part of the LatinX community.  This is where we can see the limitations that come with using the terms Hispanic or LatinX to pigeonhole over 60 million United States residents.

A beneficial method to learn more about our 60 million neighbors is to look at their shared “below the surface” characteristics. One such characteristic is the concept of collectivism. Collectivism is the belief that the needs of the group or family outweigh the needs or desires of the individual.  This belief can manifest itself in adult children choosing to live with their parents, or when grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins cohabitate. La familia is the main support system; financially and emotionally. Private or sensitive matters are handled within la familia and seeking help from social services or mental health services can be seen as taboo.  We can use this information to better understand why the families we work with sometimes act the way they do.

That said, remember not to generalize the Hispanic/LatinX population. Use what you learn anecdotally about the Hispanic or Latino/a population as a guide or backbone when interacting with its members, but also take the time to learn about an individual’s unique culture.

When interacting with someone who identifies as Hispanic/LatinX, be willing to continuously learn, listen, and acknowledge there are many ways of living and no one way is the “correct” way. I encourage you to look around your communities and step outside your comfort zone. If you see a restaurant serving Guatemalan or Peruvian food, why not give it a try?  There are many small “Mom and Pop” stores (known as tiendas) selling wares from countries across Central and South America.  Stop in and purchase a drink or snack. Ask the shopkeeper for his/her recommendation if you are unsure about what to buy! You can learn a lot by tasting the food, listening to the music, meeting the people, shopping in the small stores, and generally exposing yourself to a different culture. We are lucky to live in such a wonderfully diverse part of the country where we can learn so much from our neighbors!