By GARTH STAPLEY
CV Journalism Collaborative for the Ceres (Calif.) Courier
About 300 Stanislaus County foster children in the past five years haven’t had adult court-appointed special advocates (CASAs) to help them navigate often-difficult lives because the judge in charge systematically excludes the service.
Stanislaus is the only California county with a juvenile dependency judge who regularly declines to provide extra adult eyes, ears and hearts to its most vulnerable youth, says a statewide organization overseeing CASA programs.
CASA of Stanislaus County stands ready and willing to provide adult volunteers, but dozens are idle because Superior Court Judge Annette Rees does not assign them to help foster children, the organization says.
In an exclusive interview with The Modesto Focus, Rees said she values the assistance such advocates provide to her and foster youth when she chooses to involve CASA services – if requested by attorneys or social workers.
But Rees routinely excludes CASAs when no request is made, she said, and stands resolved to chart a course different from her predecessors and apparently all other dependency judges in California.
“A referral to CASA falls to my discretion,” she said.
Rees’ position causes profound dismay for CASA of Stanislaus County as well as the California CASA Association, whose officers have tried for more than a year to change her mind, without success.
“I’m very distressed over the services kids are not getting in Modesto,” said Carol Isackson, a California CASA senior policy advisor and retired dependency judge in Southern California.
CASAs are widely viewed as beneficial in guiding foster children through bewildering court proceedings and school systems, and generally mentoring them to adulthood.
In 2024, 7,582 adult CASAs supported 11,000 foster youth throughout California. These adult volunteers donated nearly 390,000 hours of their time, spending at least 10 hours a month with a foster child.
Children are placed with foster families when their own parents lose custody because of abuse or neglect. Stability is rare. As many as 75% of children charged with crimes are or have been in the foster system.
Some former foster youth say CASAs gave them reassuring support when their own parents could not.
Foster advocate was ‘my voice when I didn’t have one’
Instability was her only constant when Cassandra Amaral was young, she said. Her parents had severe addictions and she bounced repeatedly from one home to another in Modesto, Hughson and Salida before she and her siblings were taken into the foster care system – and shuttled continuously among foster homes the rest of her youth.
“We moved so many times, I just gave up counting,” said Amaral, 30. Struggling with a learning disability, no consistent support and little emotional attachment, she became “a problem child,” she said.
Her one reliable support, Amaral said, was a trusted court-appointed special advocate. The older man met regularly with a school team mapping an educational program for her, advocated for medication and housing, and stood by her at every court proceeding over the years, she said.
“He was always there for me, even for the dumbest things in the world,” she said. “He was my voice when I didn’t have one.”
They stay in contact even now that she has a husband, children and her own home, Amaral said.
Labor of love for special advocates
Interacting with foster children enriches adult CASA volunteers, they say.
“It’s very gratifying,” said Jerry Rhine, a Stanislaus Union School District retired principal and local CASA. At 85, he’s nearing the end of many years of volunteerism, but rewarding talks, hikes, and bowling with his assigned foster child keep him active.
It’s not just fun and games though. Previous judges seemed to value his input in court proceedings, Rhine said.
Rhine is among 76 Stanislaus CASA volunteers. As many as 38 are trained and ready to help foster children and teens, but can’t because Rees consistently fails to appoint them, the statewide association says.
“If our court doesn’t allow us to do what we’re created to do, kids are cheated out of potential supports and services,” said Steve Ashman, Stanislaus CASA executive director. “Why not avail ourselves of every opportunity?
“It’s like going to a doctor who gives you an aspirin to cure all issues,” he continued. “Why wouldn’t you throw in other things to help you get well? These kids deserve effort on everyone’s part, but (Rees) chooses not to refer.”
CASA an outlier
An idle CASA volunteer is unheard of in most California counties, where the reverse – not enough adults willing to help at-risk youth – often is the norm, the statewide association says.
“It’s the only situation I am aware of in California where a judge will not appoint CASAs to cases and there are CASAs waiting to help,” said Sharon Lawrence, who recently retired as California CASA chief executive officer. “Foster children of Stanislaus County are being failed by not having access to a program that can help them the most.”
When making decisions affecting children’s lives, dependency judges lean heavily on a youth’s lawyer and social worker, said Isackson, a San Diego dependency judge before retiring. With heavy caseloads, those adults spend little time with a young client – unlike a CASA, who in most cases has been interacting with a foster child for years.
“CASAs provided me with vital, essential information that helped me make better-informed decisions,” Isackson said. “A judge is only as good as the evidence in front of them. CASAs provide that evidence.”
Ashman worries that with little to do, discouraged volunteers may leave the Stanislaus program, and support from kind-hearted donors may wane. Local contributors include the E.&J. Gallo Winery, McHenry Bowl, the Bright Family Foundation and Kiwanis International of North Modesto. Regional and national donors feature the likes of Nothing Bundt Cakes, Dutch Bros Coffee and the In-N-Out Burger Foundation.
State CASA representatives met with Rees and Stanislaus Presiding Judge Sonny Sandhu, in October 2024 and have exchanged multiple emails and letters since. Rees refuses to budge, the CASA team says.
Steady decline in Stanislaus CASA appointments
The late Judge Ann Ameral, who died in 2023, presided over Stanislaus foster cases as its longtime dependency judge before Rees. In 2017, 75 percent of children entering the foster care system received court-appointed special advocates – a rate in line with most California counties, the statewide association says.
In those years, Rees was building a reputation as a fierce advocate for abused women and children, prosecuting accused abusers and overseeing the Special Victims Unit as a Stanislaus chief deputy district attorney.
Rees was elected to a Stanislaus judgeship in 2020 and was assigned to be the county’s dependency judge in January 2021. In her first year, less than half the children entering the Stanislaus foster care system received CASA advocates.
And the numbers have dropped steadily since. Rees has appointed CASAs to only 16 of 98 (16 percent) new foster children this year, making Stanislaus a clear outlier in California, according to the California CASA Association.
Though the number fluctuates, Stanislaus currently has about 300 foster children, Rees said.
A Modesto Focus analysis of data provided by the association – culled from the local CASA group and the California Child Welfare Indicators Project – shows that in five years Rees has appointed CASAs to help 158 foster youth, and has not in 308 cases.
No bias against CASAs, judge insists
Asked why, Rees said that with one exception (because a child’s attorney objected), Rees has always appointed a CASA if one is requested by a youth’s attorney or social worker. When they don’t request an advocate, she doesn’t appoint one, even though Ameral did and other dependency judges throughout California do.
“I’ve chosen not to approach this the same way as my predecessor,” Rees said. “Judge Ameral was a wonderful judge. We just approach it differently.
“I’ve spent my entire career protecting women and children,” Rees continued. “I’m focused on all circumstances and what is best for this child at this time, and maybe it’s not a CASA referral.”
Rees speaks to CASA trainees twice a year and swears in volunteers when their extensive training is complete, she said.
“CASA is a wonderful organization. I have no bias against them,” Rees said. “It can be very helpful to have that set of extra eyes. They can be great advocates.”
Then why not appoint them to help all foster children? Do more voices bog down court calendars? Or somehow interfere with the goal of reunifying families?
No, Rees said.
“I do not make blanket referrals,” she said. “I look at a case and decide if it’s appropriate, and if asked, I’ve always made a referral with one exception.
“I don’t know what other jurisdictions are doing,” she continued. “In this county, Judge Ameral had a right to refer every single case to CASA. I just don’t approach it that way. This is not my interpretation of the law, which is my discretion.”
Sandhu, who gives Stanislaus judges their assignments, said he stands by Rees. CASA representatives seem focused solely on numbers, he said.
“I know she’s always going to put the safety of the community first,” said Sandhu.
Foster children’s futures hang in the balance
No measuring stick is known to suggest whether Rees’ approach leads to better or worse outcomes for foster children.
Isackson, the former dependency judge, said it’s painful to watch.
“It brings tears to my eyes that kids are going through the Stanislaus court system without support, and you’ve got 38 CASAs sitting there with no assignment to help kids,” Isackson said.
Rees said she has no desire to “put CASA out of business, for heaven’s sake. They’re a tremendous asset.
“I have no idea why it’s risen to this sort of – I’m looking for a term other than animus – but it’s become somewhat adversarial and that’s too bad because my focus is on the kids, what’s best for them,” Rees said. “A CASA is often a big part of that. But I’m not going to blanket-refer every case without doing my duty to use my discretion appropriately.”
— Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@cvlocaljournalism.org.
