Table Of Content“YOU REALLY ARE PLAYING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES”:
UNDERSTANDING VOICE AND ADVOCACY IN THE COURT APPOINTED
SPECIAL ADVOCATE PROGRAM
A Dissertation
by
SHELLY N. BLAIR
Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of
Texas A&M University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
August 2012
Major Subject: Communication
“You Really are Playing With People’s Lives:” Understanding Voice and Advocacy in
the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program
Copyright 2012 Shelly N. Blair
“YOU REALLY ARE PLAYING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES”:
UNDERSTANDING VOICE AND ADVOCACY IN THE COURT APPOINTED
SPECIAL ADVOCATE PROGRAM
A Dissertation
by
SHELLY N. BLAIR
Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of
Texas A&M University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Approved by:
Co- Chairs of Committee, Katherine Miller
Jennifer Mease
Committee Members, Judith Hamera
J. Kevin Barge
Head of Department, James Aune
August 2012
Major Subject: Communication
iii
ABSTRACT
“You Really Are Playing with People’s Lives”: Understanding Voice and Advocacy in
the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program. (August 2012)
Shelly N. Blair, B.A., Point Loma Nazarene University; M.A., San Diego State
University
Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Katherine Miller
Dr. Jennifer Mease
In 1977, a Seattle judge, exasperated at having to make life-altering decisions for
children with little information, founded the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
program. In 2010, 75,000 people in 49 states volunteered their time to advocate for a
child or sibling set in foster care. This project is aimed at understanding the issues of
voice and advocacy imbedded within the organization Advocates For Kids and within
the foster care system at large through critical ethnography. Further, this dissertation
aspires to illuminate the complex ethics at play in the foster care system. This
dissertation seeks to reveal the complicated ways in which the law is enacted by
individuals such as foster parents, judges, and lawyers.
Specifically, the dissertation provides an in-depth examination of the role of the
Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASAs are volunteers trained by the nonprofit
organization, Advocates For Kids, who advocate on behalf of children in foster care. I
collected data via interviews, observation, document examination, and reflexivity to
iv
present a crystallized account of the issues of voice and advocacy in the work of
Advocates For Kids. Based on the data, I expound three categories of voice at play in the
work of VFC: Imagined Voice, Monitored Voice, and Stifled Voice. I also argue that
volunteers intentionally perform privilege in order to ethically advocate for the children
with whom they work. The dissertation concludes with a performative script based on
the project designed to represent the complexity of the foster care system.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the members of my committee Dr Miller, Dr Mease, Dr
Barge and Dr Hamera for their support, time, and critique that improved this dissertation
greatly.
I would also like to thank Gino Giannini for listening to my preliminary ideas
and helping me think through the concepts of the dissertation as they developed. You
were a constant source of emotional and intellectual support throughout this process.
I am extremely grateful to my family and friends who encouraged me every day
over the past two years as I worked on this project. Thank you also to David Duhr for
coaching me through the finish line with humor and understanding.
I would also like to acknowledge the organization and the participants in the
study, without whom this project would not be possible.
Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my husband Sam.
Thank you for believing in me, never letting me give up, and helping me in every way
possible. Thank you for all the dishes you washed, the interviews you transcribed, and
the unwavering confidence you expressed in my work daily.
vi
NOMENCLATURE
AFK Advocates For Kids
CASA Court Appointed Special Advocate
CPS Child Protective Services
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v
NOMENCLATURE .......................................................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................... 1
Key Players in the Foster Care System ...................................................................... 5
Voice ........................................................................................................................ 12
Advocacy .................................................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 33
Advocates For Kids .................................................................................................. 33
Crystallization .......................................................................................................... 34
Benefits of Crystallization ........................................................................................ 35
Application of Crystallization Framework ............................................................... 37
Patches ...................................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER III FINDINGS .............................................................................................. 53
Imagined Voice ........................................................................................................ 53
Monitored Voice ....................................................................................................... 59
Stifled Voice ............................................................................................................. 73
“If you can’t put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, you’re not going to be a
good CASA”: Performing Privilege as Advocacy ................................................... 88
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................... 104
Complicating Voice: Conclusions .......................................................................... 104
viii
Exploring Advocacy: Conclusions ......................................................................... 109
Implications for Practice ........................................................................................ 112
Implications for Method ......................................................................................... 115
Limitations .............................................................................................................. 116
Suggestions for Further Research ........................................................................... 117
Concluding Thoughts ............................................................................................. 117
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 119
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE .......................................................................... 128
APPENDIX B: SCRIPT ................................................................................................. 128
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Poem 1 .............................................................................................................. 59
Figure 2. Poem 2 .............................................................................................................. 73
Figure 3. Poem 3 .............................................................................................................. 87
Description:both of these passions can be seen in his concern for materiality and .. Advocates for Kids (AFK) is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 that .. 2) What do you do when your child's best interest and expressed wishes conflict? keyboard as I strained to turn her monosyllabic responses into a
