Keeping Watch Over Children In the System

Darryl, 6, stares at his new glasses and slowly runs his fingers along the frames. He breathes on them, cleans them on his shirt and then does it again, and again.

He's stalling because he doesn't want to put them on.

But a visitor to his Alexandria home on this recent Monday morning is determined to make sure he wears them.

"Let me see your glasses," says Ginnie Volkman, a volunteer with the Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, program.

Darryl quickly puts the spectacles on his nose.

"You look pretty handsome," Volkman says to laughter from four of Darryl's siblings. "So, are you going to wear your glasses?"

"Yes," Darryl answers quietly.

The importance of Darryl's glasses goes far beyond a child's vanity. Darryl has a disorder called strabismus, and glasses are required to correct it. But his mother, a former substance abuser who receives public assistance, neglected to get Darryl's glasses for several months -- landing her in Alexandria's juvenile court system for medical neglect.

Volkman can recite intimate details of Darryl's condition. That's because she interviewed his eye doctor and then researched the condition extensively. She knows that Darryl almost never wears glasses at school. She talked to his teacher.

And Volkman does all of this, the visits to Darryl's house and school, the conversations with his doctors and social workers, in her spare time -- without being paid.

She is one of 55 CASA volunteers who choose to immerse themselves in the lives of troubled children, those who have been neglected or abused by their parents or guardians. The program began in Alexandria in 1988 and is a fixture of the city's Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

Now, CASA is expanding in Arlington. The expansion began slowly last year but will quicken with $70,000 in grants the program received from organizations including Friedman Billings Ramsey, an Arlington-headquartered investment bank, and the Virginia Law Foundation, which provides legal services to the poor.