Financial issues disrupt Lincoln County CASA program for children and lack of audits could mean its end

By ANGELA NEBEL/Lincoln Chronicle

Children who have experienced abuse or neglect in Lincoln and Benton counties may no longer have the benefit of volunteer advocates starting Wednesday if CASA – Voices for Children is forced to cease operations.

CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, are trained volunteers appointed by judges to represent the interest of the child as they navigate the legal system. CASA volunteers are focused strictly on the child and provide the court with a non-legal perspective on the child’s needs.

Since 2022, advocacy in Lincoln County has been combined with Benton County and managed by the Corvallis-based Voices for Children.

By all indications, the organization has been plagued with financial problems for some time, but a failure to produce legally mandated financial audits not only put a stop to state funding but may also deal the final blow to the organization in Lincoln and Benton counties.

Oregon CASA Network, the organization that supports the 19 CASA entities across the state, is also charged with disbursing state funds to each program. State director Stephanie Brown said the network halted grant payments to Voices for Children for the last two years.

“Each CASA program, according to state statute, is required to submit an audit annually,” Brown said, noting that the requirement came into law in 2021. “Since that time, Oregon CASA Network has been collecting audits from all of the programs, except Voices for Children.”

“We have suspended their membership and we are working through the process of sending them a termination notice,” Brown said. “That would make them ineligible to operate as a CASA.”

Kari Pinard, executive director of Voices for Children, acknowledged the organization’s financial struggles.

“We haven’t gotten state funding for a couple of years because I did not complete the audit,” she told the Lincoln Chronicle. “One reason was we couldn’t find auditors. And I didn’t have the money. I had no idea when I took Lincoln (county) the cost of taking a second program. Nobody talks to you about that.”

Pinard estimates that the state organization’s decision to withhold grants for the past two years amounted to a loss of $180,000 in revenue to Voices for Children.

The organization appeared to be struggling financially even prior to that loss. According to Voices for Children’s federal tax return form 990 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023, expenses totaled $714,868 and revenues $569,516.

Even as recently as last November, the organization was attempting to offset reduced federal and state funding by launching a GoFundMe campaign to help stave off a reduction in services.

Missing payroll

Earlier this year the financial picture became startling clear for Hazel West, Lincoln County program coordinator and the only paid staff member working in Lincoln County at that time.

West told the Chronicle that without notice she did not get a paycheck on May 1, the normal date for employees receiving their salaries. So, she inquired to the Corvallis office.

“I received a response that evening that there was not enough money in the CASA coffers to make payroll in full,” West said. “I wasn’t the only employee affected and I was told we would get half right away.”

But four days later, when she still had not received a paycheck or any communication, she went to the Corvallis office and resigned.

“I told her (Pinard) that I want this program to make it and I was concerned about the stability of the program,” West said. “As much as I love it, I can’t work for no money, especially without any warning.”

It would take three weeks before she received her April wages.

As program coordinator, West provided support to the volunteer advocates while managing her own caseload of 17-20 cases and monitoring an additional 25 or more.

Judge notices issues

Judge Amanda Benjamin presides over the juvenile dependency court in Lincoln County Circuit Court and says CASA advocates play a critical role in what is best for the children in court.

“CASA is the only party in a dependency case that can just speak from their own human perspective,” Benjamin told the Chronicle. “They come and talk to the court about what they think should happen. About what is good or bad for the child. And that is different from even the child’s attorney because the attorney has to advocate for the child’s wishes.”

The dependency court has a busy docket. There are currently 91 total open cases. In 2025, the number of new cases opened on behalf of children in care was 48.

While there are never enough CASA volunteers to cover all case needs, Benjamin said things had begun to improve during West’s tenure.

“We were seeing a positive change,” she said. “They were finally able to get more involved in cases and were building relationships with children.”

Unfortunately, since West’s departure in May, the judge has noticed a decline. “We don’t have CASAs appearing in court to advocate right now,” Benjamin said.

The judge isn’t the only one who noticed a difference the past month. Waldport’s Katy DiNatale has been a volunteer advocate with CASA Voices for Children since she was sworn in by the court in December 2024.

“I only have two cases and in both, Hazel (West) spent a lot of time walking me through the process,” DiNatale said. “I would email my finished reports to her and then she would send them to someone in the Benton County office.”

Volunteers were not officially informed of West’s departure and found themselves at a loss for their ongoing work.

“None of us volunteers have ever worked with the Benton County office directly to file a report,” DiNatale said. “We didn’t know how the process worked. As volunteers, we have continued to visit our kids. That’s the most important thing to us, that the kids don’t feel any difference. We have been doing our best to let the adults involved know that things may be disrupted right now.”

From Pinard’s perspective, there has been no change in the case management in Lincoln County.

“We have been logging in remotely. Even when we had a staff person over there she was logging in remotely, and we are in attendance for all the kids we are actively assigned to and a majority of the ones that we monitor.”

Currently operating with only three paid employees, Pinard acknowledged the need to hire a new program coordinator for Lincoln County.

All parties agree that if Voices for Children is terminated from the state organization, the organization can no longer operate as a CASA. Voices for Children was told if it could provide a financial audit for fiscal year 2024-25 by Tuesday, June 30, it would not be terminated from the network.

Pinard said she has hired an auditor and anticipates providing all the required information for an audit to that individual in the coming days. “It won’t be done by the end of June. I will be asking OCN for an extension.”

Asked whether an extension would be considered by the statewide organization, Brown said the Oregon CASA Network board will make that decision.

“The board has taken steps toward terminating Voices for Children; however, the final decision will be conducted via vote after June 30 and will be based on all the information that we have at that time,” she said.

If termination does occur, Brown said she is exploring a variety of options that may put Lincoln County with a different county or see if it is possible to launch an independent Lincoln County CASA.

“It is the Oregon CASA Network’s intent that, if Voices for Children is terminated, we will assist in getting more adequate coverage for Lincoln County and Benton County as well,” she said. “Our focus remains on minimizing disruptions to children in foster care.”

• Angela Nebel is a Newport freelancer writer and Lincoln Chronicle contributor who can be reached at [email protected]