At the time of CASA’s assignment, the goal was to return Peter to his father, Mr. Smith. The father had been active in planning for the child to be discharged from foster care.

Peter was receiving Early Intervention Services when CASA was assigned the case, but he was rapidly approaching his third birthday, at which time Early Intervention Services would end. The court didn’t want this to happen. Peter needed to be reevaluated to continue his services through Preschool Special Education with the New York City Department of Education.

The CASA Advocate tackled the case with a vengeance. She started by contacting the agency currently providing services to Peter to see if they would provide the transfer of services and, if not, who would? The agency told CASA the foster mother had the consent forms for the evaluations and had made contact with another agency, but did not make an appointment for the evaluations. As a result, the district office had closed the case. The forms would have to be signed before the district office would reopen the case. Since the whereabouts of Peter’s mother were unknown and the Department of Education will not assign a surrogate to consent to evaluations, CASA was told the evaluations would not take place before Peter aged out.

That was not the right answer for CASA. CASA arranged for the father to be granted an Order of Affiliation, which provided him the authority as the father to sign for all services for Peter. This only solved part of the problem.

CASA contacted the Department of Education’s district office and was told the case was closed as they had only 15 days to complete the evaluation, but now that the father had legal status, he could sign the consent and provide it to the agency that would be conducting the evaluation. By going back and forth with the father, the foster mother and the agency, CASA facilitated necessary meetings and signing of documents to assure that Peter would be evaluated in a timely manner and not have a lapse in services. As a result of CASA’s efforts, the district agreed that Peter could remain in his current program for a while after his third birthday until he could transfer to a Preschool Special Education program. The district also located a program facility near Mr. Smith’s home, as plans were for Peter to be living with his father by that time. CASA worked closely with the caseworker, foster mother and Mr. Smith for a slow transition to the father’s home.

Peter now lives happily with his father and is receiving the special services he needs thanks to the unrelenting efforts of CASA.