By SESARIO ESCOTO

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) exists because children in the foster care system need a voice. These young people experience great loss and trauma, and CASA of Santa Cruz County provides a light in the darkness that can fall upon this time in their lives; that light being the CASA volunteers.

Volunteer Advocates stay with a child through the entirety of their case until they are reunified with their family or placed in another safe, loving, permanent home, which is typically 18-24 months. They listen to them, identify their needs, and advocate for them in court, school and the community.

Right now, CASA is facing a challenge — a huge unmet need. Many children and youth being referred to CASA come from Spanish-speaking families. The volunteer Advocates are much better equipped to serve them if they can speak their language. Sadly, children who need a bilingual Advocate wait two times as long to be paired with a caring volunteer. 

Spanish-speaking children in the foster care system stand to lose not only their home, school, clothes, pets, books and toys, but also, and perhaps most importantly, their language and culture. In the process of moving around between multiple group homes and foster homes, they are likely to lose a connection to their past and their sense of identity. A volunteer who shares some of their cultural background can become the bridge between the isolating system that takes so much from them and their concept of who they are and where they come from. Bilingual/bicultural volunteers can help a child develop pride in their cultural identity and develop self-esteem. 

CASA needs volunteers who speak both Spanish and English, and have a few hours a week to spend with a young person and be this important bridge. If you fit this description, please call 761-2956 to find out more information. If you know someone who can help, please share this story. There are children on the CASA wait list right now who need a supportive adult in their lives. 

I’m retired now, but I worked in education for 40 years, in all levels (high school, middle school, elementary and college) so I’ve seen the kids coming through our school system who need extra support. Now, as a member of the CASA Board of Directors, I get to see how caring, adult volunteers make a difference in the lives of these children and youth. 

••• 

Sesario Escoto serves on the CASA Board of Directors. He is a retired Dean of Students from Cabrillo College, and former elementary school principal from the Live Oak School District. His opinions are his own and not necessarily those of the Pajaronian.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. Sesario Escoto is a crooked school administrator who falsified a college district budget, so that it would pass in front of the county voters in SC county ! He is a nuisance for the school population and talks to much non sense all the time ! He should be quite and think first what must be said ! I remember him saying “Be a student first, be a student senator second” ! I have a suggestion for him at the moment : Keep your mouth shut, majmune jedan !

  2. Sesario, I have a suggestion for your “unintelligent” approach to the foster youth ! First of all, the young teenagers and kids who speak Spanish, must learn English first ! As I remember from a PS 1 class, the Constitution was written in English and not Spanish, so therefore they must be forced to learn this language ! If they refuse to do so, there is a Southern border, where they can legally cross from the US and return back to “Spanish” speaking countries !

  3. Today I observed a Latino child hitting a white toddler child intentionally in a park ! The idiotic Latino parent must have instructed her retarded child to hit the other child on the head ! The shitty Latino family had a idiotic dog, which they tried to grab me, too ! I am 1000 percent sure that criminal administrator Sesario Escoto had something to do with this evil deed ! He was famous for lying and twisting things around in committee meetings ! Majmun jedan !

  4. Haven’t seen “Hure” Robin Mitchell lately, who wrote a threatening email to me illegally ! She as a crooked sheriff’s deputy with her big dike mouth should rather keep her mouth shut and not harass citizens at all ! She could loose her job over a case because I still have some emails from Congressional leaders when I was lobbying for higher education ! Stupid bitch probably didn’t know that I was one time Student Trustee of a Governing board ! Jebem je u usta !

  5. I need to find a previous contact, a person named Anne Soldo, a founding member of Cabrillo College ! I filed a grievance because of wrongful money allocations against crooked Sesario Escoto back in the days and she was listening carefully when I was talking to her ! She didn’t think back then that I was aggressive because she made some phone calls and raised hell ! lol

  6. I also remember an idiotic administrator Manuel Osorio back in the days who was twisting facts around in committee meetings outrageously and also lying about it like Sesario Escoto did ! They both were like super “banditos” committing a financial crime spree on college level at this time and now how it seems to me the college is trying to wash clean their past criminal behaviors of the unqualified Latino administrators who could end up in prison for their past criminal deeds !

  7. Saw idiot John Leopold spying on me at a gas station ! Majmun jedan, thought I didn’t see him out of my eye winkle but I must disappoint him this time because I saw him glazing at me ! Never knew actually if he was gay or something similar to this occurance at the gas station ! lol

  8. A four foot five nothing Latino guy was eyeing me at Mc Donald’s tonight ! A very brazen act if someone asked me for my opinion but nobody is at the moment ! I need to talk to the General Manager one time !

  9. Also remember Antonio Marcopolous, wanna be coach of basketball team at a half ass community college near by ! Majmun jedan, contacted the Sherriff’s office but did not have the guts to go toe to toe in an instance ! Jebem mu zenu u picku prljavu !

  10. Another suspect at Cabrillo College was Claire Biancallana ! She was lying like Sesario Escoto about budgetary discrepancies all day long !

  11. The most famous suspect was John Hurd, the President of the Community College, who was putting dubious money in his own pocket out of school funding appropriations resources ! Majmun jedan !

  12. Oh, wait, I might be mistaken, there is another suspect whose name is Rebecca Garcia, Governing Board member at a community college district once !

  13. Saw Vietta today out of my eye winkle driving in a passenger seat by me ! She probably had a lesbian friend besides her sitting because I thought this is what I saw at that moment !

  14. Another criminal administrator was Felix Robles at Cabrillo College ! He was qualified in his field expertise but lacked knowledge in international matters !

  15. It is a scandal that Facebook had to apologize for truthful comments which were posted about the Pajaro Valley Unified District’s ex administrator Sesario Escoto ! He is no good and didn’t have a clue what he was talking about in committee meetings back in the days at Cabrillo College ! It is a shame that this racist community college against Caucasians is being allowed to operate under these circumstances ! Down with Escoto ! Down with Louis Compaginis ! Down with Donna Mekis ! Kurwa jedna !

  16. Amale opet previse prica od ex suprugi ! Ima kao bojagi advokata a ne moze na kraj da dodje sa bivsim muzem ! Bolje da nadje hobby kao golfing, skijanje, bowling i tako dalje ! Moze isto da nauci francuski a da ne prica stalno arapski !

  17. I am 1000 percent sure that crooked Rebecca Garcia is also involved in my dilemmas because she used to lie like Sesario Escoto in Governing Board Meetings like a real cooked politician ! Shame on dirty Rebecca Garcia !

  18. Antonio Marcopolous is a dirty, little ex men’s basketball coach who talked too much garbage all the time when he was at that particular college coaching ! Majmun jedan !

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