Correction: In our story on county commissioners court allocating additional money to
CASA of Val Verde, it was incorrectly reported that the county first gave CASA funds in
2024. CASA requested funding in 2024, but did not receive its first funds from the
county until April of this year. Also, during the July 30 meeting at which the additional
funding request was discussed, County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez said he
met with CASA representatives in the week prior before the meeting. Vazquez met with
Carmen Abreu, interim CASA executive director, not with Megan Martinez, CASA’s
volunteer supervisor. The 830 Times regrets the error and any inconvenience or
embarrassment it may have caused.
By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Commissioners court recently voted to increase the county’s financial support for CASA
of Val Verde, but County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. took the group to task for not
reporting how it had spent the money the court had provided it last year.
The court took up the request for additional funding from CASA of Val Verde County
during its most recent meeting on July 30. CASA is part of a state and nationwide group
that provides trained advocates for children who are removed from their homes due to
neglect or abuse.
Owens read the heading of the agenda item and invited attorney Megan Martinez, who
founded the CASA program here, and Carmen Abreu, interim executive director of
CASA of Val Verde County, to the podium to speak to the court.
Before they spoke, Owens told the court he considered CASA “a wonderful group, a
good group. . . doing excellent work.” He also said he had spoke to leaders of the
county’s Wintergarden women’s shelter and to County Court-At-Law Judge Sergio
Gonzalez, who both spoke highly of CASA.
Owens said, “The only issue I have with all this, and again, I’m going to say this out
loud, is the reporting. In order to be able to give you all funds, if the report that you all
gave when you ask for money, if the court could have had that before, then I wouldn’t
have a problem voting for it. Does that make sense?”
He told Martinez and Abreu, “Whatever we do in the future, I would greatly appreciate if
you would come once a quarter or something, especially if (your funding) gets increased
to $50,000 next fiscal year, that you come to the court and do a presentation to let us
know how you’re doing.”
Martinez then spoke to the court, introducing herself and saying that she now serves as
the volunteer supervisor for the local CASA organization. She also introduced Abreu,
who is now the group’s interim executive director.
Martinez then spoke about the CASA organization and its work. She also addressed the
work done to establish the organization here.
Martinez said, “CASA stands for ‘court appointed special advocates,’ as Judge Owens
mentioned, they’re volunteers. They don’t get paid, and because of that, they’re only
assigned one case, and that way they can focus all their energy on that one case. They
visit the children in the home. They visit with the parents. They get to know the situation,
what the concerns are.”
Martinez continued speaking and said she was appreciative of the help Abreu had
provided when she joined the organization here.
Martinez said Abreu worked with CASA’s first group of Del Rio volunteers, who
recently completed their training and were sworn in so they can be assigned to cases.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said, “It’s a great program. For years,
I’ve wanted to work something out with the county with the court, to build a children’s
shelter in Val Verde County. Precinct 4’s got enough property where we could build a shelter, so we’ve been talking about it, but nothing concrete yet. The question that I
wanted to ask is where does the city of Del Rio stand in all this? Are they participating
with money to help you guys out?”
Martinez replied, “They have not, as of yet. We have met with them and discussed
possible funding, but we have not been able to move forward with that, but that is
definitely on our list of things to do, is to request assistance from the city as well.”
“I’m pretty sure they would participate, and the thing is, your program benefits not only
the county, but the city of Del Rio. I think it’s a great program, and I really appreciate
you all doing this in our community,” Flores said.
“Thank you, and thank you for the question. I’m really glad you brought that up because
that is something that we would like to be a part of, is a children’s shelter. There’s a lot of
licensing requirements and we can go into that as well, but that is something that is on
our agenda for the future,” Martinez said.
“We do have goals for the future. I have met with the police department to discuss having
a child advocacy center, because as of now, any child victim has to go to San Antonio or
Uvalde to have their forensic interview. That takes up resources from Del Rio to move
them there. So that’s another thing that we would like to see happen,” she added.
“We are just getting started, and we have lots of big plans, and thank you, Carmen,
because she is really passionate about this as well and since having her on board, she has
done so much and we work together as a team. I have 17 years of experience with Child
Protective Services and that’s my expertise, so with Carmen and I together, we make a
great team, and we want to continue to grow, and that would necessitate more staff,”
Martinez said.
She said as a CPS worker, she worked with CASA organizations in other areas and
“knows how important they are.”
Owens interjected, asking members of the court if they had any other questions for
Martinez.
County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez said he had met with Martinez last
week.
“I think it’s great what they’re doing here,” Vazquez said.
Abreu then spoke to the court, saying she was part of the original steering team, and told
the court about the ribbon-cutting and the first training class.
“Now, with more volunteers, we can do more, and we have a second training class that
just started last week, so we’re really excited,” she said, adding there are about 40
children from Val Verde County currently in foster care, and right now, CASA is serving
14 of those children.
“We want that to be 100 percent,” Abreu said.
Owens asked Martinez and Abreu how much additional money they were asking for, and
Martinez said the group is asking for an additional $20,000 in the current fiscal year.
“As I mentioned, we are struggling. We are blessed with no rent for our office space, but
at some point we’re going to have to start paying rent,” she said.
“And again, I’m going to voice my concern again, like I did in the email. I think you all
are a good group. I think you’re needed. And like I said in the email, I think you’re going
to be part of us for a long time. But you need to come more often. You need to come to
us and tell us what you’re doing before you need money. I would greatly appreciate that,”
Owens said.
Owens said he would like to see Martinez and Abreu at least once a quarter to “give us an
update so we can see where our money’s going.”
Owens also pointed out when Martinez asked for funds in November, she pledged to
appoint Marisol Nettleton, the wife of former Pct. 3 Commissioner Beau Nettleton, and
Vazquez to the group’s board of directors.
“You all have met, and they have never been contacted. I would greatly appreciate if you
would contact them,” Owens said.
Martinez apologized, but Owens waved off the apology, adding, “We’re growing here.”
She also pledged to come before the court quarterly.
County Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw asked if other CASA programs would serve
children who are moved from Val Verde County into another county.
“We can request a courtesy CASA work if they have enough volunteers available. . . We
do have the option,” Martinez said.
Martinez said she wanted to make one more comment about the appointment of attorneys
ad litem.
“In my 10 years of experience with CPS here in Del Rio, unfortunately the attorneys that
were assigned to the children oftentimes never visited them. That was very concerning to
me as a CPS worker. . . So that’s why it’s even more important to have a CASA guardian
ad litem. We meet those children. We meet the people they’re placed with. We meet their
parents. We find out what’s the dynamic of this family? How can we make this family
stronger? Because that is what is behind CASA. If we can have family reunification and
make that family stronger, we want those kids back with their family. That’s our first
priority,” Martinez told the court.
After Martinez finished her statement, Vazquez made a motion that the court approve a
request by CASA for $15,000 out of the current fiscal year.
When Vazquez also added he wished to fund the CASA at $50,000 in the coming year’s
budget, Owens said, “We can tackle that during the budget process.”
Vazquez agreed, and Flores gave the second.
“I think you all are doing a great job here in our community, but I really would like for
you all to approach the city of Del Rio to participate with you all’s program,” Flores said.
Owens again told Martinez and Abreu he would not be able to vote for the motion and
reiterated he had explained why.
“Groups come to us and ask for money, and when we do give them money, we don’t get
anything between until we get another ask (for money). I think that needs to stop. I think
moving forward we have a clearer idea of what needs to happen,” Owens said.
He then called for the vote, and the motion passed, 4-1.
After the vote, Owens said, “If you all will do a better job of reporting, so we can justify
it.”
Martinez responded, “I commit to you that we will do a better job of reporting.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
