SCAN's Snapshots of Hope
Judge Stephen Rideout
As a child advocate first and foremost while he served on the Alexandria bench, retired Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Chief Judge Stephen W. Rideout was an ideal person to work with the Alexandria Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program. Equipped with a zeal to improve court processes and programs that produced better outcomes for children, Judge Rideout served both as a child advocate and an advocate for SCAN’s CASA Program in Alexandria.
The Alexandria CASA Program began in 1988, shortly prior to Judge Rideout’s appointment to the bench in March 1989. From the outset in CASA, he saw a very effective tool that provided him with additional information and insight into the children CASA was advocating for and the challenges their parents faced.
Judge Rideout served as Alexandria’s Chief Judge for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court from 1989 – 2004. He was a constant partner and supporter of SCAN’s CASA Program during his entire tenure on the bench and always worked closely with the program. SCAN’s CASA Program grew in the number children served, quantity and quality of volunteers and effectiveness of advocacy throughout Judge Rideout’s time in large part because of the credibility he brought to the program. Judge Rideout does have his opinions: “CASA was and has continued to be the best and most sustainable volunteer program for children that I had the pleasure to work with during my time on the bench.” Today, he continues to believe that more cases are resolved because of the strong work and reports that CASA volunteers provide. More importantly, Judge Rideout found that difficult cases had better outcomes for children when CASA volunteers were involved, and, as Judge Rideout would say, “Alexandria CASAs are always appointed to the most difficult cases that we see.”
With Judge Rideout’s “retirement” from the bench in 2004, he moved to another arena, still wearing a child advocate hat as a judicial consultant, helping national nonprofit organizations, individual state and local court systems, and child welfare agencies improve their practice and outcomes for children and families. He also continues to volunteer locally for children’s issues.
In 1995, under Judge Rideout’s leadership, the Alexandria Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court became a Model Court for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges – and continues so today. As the first Model Court in Virginia, this initiative focuses on best practices for child welfare and juvenile court processes. The CASA Program has been a key player from the very beginning of the Model Court Project and has been a critical member of the Model Court Team. Judge Rideout always erred on inclusiveness because his ultimate goal on all endeavors was to move forward with the best interest of the child in mind. This goal always paralleled CASA’s goal, so the two paths were always side-by-side.
In 2001, Judge Rideout, along with fellow Juvenile Judge Nolan Dawkins, founded the Alexandria Family Drug Treatment Court. It was the first such court in the Commonwealth of Virginia and today is Virginia’s largest Family Drug Treatment Court. Judge Rideout reached out to organizations and individuals involved in Model Court, including SCAN’s CASA Program, to better understand the linkage between parental substance abuse and its relationship to the issue of child neglect. It was the CASA Program that provided the Model Court Project with baseline data that confirmed the linkage and the need to change from a treatment process that was having little or no success in helping to change parents’ lives. Thus, the CASA Program has been integrally involved in the Family Drug Treatment Court from its inception.
As Juvenile Judge, driven in his work to always make decisions in children’s best interests, Judge Rideout was open and willing to make use of any resources available. He felt that the CASA volunteers he worked with were uniformly excellent and exceptionally well-trained. Judge Rideout also recalls that there were numerous stories of great outcomes for children that happened because of CASA. He reminisced about one time when CASA and Alexandria Social Services were at odds about what needed to happen for a child. Alexandria Social Services didn’t like the CASA perspective that suggested a residential placement for the child; their view was that this particular child could be treated in an outpatient setting. Yet, the CASA volunteer would not yield in her belief that the child needed more. As a result, an unusual step was taken to pull everyone, including Judge Rideout, together in an informal meeting at Social Services, where an open and full discussion was held about the needs of the child and the services available locally. In the end, Alexandria Social Services’ leadership came to understand more fully the child’s needs, resulting in the residential placement.
Judge Stephen Rideout was selected as the 2004 National CASA Association Judge of the Year. This award is given annually by the national organization for the CASA programs around the county to an outstanding Judge whose work with the local CASA program has demonstrated exceptional leadership in furthering consistent, quality representation of children. Judge Rideout continues to be an inspirational role model for the CASA Program, both in his past role as Judge and today in his role as consummate child advocate. Because of Judge Rideout’s leadership, passion and energy, as well as the foundation he laid, the partnership between the Alexandria Juvenile Court and SCAN’s CASA Program is a model that continues to put children’s best interests first.
