CASA is...

CASA is...

- A safe, permanent home, as soon as possible.

- A voice for children who are not in a position to speak for themselves.

- Getting to know some great kids who don't deserve the problems they have faced and letting them know they will no longer have to face those problems alone.

- Concern that you aren't doing enough and frustration that you can't do more.

- Lots of phone calls to people who don't have a clue who you are or why you're calling.

- Knowing the difference between a status hearing, an adjudicatory hearing, and a dispositional hearing.

- Wanting another case, but fearing you are not up to the challenge.

- Giving something back to your community.

- Realizing (yet again) that the world is not black and white and, in spite of that, making a recommendation that will affect the lives of many people.

- Filling up a three-ring binder, and then another, and then another.

- Leaving Claremore at 1:45 p.m. for a 2:30 p.m. hearing in Vinita. Speeding. Then finding out that your case won't be heard until 3:30.

- Gaining a new appreciation for social workers and attorneys and judges.

- Watching a dysfunctional family attempt to heal itself.

- Telling your CASA kids there is an upcoming hearing that may be difficult, and having them ask if you'll be there with them. Telling them you will.

- Realizing that you can make a difference in the life of a child.

- Filling out reports.

- One of the most challenging and rewarding efforts I have ever undertaken.

- Finding a safe, permanent home for kids who deserve a safe, permanent home.

- Unconditional love for kids who have never experienced it.

- Walking the walk after you've talked the talk for too long.

- Facing the fear that you may not be good enough or strong enough or smart enough to actually make a difference.

- Watching a 16-year-old child testify that her parent - who is sitting in the courtroom - has abused or neglected her for years, and beginning to understand the meaning of the word "courage."

- My gift to myself.


Original work by Robert Hendrickson, CASA Volunteer for Bracken, Fleming and Mason Counties in Kentucky. Some wording changed to fit our CASA program.

A Poem From A Foster Youth

OUR CRY
(Foster Children of Today's World)

by Danielle Bush

We are lost, surrounded on all sides by pure darkness

We are alone, with no one to follow

We look up to the sky and we call on our creator

We ask him to guide us to safety

We hear no response so we continue to stand there in the darkness

We put our hands together and close our eyes

We try to think but our minds show us nothing but the darkness our eyes see

We hear a voice in the distance, but we can't understand what it is saying

We try to follow the voice

One by one we are swallowed into the blackness that surrounds us

The voice continues to speak from a distance

There are two children left, they are trying to find the voice

They cry out for help but the response is still unclear

They continue to walk until one of the two children is swallowed

The last child screams into the blackness,

Did you even try to find us or did you just think we would find you? DO you not understand that as we tried to find you the blackness has swallowed us up one by one? Did your heart not tell you to come father to find us? Did you not know that we were blind and could not survive alone? When we needed you the most you let us down. Now we have been swallowed by this blackness and it will be harder to reach us!

THE END

Something to contemplate on a Wednesday morning...