 This year more than ever, to hear “Mom” is just so special. After waiting for so many years, hearing those words will be the most special part of this Mother’s Day.
I’ve had a life rich with friends, a successful career and the support of family. But four years ago, when I hit 40, I decided that I wanted my own family.
I researched numerous options—international adoptions, private adoptions, open and closed adoptions. Then I looked at the foster care system and realized how many kids there were who were just floundering. And I thought about my father, who had grown up in the foster care system, aging out when he turned 18. I’ve always thought that if he had found a stable, permanent, loving home his life might have taken a different path. Maybe he would not have struggled with substance abuse, maybe our family would still be intact.
As I weighed my options, I realized that by fostering a child with the intention to adopt, I could have the family that I’ve wanted all my life and help another child avoid my father’s fate.
I decided to foster-to-adopt a 14-month old little girl, Tricia. Soon I learned that she had two older brothers, Lamont and Warren, who were living in a shelter. That did not sit right with me and my mother, who I share a house with. We made the decision to foster all three of the children. One by one, about a month apart, each came to live with us.
But that was only the beginning of the journey.
Our CASA volunteer was a lifeline.
Soon after bringing Tricia into my home I had a call from the children’s CASA volunteer, Karen. She wanted to come over and meet my mom and me, and to see how Tricia was doing in her new home. I’ll never forget that first meeting. I had no idea the extent to which a CASA volunteer would advocate for the children and help guide me through what I came to know as a highly dysfunctional foster-to-adopt process. Our CASA volunteer was a lifeline.
Karen’s strength was her faith. I thought I had the faith, but it was truly tested…
The process of adopting my children took two and a half long years. There were several times I thought I was going to lose them. First to the birthfather who, despite the fact that he was unable to remain drug free and had refused court-ordered anger management and parenting classes, periodically visited with the children. (That was good enough for social services, who favored reunification with him.) Then a distant relative surfaced. She told the court she wanted to adopt, and told us that she planned to return the children to the father in the future. I thought I was on the verge of becoming unhinged.
Throughout it all, Karen supported us and did what seems so simple yet was so critically vital, she communicated with us, in ways that the social service agency staff could not—despite their best intentions. Her faith in the process, that these children would have what was best for them, was unwavering. I thought I had faith but it was truly tested. Karen’s certainty kept me going when I thought all was lost.
On December 12, 2011, Tricia, Warren and Lamont officially became my children! We are very grateful for Karen and for CASA. Karen’s wisdom and strength and CASA’s support throughout this journey contributed greatly to our positive outcome, and to my first Mother’s Day.
National CASA thanks guest blogger Connie Grandmason, an adoptive mother from South Carolina, for sharing her story with us.
All across the country, people are honoring and celebrating volunteers during National Volunteer Week. Young or old, from all walks of life, volunteers selflessly donate their time and talents to help wherever there’s a need.
Here at the National CASA Association, we celebrate our volunteers every day. We are grateful for the 74,000 men and women who have stepped up and made a commitment to fight for the rights of children in the foster care system.
Recently we asked our Facebook community and members of the local and state CASA programs to name the top qualities every CASA volunteer must have. We used their answers to create an audio collage. Some of the responses were:
- Compassion and understanding
- Empathy, dedication and patience
- Tenacity
- Ability to do what is in the child’s best interest
- Ability to put your emotions on hold
- Ability to listen without judging
- A sense of optimism
- Communication skills
- Assertiveness
- Honesty and discernment
- Calm even when frustrated
- Good networker
- Knowledge of child development
- Ability to resolve problems through collaboration
- A nonjudgmental, open heart
- Patience and persistence
One respondent wrote, “A quote I keep on my desk: Aim with your heart, adjust with your head and always, always do all you can.” We know our CASA volunteers are doing all they can for the children they serve.
Thanks to all the CASA volunteers who stand for the children. You are making the world a better place, one child at a time.
CASA volunteers serve 240,000 children every day. But 400,000 children are still waiting to be matched with a CASA volunteer. Find out how you can volunteer.
 Michael Piraino, CEO of National CASA It is inspiring to see corporate leaders standing up for human service needs.
At a recent annual shareholders’ meeting, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz spoke of the ever-increasing gap between federal and state funding and the need for social services:
“We are going to see cuts in social services that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. The gap between haves and the have-nots is going to get wider and wider,” said Schultz.1
What I like about Mr. Schultz’s comments is that he doesn’t shy away from the reality that fewer dollars mean fewer services for people in need. In fact, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 30 states have projected FY 2013 budget shortfalls totaling $49 billion.2
As funding gets tighter or disappears altogether, nonprofits like CASA for Children are feeling the pinch. How will we narrow the gap? We all know that corporations cannot bear the full financial burden of making up for government funding cutbacks. But they can step up and do their part.
I also like the fact that a corporate CEO is willing to speak up for people in need. And Shultz is not alone in this. Jewelers for Children—made up of leaders in the jewelry industry—has supported children’s causes since its founding in 1999. In fact, support from the jewelry industry has helped over 5,000 foster children.
For the life of me, I cannot imagine that supporting children is resulting in more coffee or jewelry sales. There must be a true citizenship motive going on in the efforts of these organizations. Their dollars help, but it is their voices that inspire.
The children we serve need this type of leadership. And they need it now.
As Howard Schultz stated, “Business and financial success is best when it’s shared.”3 I challenge corporate leaders to share their success and stand up for our children by providing:
- Corporate support to help fill the financial gaps
- Business expertise to help improve and extend effectiveness
- Clear messages telling kids they are highly valued
Young people are more than future consumers. They are more than kids in need. They carry within them the talent and the potential to change the world. And some of them, at least, are our future corporate CEOs.
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1Melissa Allison, “Starbucks’ Corporate Message” Seattle Times, March 22, 2012
2Elizabeth McNichol. Phil Oliff, and Nicholas Johnson, States Continue to Feel Recession’s Impact, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington D.C., updated March 21, 2012
3Howard Schultz, Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders, March 21, 2012, webcast March 21, 2012, http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&c=99518&eventID=4687629, accessed April 9, 2012
Posted in Funding, Opinion
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“A strong, well-informed family unit is the surest defense against child abuse, and parents and caregivers who have support—from relatives, friends, neighbors and their communities—are more likely to provide safe and healthy homes for their children.” National Child Abuse Prevention Month 2012, Proclamation by the President of the United States of America, April 2, 2012
 Support, education and coaching from the people around them make it possible for parents and children to develop a strong, nurturing bond. A bond that keeps children safer.
But what happens when that bond is broken?
A Court Appointed Special Advocate can “provide the glue” when a child has been removed from the family due to abuse or neglect. The CASA volunteer connects everyone involved in a child’s case: parents and relatives, social workers, foster parents, teachers and judges.
CASA programs around the country are highlighting Child Abuse Prevention Month with special events. CASA of Gratiot County created the Art of Healing Project, and children are sharing their experiences through painting. Essex County CASA, Vigo County CASA and Kansas CASA will participate in I am for the child™ Light of Hope vigils. CASA of Central Oregon will participate in a Light of Hope 10 K run, and CASA of San Luis Obispo County is holding a “CASA Walk for the Child.”
On April 15th, CASA Las Vegas will host its 13th annual Light of Hope ceremony. Special guests are Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy Saitta and Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly – both of whom were adopted. Key community members, volunteers and former foster youth will also speak. CASA Program Administrator Shelia Parks says the event usually draws 75 – 100 people, with excellent media coverage that spreads the word about CASA advocacy.
Preventing child abuse—and providing care for those who have been abused—is a promise we must keep. As the Presidential Proclamation concludes, “Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up with the promise and protection of a loving family. This month, we recommit to that vision, and to providing care, stability, and a brighter future for our sons and daughters.”
Become a part of that brighter future. Become a CASA volunteer.
Michael Piraino, CEO of National CASA CASA volunteers save hundreds of millions of dollars in child welfare costs alone. The annual survey of CASA programs shows that children with CASA volunteers spend 7.5 months less in foster care than children in the general foster care population. It costs the federal government $3,250 per month to keep a child in the foster care system. Every child with a CASA volunteer saves the taxpayer approximately $24,375 per year.
For the 240,000 children served by CASA volunteers in 2010, this represents a savings of $5.850 billion in unnecessary foster care costs.
Put another way, federal funding for CASA for Children reaps a 30 to 1 return on investment. A single grant-funded CASA program staff person supports 30 trained volunteer workers serving as many as 75 children within a year. In 2010, an estimated 75,000 volunteers provided 5.8 million advocacy hours for 240,000 children. If those volunteers had been compensated, their service represents the equivalent of $300 million in taxpayer dollars – but CASA volunteers provide their services for free.
In all this talk of money, let’s not lose sight of the children we serve. So let’s talk about what those dollars mean in the life of a child – a child who has been neglected or abused.
Every day a child spends “in the system” is a day they can never get back. Imagine spending 7.5 additional months without a permanent home. Never knowing whether you’ll have to pack up your belongings and move to another placement. Never knowing whether it’s OK to settle in and get to know your teacher. To make friends. To plan for summer vacation. All those extra months wondering what will happen next.
All children deserve a safe, nurturing permanent home. A child with a CASA volunteer has a much better chance of finding that home—that “forever family”—sooner. Federal investment in CASA for Children is tiny. The impact of that investment is huge.
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