"I am blessed to have been a small part of her journey. She will be in my life forever." - Jeanne, CASA Volunteer

WRITTEN BY:

JEANNE

I met my first CASA kiddo on July 6th, 2015, Claire. She and her brothers spent time in Orangewood with an aunt and uncle before moving into a group home. I spent time getting to know Claire and learning about her interests.

One of our first outings was a trip to South County for an hour horseback riding event. Claire had never been on a horse but always wanted to try it. She had a wonderful instructor and a beautiful calm horse. The location happened to be across the street from the school she would attend about two years later. Another trip was when we went to a local park with one of my dogs, which Claire loved, and sat on top of a hill under a gazebo. Our conversation focused on Claire not wanting to return to her old school in the fall.  She had a lot of bad memories there.

My first attempt at advocacy involved getting her school changed. At the time, I was also trying to reach out to her attorney. My phone rang a few days later and I’m so glad I answered, because I didn’t recognize the number, and it was Claire’s attorney. I explained that this was my first experience as a CASA and gave her the reasons for wanting the change. Soon after, the school of origin changed! Claire ended up in a great school near where she was living.

I reached out to the new school to establish a relationship with Claire’s academic advisor. A few months later there was a parent-teacher conference and the advisor asked me to attend. My case supervisor came with me to the conference, but her parents did not show up. Despite that, it was a successful meeting. The teachers were all on board to help Claire catch-up from the five weeks she had missed. Over the next two years, the advisor would call me whenever something arose. The connection I made with the academic advisor at the school was invaluable.

Over the years, I continued to attend court hearings, there was little to no progress in Claire's case. At age 14, the court decided that Claire’s aunt and uncle would foster her with the intention of adoption. Her brothers went to a foster home together, and eventually, both moved back with their mother. The move happened in the fall of 2016, in the middle of her first semester of eighth-grade. Her uncle stayed home with Claire while her aunt worked full-time. Claire’s grades began to fall and she was staying up late trying to do homework. That summer, her aunt decided to divorce her uncle and they moved into a condo owned by a friend. Yet, a couple of weeks into the new school year her aunt realized that she was unable to take care of Claire. All of us involved with the case were devastated, especially Claire.

Claire spent a lot of time by herself and began showing signs of depressions and focus issues. I did my best to stay connected to her aunt and Claire’s amazing social service representative. I took her for enrollment and proceeded to get to know the academic advisor. When her aunt and I realized Claire was dealing with depression, her aunt agreed to set up an appointment with a psychiatrist. I took Claire to the appointment but was surprised when the physiatrist asked me to join them.

I called the advisor and set up an appointment to come and meet with her the next day. Claire needed to go back to school, so I went by myself and met with the school's two advisors. I explained what was going on in Claire’s life and they immediately wanted to know Claire’s financial needs. I told them that she needed a laptop and cell phone. Within a couple of weeks, those teachers gifted Claire with $1200 which paid for a laptop and a cell phone. But, the best news of all, was that one of the advisors connected me with a foster family.

I received a call from this family the next day. I talked with the mom about the situation Claire was in and how she needed a foster family. Through social services, a meeting was set up for the parents to meet Claire. In the previous two weeks, the mom spoke with me about Claire's interests because they were thinking about setting up a bedroom for her. In addition to her husband, the mom wanted to talk with her daughter about bringing someone older than her into the home. The daughter’s response was, “I think God wants us to bring Claire into our home.” The initial meeting went really well. That weekend, Claire spent the night with this amazing family and moved in a week later.

Claire is doing incredibly well. She has an amazing family – a sister and two brothers. She is attending a small Christian high school, getting all A’s, been in multiple school plays, attends school events, and is taking dance classes. For the first time in her life, she had friends over to her house last spring to get ready for a school dance.

But the best part was that Claire was adopted by this amazing family in April of this year. Claire just turned 17 in July and will be entering into her junior year in high school this fall. She has a summer job and is learning to drive. It is truly a wonderful future to look forward to for that beautiful young lady. Her new family is very open to Claire having a relationship with her aunt and other family members.

I am blessed to have been a small part of her journey. She will be in my life forever.