CASA gives voice to 'forgotten children'

Each day in the United States, about 850 children enter the foster care system because of abuse or neglect. That's almost 6,000 children each week. If the magnitude of this number is shocking, it is probably because this number is rarely reported.

These children are the "forgotten children."

On May 19 in Washington, D.C., the National Court Appointed Special Advocates launched a campaign to bring attention to the plight of these children. Life-size, cut-out photos of the children stood in front of the Washington Monument on the National Mall. Eight hundred-fifty were placed there each day.

They bore messages from foster children, all drawn from a study that captures the voices of 100 foster youth across the nation. Messages like: "I have lived in ten different foster homes in two-and-a-half years," "Foster children should be seen and heard," "We all have the highest potential," and "I had 102 separate social workers assigned to my family over the years".

CASA of Southeast Missouri and its volunteers strive to remember these "forgotten children" each day. At the present, we only have enough volunteers to serve about half of the children in foster care in Perry, Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties.

CASA volunteers are the unbiased, caring adults dedicated to taking the time to fully evaluate a child's situation and represent that child's best interest while in the foster care system and in court. CASAs are the eyes and ears for the judge and are in a position to concentrate solely on the needs of the child until that child is placed in a permanent, safe home.

Pamela Butler, a former foster child, said "To give a child a CASA is to give them a voice. To give them a voice is to give them hope, and to give them hope is to give them the world."

Fall training for CASAs begins Sept. 13. For more information, contact Revonda Kirby at 335-1726 or go to www.capecasa.com.

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