Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive. And every child is worthy of an adult who believes— and aids—in their growth and success. Our Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteers are those stable, caring adults who SHOW UP every day for our youth. Tracy grew up in a household that supported foster youth and wanted to find her own way to give back. Working with Child Advocates, she found that her unique experience raising a child with disabilities made her a perfect fit to support not only foster youth with disabilities, but also new CASAs in need of mentorship in connecting with and providing resources for our youth.
“I think one of the best parts of being a CASA is you become a trusted adult that has
the ability to contribute to positive, happy childhood memories.”
In her years as a CASA Volunteer, Tracy has supported seven different foster youth. Each relationship has helped Tracy and her foster youth learn and grow in beautiful ways. Currently, Tracy is working with Layla*, a non minor-dependent individual who cannot speak or use the left side of her body. Getting to know Layla, Tracy realized that with the right tools and a little extra support, Layla could have more agency in her life and circumstances. Tracy leveraged her experience to work with Child Advocates to secure an iPad for Layla’s at-home learning and communication— supporting Layla to thrive with contact, connection, and joy.
Tracy is present, she looks for ways to honor and support the unique strengths in every individual, and she knows she can lean on Child Advocates for help.
“For anything that we’ve come across, there’s a large community of [Child Advocates] CASAs that are ready to support. They have talks, we can submit questions, if our supervisors don’t know something they go find it somewhere else. If we need an iPad, if we need a tool, people mobilize to get it done. I’ve never been told no, they find a way.”
We are grateful every day that we get to SHOW UP for our CASAs, just as they SHOW UP for our youth.
To SHOW UP the way we do, we need you.
*Disclaimer: Layla’s story is based on the real experience of a foster child. Some of the details were slightly altered to keep the foster child’s identity anonymous.