Foster care placements are temporary living arrangements provided by family members or licensed foster families for children and youth who are unable to live with their biological families due to safety or other concerns. These placements provide an environment where children can receive care and support while their biological families work towards resolving the issues that led to the removal. CASAs have the wonderful opportunity to provide not only extra support to their assigned child or youth but to these caregivers as well. Or as Advocate Rebecca says, “Advocates are the consistent weekly eyes on the ground.”
When a group of four siblings were removed from an unsafe guardianship, they were worried that they would all have to go to different placements. But luckily, they were all placed with the same fantastic resource parents of twenty years who were able to provide the siblings with a safe, stable, and loving environment.
Gloria*, the youngest of the siblings, at just 7 years old, had experienced significant abuse and neglect. She was behind in school and in need of extra support. That’s when her Advocate Rebecca became involved.
Rebecca was a fierce educational advocate for Gloria and partnered with Gloria’s Foster Education Liaison to a learning needs assessment for her. Luckily, Gloria was behind mostly because of the pandemic. To help get her back on track, Rebecca secured a tutor for Gloria, and she goes to every parent teacher conference to ensure that Gloria is receiving the support she needs. But as important as Gloria’s education is for Rebecca, she also just wanted to help let Gloria just be a kid.
So they’d go play together at the park or the Children’s Discovery Museum. They’d go to movies together. Gloria absolutely loves princesses, but when Wish was longer showing, she was still happy to go see Migration instead. Gloria expressed an interest in singing, so one summer Rebecca arranged for CASA to pay for vocal lessons out of the Children’s Fund. Gloria was a natural and learned how to sing a song from Moana. But Gloria’s favorite activity of all? Coming to the holiday parties at the CASA house. She would get so excited that she’d counts down the days. Her resource parents always helped her dress like a princess with her hair done up and a big smile on her face.
With a safe and loving resource home and Rebecca’s dedication, Gloria has truly begun to blossom. Her tutoring is really beginning to payoff and now when she reads out loud, she isn’t afraid of stumbling over her words. She loves going to school where she has lots of friends and is very proud of her sharing skills.
When asked about her time working with Gloria and her resource family, Rebecca said, “It’s so rewarding beyond anything that I’ve ever done.” We thank Rebecca and Gloria’s resource family for all their hard work.
*Fictitious Name
