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Youth Served by CASA Volunteer Shares Her Story
Before CASA intervened in my life, I had never been to the dentist, I dug through dirty laundry to find clothes to wear to school. There were times when I went to bed with school lunch being the only meal I ate that day, and drugs were a constant exposure in my home. To me all of this was normal; it was my life. I had a roof over my head so obviously I wasn't the most unfortunate kid, but all of my needs were not met.
My seventh grade year I met not only my best friend, but I met the family that would show me that my life was not normal. They tucked me in along with their own kids when I spent the night, they included me in when they celebrated holidays, and they were the ones who picked me up when my step father decided to turn off the electricity or lock me and my sister out of the house. I have always been a person who craved nothing but success, but the day I got off the bus to find DFCS standing on my porch waiting to take me to a place full of unknowns, I lost all of my drive in life. I knew nothing about these people and I was supposed to get in the car and trust them. My mama may not have been able to feed me every day of my life, but I was taught not to trust strangers.
A few days after I was placed in a foster home, I was introduced to my CASA worker. Of course I resented her at first, but at the time I resented everyone who tried to comfort me. But this was a person who wanted to get to know me and allow me to get to know her. She cared about me and only wanted to hear what I wanted and what was in the best interest of me. It felt amazing. For the first time my needs came before everything else. When it was time to start thinking about where I was going to be placed, my family was out of the question. There were drug addicts and drunks on both my father's and my mother's side. When I thought about being placed in the care of my best friend's parents I knew just by the few DFCS workers I had come in contact with that they would have laughed in at the idea. There had never been a case in my home town where a child was placed in a home who was of no relation to the child or were not foster parents. But my CASA worker did everything in her power to make it possible. She met with my friend's parents and helped them do everything they had to do to make me a part of their family. On my court date, thanks to my CASA worker, I went home with my best friend and her family. DFCS made it clear that they didn't think this was in the best interest of me.
I am now healthier than I have ever been and have regular doctor and dentist appointments. I am a senior in high school where I take all honors and AP classes. I maintain a 3.8 GPA and plan to attend UGA to become an ER physician. My case may not have been within the norm, but it was very successful. If my CASA worker wouldn't have considered what everyone else considered the impossible, my case wouldn't have ended so happily.
Story shared by a former CASA youth in Northeast Georgia, September 2009 |
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