By Jill Rebeor
Advocacy Supervisor
Passaic County CASA
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan declared May as National Foster Care Month as a time to acknowledge the many people involved in the lives of the children in foster care. Much like the proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” it takes many people working together to create safety, permanency, and well-being in this complex system. The caseworkers, resource parents, family members, service providers, judges, attorneys, and CASA volunteers all play a vital role.
I know that the work done in this field is often thankless, and while I try to be mindful of that and regularly say thank you to the people I encounter, I don’t think that it can be said enough. As a CASA Advocacy Supervisor, I get to see some incredible people in action. They deserve more recognition than they get, so I’m going to take this opportunity to recognize a few important parties involved in the foster care system:
I want to say thank you to all the caseworkers who show up and work every day, going above and beyond a normal 9-5 job. I want to say thank you to the caseworker who made it possible for three siblings, who were living in three different homes, to have a visit the day prior to Christmas. Another caseworker recently took a youth to the DMV to obtain a State ID and stood in line with them for hours. I could go on.
Thank you to the resource parents who have opened up their homes and their hearts. It can be a hard job, and I want to show my gratitude to all the resource parents who dealt with difficult behaviors without giving up. One resource parent I know facilitated a two day visit between the child and her mother, in order to make the child’s birthday special, when an overnight visit could not occur. Another resource parent deserves a huge thank you for facilitating a visit for her foster child and her siblings, who were adopted and now reside out-of-state.
Thank you to the service providers for investing time and energy to help others improve their lives. These are the professionals who provide individual and family therapy, tutoring assistance, and supervise family visits. One service provider I work with became concerned after a parent did not show up for a weekly visit -- something that was very unusual -- and went out into the community looking for them to make sure they were OK. Thank you to the judges who make difficult decisions, the judges that take the time to read all of the submitted reports and listen to all of the presented facts. Thank you to the attorneys, who represent the child’s wishes and their best interests.
Lastly, thank you to all of the CASA volunteers who are dedicated to their role and to their CASA child/ren. All our CASAs bring unique strengths and contribute to their CASA child’s well-being in different ways. I could go on forever about the remarkable things CASAs do for kids, and unlike everyone else I have previously thanked, a CASA’s service is entirely voluntary. In just the past week, one CASA I know spent their Saturday morning attending their CASA child’s baseball game so they wouldn’t be the only player with no one in the stands. Another CASA traveled to their CASA child’s previous resource home to retrieve a special stuffed animal and some family photos that had been mistakenly left behind.
This National Foster Care Month, I am enormously grateful that I get to work alongside all of these wonderful people. Thank you.