Help Lift Up The Voice of an Abused or Neglected Child

by Pam Fortier,
Executive Director

Right here in our community, there are abused and neglected children who live in the shadows of our lives. She may be the little girl in your son's kindergarten class who had to move homes and change schools three or four times in the last year. He may be the lonely child at the park who doesn't join the game.

The foster care and child welfare system is full of compassionate lawyers, judges, social workers and foster families, but according to recent statistics each year there are more than 2,200 reports of child abuse or neglect in Central Oregon. This intense need can strain the system to the point where they are simply unable to protect the rights of each child. 

So the little girl who has already suffered in an abusive home enters the foster care system, which places her in three or four different homes in just a few months. Or the two siblings who lost their mother to incarceration are split up and live on different sides of the same county.

This isn't just a problem; it is nothing short of a violation of their human rights. A child cannot defend his or her own rights, but a CASA volunteer can!

CASA of Central Oregon is a nonprofit organization which trains and supports volunteers-people like you and me to speak and act as advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children. They are trained to work within the child welfare and family court systems and are appointed by judges to individual cases. With the help of a CASA volunteer, a child is half as likely to languish in the foster care system, and that much more likely to find a safe and permanent home.

I have seen firsthand the transformative impact a CASA volunteer can have on a child.  Sally (not her real name) and her two siblings were placed in foster care over twelve years ago. Her two siblings were adopted shortly after they came into care, but for Sally she moved back-and-forth from residential treatment facilities and therapeutic foster homes. Over the years Sally "lived" in 22 different homes. The CASA volunteer has been the only consistent person in Sally's life. The caseworkers, attorneys, therapists, foster parents, and even the judge changed over the course of years. The only family contact Sally had was with four family members and the contact was inconsistent. The CASA volunteer understood the need for family connections and the importance of relationships with one or more reliable adults. The CASA volunteer and Sally's DHS caseworker recently found 96 family members! Sally is now living with her aunt and uncle and has been in this home the longest she has ever been over the last twelve years. Because of Sally's CASA volunteer, she is now connected to family and has at least one stable, life-long permanent connection to a caring adult.

But today there are over 100 kids waiting for a CASA advocate. We are dedicated to ensuring that every child in the foster care and child welfare system has a qualified CASA volunteer looking out for their best interests. To do this, we need to recruit more CASA volunteers and build the infrastructure so that we can best support their efforts.

Every child has a right to thrive, to be treated with dignity, and to live in a safe, loving home. Every child deserves a fighting chance.

Once grown, these former foster kids could be our future doctors, teachers and leaders. Coming through a period of vulnerability and fear, the child can then understand his potential and his rights. She will believe in herself. That is our opportunity and our challenge.

I invite the people of Central Oregon to stand up with me and support these children. Go to casaofcentraloregon.org and see how you can help.