Chadwick: There’s a couple ways you can look at this. A lot of us—we have children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews that we love, that are growing up in homes, that are loved and they’re nurtured for and they’re cared for and they’re going to grow up and hopefully be productive citizens.
But then there’s this other group of children who have been neglected, who have been abused and for some reason believe that love is not something that they’re worth. We can, not care about these children and just focus on ours, or we can focus on them and help the whole gamut. Because this is what will happen, if the children who don’t have love and don’t have nurturing grow up and continue to just feel anger and bitterness towards life because nobody has ever showed them that they care…our children who are loved, are going to interact with them someday and then something is going to happen.

Because here are some kids who don’t understand all of this pain and they’re going to meet and then what’s going to happen? It affects all of us. So I would say get involved, because even though you don’t think it affects you, it does. I don’t care what you think you know, what you think you don’t know, where you’re at, or how inadequate you feel because whoever you are is enough.
If you can open your mouth and you can talk—just like my CASA volunteer did for me; Mr. Foster didn’t have a lot of money, didn’t have a lot of resources, all he had was his heart and he cared and he came and talked to us.
So I would tell somebody, look open your heart; open your mouth and just talk. Get involved, because sooner or later you’re going to have to deal with it and it’s better to catch it at the front of it than at the back end and saying, “What if?” or “Maybe I should have.”

Jody Ann: Every child should have a child advocate or a CASA volunteer as a third party that’s for them. We have lawyers and case workers, but someone who’s not, it’s not a job. It’s not something where they have to get up and do every day. It’s totally voluntary and they want to get to know that child.

Ashley: I think it’s important to know that even if everybody else is changing, your case worker, your foster parents, your foster siblings, your actual siblings living far away, and you’re living by yourself…it’s something that can make it easier to know that you can call somebody or to visit with somebody and just be yourself with someone.