Andrea Haggerty: Doing more to help thousands of foster children who enter system each year
Each year thousands of children in California enter the foster care system through no fault of their own. Year after year, we rally to raise awareness of the plight of foster children and the need to support them. Our work sometimes feels like an uphill battle, yet we are energized when we hear stories about a teen who has graduated from high school, a child who has been adopted and has a new “forever family,” or about a child who is able to reunite with his or her parents.
These successes happen when caring adults are in the child’s life, a supportive team that often includes a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, volunteer. The Child Abuse Prevention Council and the network of California CASA programs train members of our community to become CASA volunteers. We then match them with a foster child, and the advocate works with other members of the “team” –the child’s social worker, teacher, therapist – to determine resources needed and ensure they are secured. We ask our community to volunteer, refer friends or make a donation to help us serve more foster youth.
Andrea Haggerty, Stockton
This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Andrea Haggerty: Doing more to help thousands of foster children who enter system each year."