CASA Appreciation Dinner

Some of my fellow advocates.

This week ended with an evening spent with many of my fellow CASA volunteers. We were invited to the annual appreciation dinner. It was an honor to be given a marathoner award by Lake County Judge Sarah Lessman. The award goes to those of us who have remained with our cases for five or more years.

With Judge Lessman.

The dinner took place just one day after my CASA case closed. It started with a infant who was diagnosed with inorganic failure to thrive. Doctors and the court believe it was because her mother was not feeding her.

Later, that same mother gave birth to extremely premature twins (26 weeks) and one tested positive for opiates at birth. Therefore, this case started over time-wise and now involved three children under the age of three. There was a death of a foster parent and their next foster mother became “unhinged.” Police say they had to break down her door to rescue the siblings, but not before one of them suffered a broken femur. They were then shuttled to a young couple that was a first time emergency placement home. It didn’t take long before they realized these precious children needed to be a part of their forever family. 

Meanwhile, the judge had enough evidence to rule the natural mother was not meeting court requirements such as finishing parenting classes and making it to drug testing. Therefore, her parental rights were terminated. She has since had another child. (Don’t even get me started on that as it is not part of my case) Suffice it to say, you can see why sometimes it takes 5+ years for a case to close. And this one did (YAY!!) when the three siblings were formally adopted by this young couple that has proven to unconditionally love these children and are well equipped for the developmental and behavioral challenges ahead. God bless this family and all those wonderful foster families who step up for children who deserve to be loved.

Be the change!

Amy Gregorio
Your Mrs. International

www.CASAforChildren.org