It started when Amber* was three years old and started going to daycare. She started hitting the teacher. It was hard to tell what was causing the outbursts. It could be triggered by anything: needing to put the blocks away…
Name: Cindi Moore Years with CASA: 5 # of cases: 3 Favorite music: 70’s Favorite ice cream: Dulce de Leche Tell us about a moment working with CASA that you remember making a difference: On several occasions, I have been…
Name: Jose Muñiz Years with CASA: 3 ( I think) # of cases: 4 Favorite music: Reggaeton & Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Favorite ice cream: Strawberry Cheesecake (Ben and Jerry’s) Tell us about a moment working with CASA that you…
“When I first visited the home, Naomi* couldn’t sit still. She was always moving and very agitated,” said Kimberly Witt, Advocate Supervisor for CASA of McLennan County. Naomi was removed from her home due to abuse and neglect when she…
As a child, I intuitively understood that the “negative” behaviors of others were often a response to feelings of fear and pain. I cannot recall anyone explicitly sharing this information with me, yet this basic understanding of human behavior informed…
Caring for kids in foster care is a part of Lizzie Allen’s family heritage. Lizzie’s grandmother, Marguerite “Peggy” Terbrack, always wanted 12 kids but only had nine. So, she and her husband decided to become foster parents in 1973. She…
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) all have their own story about how they became advocates. Not all of them start in Russia. Sasha Messer is a senior psychology major at Baylor University, but when she was 4 years old, she…
For many, the holidays are a time of tradition, new memories sprinkled among old memories, and the comfort and certainty of family. As we all know, 2020 and COVID-19 have thrown the holidays for a loop this year! We are…
November is National Adoption Month. CASA volunteers stay by a child’s side throughout the case, advocating first for reunification with the child’s parent(s) when safe and possible. If reunification is not safe or possible, CASA volunteers will advocate for the…
Any given day in McLennan County around 700 children are in foster care. Out of those, CASA has an advocate working with around 240 of them. CASA stands for “Court Appointed Special Advocate.” The court assigns CASAs to advocate for…