Becoming a CASA Volunteer

So today I went to the CASA office today to get started on the process for becoming a CASA volunteer and I AM SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!! I can't even describe to you. For a few years now, I have had a really special yearning in my heart to help children in foster care. I have decided that sometime in my life (the sooner the better) I want to be a foster care parent, ESPECIALLY for the older children in particular. And I am also VERY interested in adopting children, and particularly older children (not just the babies) who are in poor circumstances, whether in our country or in other countries. Oh man. Seriously. I REALLY want to help those kids so much! I want to make a difference for them! I would have started filling out the paperwork to become a foster care parent already, but then we decided we wanted to have Russell come live with us. And since, at the time, we only had one extra bedroom, that was all we could do. And now, when we move into our new house, we will have an extra bedroom. So I am planning on filling out the papers to become a foster parent and also even to become an adoptive parent. I don't know how SOON I will fill out those papers, but I DO know it will be within the next 3 years for SURE. But this CASA volunteer is the PERFECT opportunity for me right now! It's so awesome!

I actually will be assigned only one case to work on at a time. It will be my responsibility to learn everything I can about that case... talk to all the people who know that child to be able to make a good assesment about what will be best for the child as to where they live. And I actually will have the authority to speak in court on behalf of that child. What I am most excited about though, is that I will be able to be a stable (perhaps the ONLY stable) influence in that child's life. On average, a case will be opened for 12-18 months. And since I will only be assigned to one case at a time, I will have a wonderful opportunity to become a "pillar of strength" for that child. Part of my responsibility is to visit the child once a week and take them out to just be with them and get to know them so I can really know what would be in their best interest. Oh I am so excited.

I'm going to talk to John about becoming a CASA volunteer too because it would be awesome to do this with him. And the lady I met with said they LOVE husband and wife teams! They give even more stability and really good role models for these kids. Oh man, I am stoked for this. She also said that they have CASA volunteers who actually end up taking these kids into their own homes for foster care and even adopting the child because they just fall in love with them. :) I am so excited about this (how many times have I said that!?) because it really is doing something not only meaningul, but something that is what I feel is part of my specific mission and purpose in life. yep. I'm excited. :)