BELL COUNTY, Texas — Tens of thousands of children are currently stuck in the foster care system, and that’s just in Texas.
That’s why the need for Court Appointed Special Advocates, or a CASA, is so high this time of year.
A CASA is a person that volunteers to speak on behalf of children in the system to make sure their needs are taken care of — that need goes up during the holidays.
”A lot of the reasons kids come into the system is stress,” said Director of Volunteer Engagement for CASA of Bell and Coryell counties, Melissa Ward.
"Financial needs lead to stress, maybe using, or aggressive behavior.”
The need goes up, and they don’t even have enough advocates during less stressful times.
”We don’t serve all the children,” Ward said.
“We would like to, and that’s obviously a long time goal, but there’s a large amount of children — too large for us to have a CASA for each child, but we do our best.”
Miesha Brown-Elliott became an advocate after seeing more help needed than what she could provide when she was a teacher.
”Being a teacher, you really see the need for someone to advocate in their behalf,” Brown-Elliott said.
“Sometimes, being a teacher, there’s not a lot that you can do.”
She says it's hard for her to see a child in an unstable home — that’s why she says the need for CASAs is crucial for the kids.
”It is very important,” Brown-Elliott said.
“That one stable person can change the trajectory of their life, because this is traumatizing by itself.”
The impact she sees advocates making every day, is why she is now a supervisor, and hopes others will stand up for these vulnerable kids.
”This would be one of the best decisions you would ever make, because you’re changing your community just by helping one child,” Brown-Elliott said.
If you have time and would like to become an advocate for the children, please reach out to CASA of Bell and Coryell Counties, and they can help you get the process started.
