Missouri has more than 13,000 children in the foster care system, taken from volatile and abusive homes and put with strangers for their safety. The kids are put through legal channels asking them to recall and recount their suffering, make hard decisions, avoid contact with their biological families, forget their pets for a while and even uproot to new schools.
Of those 13,000 Missouri children, more than 500 of them are in the 24th Judicial Circuit — the legal jurisdiction made up of Washington, St. Francois, Madison and Ste. Genevieve counties — on any given night.
For most foster kids, the darkness of their circumstances means their daylight might as well be night. They need a constant friend they can trust who has a flashlight to ease the way.
CASA of the Parkland, which started in March 2020, recently held its Light of Hope luncheon to award and recognize those who ease the way for 24th Circuit foster kids: volunteers, caseworkers, social workers, sponsors, legal representatives and those who stand for CASA — court appointed special advocates for children.
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CASAs are trained volunteers appointed by judges to advocate for foster children, shepherding the kids through the legal system and foster-family experience as a constant friend and authority figure, even as a kid’s case lawyers, judges, foster families and schools might change.
At the CASA of the Parkland luncheon held May 11 at Memorial United Methodist Church’s fellowship hall in Farmington, Lyn Ruess, attorney and former guardian ad litem (GAL) was given the Light of Hope Award for her services to foster children. Guests also heard moving testimony from a 14-year-old girl, Sophia, and her adoptive mother, Monica Lawrence of Franklin County CASA.
JoAnna Watts, executive director of CASA of the Parkland, said Ruess was “just an amazing human being,” constantly advocating for the needs of foster children.
An attorney who graduated from law school at Washington University in St. Louis, Ruess has served as a guardian ad litem, an attorney who represents the best interests of those who cannot represent themselves, such as foster children. Every year, CASA of the Parkland has organized Festival of Trees in which people sponsor fully-decorated Christmas trees that are later auctioned off at top dollar.
Watts told the crowd at the luncheon, Ruess chooses to decorate her tree with presents.
“And all of those gifts are for the children that we advocate for. Lyn provides all of that,” Watts said.
Ruess said she always had a lot of help in shopping for and decorating the Christmas tree, so it was “embarrassing and wonderful at the same time” to receive the award. “I couldn’t do the tree without some of my best friends,” she said.
Watts then introduced Sophia and Monica Lawrence. Sophia, 14, talked about her experience as a foster child in the system, and Lawrence spoke of her experience as a CASA volunteer, and as an outreach coordinator for Casa in Franklin County.
“We hope their story is one that inspires and empowers you to see all the ways you can help kids in foster care,” Watts said.
Sophia, addressing the room alone on stage, told the crowd she would soon be celebrating her sixth anniversary of being adopted. She said she remembered feeling alone and scared as she went through the foster care system, and that she greatly relied on her CASA advocate, Lawrence, for normalcy, stability, and even some fun here and there as they went bowling or shopping.
“She was someone I could talk to without a care in the world, and she made me feel safe — something I didn’t always feel at the time,” Sophia said, adding that her CASA was her lifeline especially in the court system. She said every kid deserved that advocacy.
"I don't want people to think they have to have a PhD or a degree in psychology to be a CASA volunteer. So much of it is just being there for the entire time," Sophia said. "Things might get hard, there might be bad days, the learning curve might be steep or stressful, but there's support, there are people to help you and your foster kid get through it all. You're on a journey together, and at the end, you'll have made all the difference and it will all be worth it."
Lawrence spoke next about what it was like to care for Sophia in the foster system. She and her husband had been foster parents before and had eight placements. She knew what it was like to hold a baby who had been born to someone addicted to meth, and she knew what it was like to watch a 5 year old flunk all the placement tests to get into kindergarten, leaving her to wonder, and not for the first time, "How are we going to get these kids back on track?"
She said eventually, with diligence, patience and support, the kids eventually not only survived, but thrived.
Lawrence said she and her husband knew, "right off the bat" Sophia's case was going to be challenging.
"Both of her parents were facing some lengthy prison sentences, and weren't going to be present in her life," she said.
But that's when CASA stepped in. Sophia's CASA served as an authority figure and friend, a lifeline for Sophia, advocating for her charge in a way that helped the judge, lawyers and clerks know Sophia in a more personal fashion. She would take Sophia on outings just to get to know her better, ask how Sophia was doing, to be a listening ear in case she had exciting, sad or scary news to impart.
Lawrence appealed to the luncheon’s audience to consider volunteering or donating to CASA of the Parkland.
“I thought about throwing in the towel on foster care many times,” she said. “The system is definitely screwed up, it can’t be denied. But CASA is working. It’s filling the gaps. It’s making an enormous difference in a way that can’t be done by the current system, and these kids deserve that support, that help to get through these situations that they didn’t even create.”
For more information or to discuss the requirements for becoming a volunteer, call 573-664-1299 or visit casaoftheparkland.org.
Local radio personality Mark Toti was the master of ceremonies for the luncheon. Heather Jordan, president of the CASA Board of Directors and a former CASA volunteer, provided an earlier overview of the non-profit, its purpose and its successes. Food was provided by Memorial United, and its preparation was overseen by Mark Cook of Cook Financial LLC. Lunch was served by the Missions Team of Memorial United Methodist Church and dessert was provided by the Relief Society, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
