Brittany Taylor
When I was 10 years old, I had a CASA volunteer here in Lane County. I can remember the day like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my aunt’s kitchen as my mom hung up the phone with Child Protective Services. My stomach dropped as she told me that accusations of physical abuse were not enough to remove my brother and me from my dad’s home. My mom asked if there was anything else she should know about living with my father for the past seven years. I knew this was my opportunity to tell the secret I had held inside for so many years. With my head hung low, in a soft, quiet voice, I said to her, “Daddy touches me.” Click here to read the rest of Brittany’s story
Auna and Maleah
Normal life for Maleah (age 2) and Auna (age 4) meant witnessing frequent domestic violence between their parents. When the girls were removed from their home and placed into foster care, Maleah had not yet said her first word. Auna had to have several teeth pulled and others capped. Her pierced ears had become infected.
CASA recognized these girls needed a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate to watch over them and provide a powerful voice for their safety and their future. Click here to read the rest of Auna and Maleah’s story
Pamela Butler
“We moved a lot and we weren’t in school a lot,” 19-year-old Pamela Butler, a former foster child, says of an early childhood spent moving from the family car to homeless shelters to motels. Her life with her mother was pretty bleak: “I entered my mother’s apartment and went straight to my room. There was a bed with no blankets, a closet overflowing with trash and a dresser against one wall. The carpet was littered with cigarette ashes, and the entire apartment reeked of smoke, waste and mildew. I lay down on the mattress and cried.” Click here to read the rest of Pamela’s story
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