I was to take the boy out to a museum that’s located in a park, but I couldn’t find parking so I kept driving through the greenery, looking for a patch of land to let him run like mini-Tarzan. I drove farther than I intended. Across the road I saw some kids playing, and it […]

What she must feel, to look in the mirror and see not herself, but an evil person.
How it must be, to be born out of wedlock to a crack addict mom, to live in one home, then another, and another, to grow into a person with emotional problems that is also a physical handicap, for the […]

A handful of people gathered for a meeting at my CASA girl’s 14th home, it was her aunty, cousin, social worker, a wraparound social worker, her assistant and I (CASA). This time her change of home was positive, there was a lot of optimism in the air.
The meeting in the living room was held to discuss the well-being […]

A skinny older brother with tattoos up to his neck, wore 2 layers of big white T-shirts and a cap. 
His frail mother looked aimlessly about while her boy stood crying. He was about 6.
This was in a small food court of a mall.
K and I sat facing each other eating Japanese; I wanted to take […]

Picnic in the wild it was.
A few scenes from the day:
We drove to Auburn National State Park. Dipped our feet in the river, went to view the dam. Got our nails polished and looking pretty. We had dinner.
Down by the river, I asked her if she believed in god, she said ‘yes’.
“What’s your god like?”
“Oh, […]

The CASA staff and I were planning for this day to come. It’s my CASA girl’s 15 th birthday, and we managed to get 2 ballet tickets at the War Memorial Opera House. It starts at 2pm today. She’d looked forward to it so much. 
The other day she called me and we talked about what to wear. […]

Went to visit my CASA girl who lives 2 hours away. Went there on a beaten truck, put-put’ing our way on the highway. Her daddy drove, I sat beside, 4 hours on the road, with windows rolled down and still the heat scorching our elbows.
“If I waz  presiden’, first thing I do, I’d go to Deetroit and go to the car […]

A random encounter with my CASA girl, second time it’s happened while with Paul. By rule I can’t introduce my friends and family to her*, so I was happy they got to meet again.
I hadn’t seen her since she changed homes, for the 12th time in her life. The State is her care taker. Imagine […]

Visited my CASA girl Saturday, we stayed at her home. No plans, no homework, no obligations. She flopped on bed, I opened her window, we said nothing for a while then she handed me a notebook. “I’m writing my life story”.
Reading between her lines of slang, I was taken to unfamiliar scenes of her past. […]

Friday night, feeling tall, I wore high-heeled sandals and walked to a sushi bar with Ty. The weather was colder than expected. We toasted 2 glasses of beer (I drank half of Tyler’s share) and we indulged in conversation.
“I read a 26-page psych.-eval. of my CASA girl today, the report made her sound crazy. If […]