{"id":45176,"date":"2026-05-27T11:09:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/?p=45176"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:13:15","slug":"local-program-spotlight-voices-for-children-casa-of-brazos-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/2026\/05\/27\/local-program-spotlight-voices-for-children-casa-of-brazos-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Program Spotlight: Voices for Children, CASA of Brazos Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally shared by Voices for Children, CASA of Brazos Valley<\/a> in their April newsletter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Katie became a CASA volunteer in 2017 after seeing the impact of advocacy firsthand within her own family. A relative was fighting for custody of a grandchild, and the presence of a CASA volunteer in court made a critical difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later, Katie found herself on a case that reminded her exactly why persistence and consistency matter. Two children had been brought to Texas from another state and placed in foster care. The adults who knew them best were hundreds of miles away. The case was complex, constantly shifting, and moving toward an outcome that felt easier on paper: non-relative adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a routine visit, while coloring and placing stickers together, one of the children began talking about the beach \u2014 and about someone they loved deeply: \u201cMiMi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To anyone else, it might have sounded like a nickname in a child\u2019s story. To Katie, it sounded like a real family connection that hadn\u2019t been identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the case progressed, pressure to close it increased. There were delays. There were doubts. The mother refused to provide information about relatives, and no one could identify who \u201cMiMi\u201d was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the paternal side, the children\u2019s father had expressed interest in taking custody \u2014 but an arrest from decades earlier raised concerns, despite a long history of stability since. Katie refused to let the case move forward without fully exploring family placement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She documented everything. She asked difficult questions. She advocated across state lines. She pushed \u2014 sometimes uncomfortably \u2014 for the children\u2019s story to be fully understood before permanent decisions were made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day before court, she found the missing piece: \u201cMiMi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By identifying her, Katie demonstrated that the children had an existing, loving family network \u2014 one\u00a0that knew them, remembered them, and wanted them. That discovery forced the case to slow down and reopened conversations about family reunification rather than non-relative adoption. In court, Katie told the caseworker, \u201cI found her. Please don\u2019t start the process for non-relative adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With renewed momentum and the children\u2019s attorney taking a deeper look at all family options, the father was ultimately approved for placement. When he arrived for a supervised visit, the children ran to him. He cried. They hugged him tightly. Watching from behind the two-way mirror, the attorney turned to Katie with tears in her eyes and said, \u201cYou were 100% right. I\u2019m so glad we got this outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Katie, the moment mattered not only because the children were reunified with their father \u2014 but because they were returned to an entire network of belonging: a loving aunt, familiar cousins, and family connections that would have been lost through non-relative adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just returning them to one person,\u201d Katie said. \u201cIt was returning them to a whole family \u2014 people who already loved them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katie describes herself simply: persistent, consistent, and willing to be \u201ca pain\u201d when it counts. But the reason she continues to serve as a CASA volunteer is straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t change the world,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I changed that kid\u2019s world.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally shared by Voices for Children, CASA of Brazos Valley in their April newsletter. Katie became a CASA volunteer in 2017 after seeing the impact of advocacy firsthand within her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":45177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-45176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casa-voice"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":89,"label":"The CASA Voice"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/texascasa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Addt.-Info-Insta-Size-Stock-Photos-3-1024x1024.png",1024,1024,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kelly Clarke","author_link":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/author\/kclarke\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":89,"name":"The CASA Voice","slug":"casa-voice","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":89,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":89,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":89,"category_count":89,"category_description":"","cat_name":"The CASA Voice","category_nicename":"casa-voice","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45176"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texascasa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=45176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wordpress","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}