CASA Hosts ‘I Am For the Child’ Community Awareness Events

SWAINTON—The Exchange Club of Ocean City and Atlantic City Electric were honored as new community partners by CASA of Atlantic and Cape May Counties during a breakfast and luncheon on Oct. 16. The “I am for the Child” community awareness events took place at the Greate Bay Country Club in Somers Point and then at the Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton.
CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, is an organization that pairs volunteers with abused or neglected children. These volunteers are appointed by a judge and act as an advocate for the child. Volunteers review the child’s records, conduct research, and interview all those involved, including social workers, teachers, family members, and judges. The ultimate goal is to help place the child in a safe and permanent home.
“Think about it,” said Executive Director Angela Waters. “18 years old and no family, expected to live on your own independently. The youth that age out of the system have horrible outcomes. It should be considered a national crisis.”
According to CASA, more than 100,000 children are reported abused or neglected in New Jersey every year. Of those children, more than 10,000 find themselves caught between the court and child welfare systems. “It costs about $2,000 per month for every child in the foster care system,” said Waters. “CASA plans to serve 400 children this year and if we can help each one of those children get placed with a safe and loving family just one month sooner, that’s $800,000 in savings to the state of New Jersey.”
While the financial implications are huge, CASA’s primary concern is the welfare of the children. “One month to a child in foster care can feel like a lifetime,” said Waters. She explained that last year CASA volunteers submitted 722 reports to judges, and in 92 percent of those cases, the judge followed through with the proposed recommendations. Such suggestions can include keeping a child in his or her current foster situation or seeing that a child is allowed to continue in a familiar school, thus ensuring positive relationships, like established friendships.
Warren Iredell, president of the Exchange Club of Ocean City, became a CASA volunteer last year. “The Ocean City Exchange Club is proud to support the work that CASA volunteers do in the community,” said Iredell. “We really know how critical it is for those volunteers to ensure that the abused and neglected children receive the services and the resources that they really need while they’re living in foster care.”
The Club made a $1,000 contribution to CASA and Iredell urged others to contribute not only funds, but also their time. “The word is spreading, but they need many more volunteers,” he said.
The guest speaker was Tanisha Cunningham, an Essex County CASA volunteer. Cunningham grew up in the New York City foster care system after being abandoned in a stairwell by her mother at the age of three. Passed around to different foster homes, she was eventually reunited with her mother. But Cunningham’s mother was abusive and she beat her daughter with a belt on a daily basis.
“There was no one there to help me,” Cunningham explained. “No one wanted to get involved.” One day, when Cunningham was 12 years old her mother became enraged when her daughter failed to pick up a scrap of paper off the floor. Cunningham’s mother shoved her to the floor, stripped her naked, and beat her with an extension cord until she collapsed, exhausted by the barbaric act.
“That fear that I had, of being afraid of my mother, turned to anger,” said Cunningham. While her mother’s back was turned, Cunningham considered grabbing a large elephant statue from a nearby table and beating her mother to death with it. “I thought it was the only way I would ever survive,” explained Cunningham.
But right as Cunningham lunged for the statue her mother turned around and said she was running out to the store. Once her mother was gone, Cunningham packed a trash bag with some clothing, left her home, and called child welfare services from a payphone down the street. It was then that Cunningham was permanently placed in foster care. “The state became my father and the city became my mother,” said Cunningham. “Children in foster care are like soldiers in the war. They’re at the front lines fighting adversity on a daily basis.”
As Cunningham neared her 18th birthday, her peers suggested she have a child so that she would have a better chance of getting into a shelter. Cunningham wasn’t interested in becoming a teen mom, but said many of her peers opted to go that route.
The moment that would change Cunningham’s life came a few months shy of her 18th birthday. She was attending a ceremony recognizing foster children in the city, and Cunningham, who had earned her high school diploma, was a rarity. When it was her turn to say ‘thank you’ and exit the stage, Cunningham grabbed the microphone and told the crowd, including the mayor, of her predicament. She explained how she was about to be aged out of the system and she had no job, no family, and nowhere to go.
“I used that opportunity because I knew that I didn’t have any other way of letting people know I needed help,” Cunningham said. Once she exited the stage, the mayor’s assistant approached her with a business card and said somebody would be in touch. That Monday the commissioner called and offered her a job. Over the next 10 years, Cunningham worked as the executive assistant for the commissioner of New York City.
An outcome such as Cunningham’s is not typical and that’s precisely why she volunteers for CASA. Using her experience to her advantage, Cunningham has now become an advocate to children in need.
To learn more about CASA of Atlantic & Cape May Counties, or to become a volunteer, please visit www.atlanticcapecasa.org.