Yes, another post about Thanksgiving
All around the blogosphere, people are writing about Thanksgiving. To me, Thanksgiving is not a historical holiday.  It’s not about “pilgrims and indians.”  It’s not about inaccurate history or revisionist history or lies my teachers may have told me. It may so

Newsflash: The System Isn’t Perfect
As a CASA, I will be the first person to tell you that the System isn’t perfect. As Toni Lodge said at the WA CASA Conference, “We don’t have a Child Welfare System.  We have a Foster Care System.” Why this surprises anyone, even in “model” counties like the one I live in (Clark), is anyone’s guess.  People are inherently imperfect.  Heck, that is why we need a System.  But it also means the people who run the System are imperfect as well. Tragedy can and doe

November is National Adoption Month!
In honor of National Adoption Month, I’m posting some information on the blog about foster parenting and adoption from the fantastic site Adopt US Kids.  Enjoy! What is the difference between foster care and adoption? Foster care is a temporary arrangement for a child

Advocating for Native American Children
The last WA CASA conference workshop I attended was about advocating for Native American Children.  This was not Indian Child Welfare Act 101 – it was about the uniqueness of Native children under the law, in the communities they live and the tribes to which they are attached. The panel included Commissioner Michelle Ressa Weber, Toni Lodge executive director of N.A.T.I.V.E Project and one of her staff members Tara Dowd.  The panel was facilitated by Tom Tremaine who is the senior attorney in

Day two of WA CASA conference
On day two of the CASA conference I attended the Using Your Advocacy Skills with the Legislature workshop with Marcia Fromhold. Ms. Fromhold is WA CASA’s lobbyist.  She gave us a good overview of how things work in the Washington legislature, how to become a Legislative Partner with WA CASA and why the work LPs do is so important. Here are some things I learned: Legislators in Washington are generally very accessible.  They are in session 60 to 105 days (straight, no weekends!) per year.  Th