When people are responsible.

I was recently reading a blog posted speaking about the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program. I am proud to say that I am a volunteer with this program. I am not a woman with time on my hands as the article attempts to assume. I am a mother with five wonderful children ages 13, 11, 9, 7, and 4. Two of my children have special needs. I work, and my husband works. We are very dedicated to our family. But I am also a very very dedicated volunteer. I have represented children from all walks of life, and I am happy to say that I work in conjuction with the other professional organizations to make the best solution for the child(ren) that we are involved with. There is much more than 4 hours a month put in on our cases. I believe that I can speak for my fellow volunteers when I state that I do not volunteer time away from my family just to feel good about who I am as a person. I am a volunteer because it is needed. These children go through so many changes in their time away from home and in our court system. Many times these changes come in the form of a constant wave of new faces, new workers, new placements. But the CASA is the one face that doesn't change. A constant connection for these children and the families. Study after study can be conducted and again and again you will get the answer that you are expecting. In this world, we get so focused on what we believe to be the reality of a situation that we are unable to see beyond our ideals. But if we are to take off those blinders and look past our own beliefs and there is an entire world that will be opened up to us. As a CASA volunteer, and a volunteer for many other organizations through out this state, I beleive that we all need to open up our eyes and see the reality of the world around us. We are all equiped to assume bias, but we are also all equiped to release those bias' and grow as people, as a community, as a state, as a world; the real question is are you ready to release your safety net of beliefs and step outside your box?