Keaton, 5, was placed into foster care after his newborn baby brother tested positive for cocaine while in the hospital. Child Protective Services (CPS) removed Keaton and his two little brothers from their home to keep them safe.
When Dallas CASA volunteer Allen visited Keaton in his foster home, everything looked fine. The house was nice and clean, the children had beds and clothes, and their needs were being met.
All the boxes seemed to be checked, but Allen felt something was missing: love.
“The placement complained that Keaton was regressing, acting younger and wanting attention whenever they rocked his new baby brother,” Allen said. “When I visited, Keaton would spend the whole time sitting right next to me. I knew he just wanted to be loved.”
As the case progressed, Keaton’s biological mother and her boyfriend moved out of state to restart their lives. Allen visited them and observed their small apartment. They completed parenting classes and regular drug tests from out of state, which was a challenge and added time to the case. They bought beds for the boys, who would share a small bedroom.
“It’s not a perfect situation exactly, and I was hesitant” Allen said. “But it was obvious they loved the kids and wanted the best for them. They were trying.”
The next month, the children were returned to their parents out of state for a monitoring period by CPS, and Allen’s real work began.
“Before becoming a Dallas CASA volunteer, I didn’t appreciate the cycle in child welfare,” Allen said. “So many parents in the system used to be children in the system. In Keaton’s mom’s case, she had been in the system so didn’t have good parental role models. She loved her children and wanted to be a good parent, she just didn’t know quite how.”
Keaton’s mother walked him to school every morning, a 20-minute walk but outside of the boundaries of the school system’s bus service. When the weather turned cold last winter, Keaton started missing lots of school. Allen did some research and found a local bus service that could take Keaton to school. He stopped missing days of school, was assured one hot meal at school every day and was out of the house, giving his mother parenting his two younger brothers some extra time.
Keaton’s mother’s boyfriend was struggling to find a job because he did not have transportation. When Allen visited the family, he asked around to see if anyone was hiring. Within days and with Allen’s help, the boyfriend found transportation and a job with the town’s sanitation department.
When the middle brother in the family got a little older, Allen helped connect the family with a local Head Start preschool program. He also visited Keaton at his school and found a deeply committed teacher ready to support mom however she could. And Allen helped connect the family with a food pantry to feed their growing family.
“They live in a small community now, and people know them and look out for them,” he said. “I had reservations when they first moved there, but it’s been the right place for their family. They aren’t a number there; they’re people.”
Best of all, the children are loved and get the care and attention they deserve.
