The baby was just a few months old, and his sister was barely a toddler.
When they needed a safe place to go, their grandmother opened her home without hesitation.
She hadn’t planned to raise two young children again, but she saw a need and said yes. Suddenly, she was buying diapers, finding room for cribs and toys and doing everything she could to give the children stability during a difficult time.
When Dallas CASA volunteer Pam visited the family, she saw how deeply the grandmother loved the children. She also felt how much she was struggling.
The Texas summer had settled in, and the house was uncomfortably warm. The grandmother explained that she could only afford to run the air conditioner during certain hours. Embarrassed by the heat but worried more about the children than herself, she apologized as they talked.
Pam left the visit with a heavy heart.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about those babies,” she said. “Their grandmother was doing everything right. She had stepped up to keep them together and keep them safe, but she was carrying so much on her own.”
So Pam got to work.
She connected the family with available resources and secured a fan, but she knew that wasn’t enough for a home with a baby and a toddler during a Texas summer. Days later, the family was still on her mind.
So Pam sat down and wrote a letter to the energy company. She shared the children’s story and described a grandmother who had sacrificed what little she had to keep them from entering foster care or being separated from family. Then she asked for help.
Within hours, company leaders responded. Moved by the family’s circumstances and Pam’s heartfelt advocacy, they worked quickly to find a solution. Before the day was over, financial assistance had been approved and credited to the grandmother’s electric account.
For the grandmother and the children, the relief was immediate and felt, literally, like a rush of cool air on a sweltering day.
“Sometimes advocacy happens in a courtroom, and sometimes it happens in ways you never expect,” Pam said. “This grandmother had already done something extraordinary by opening her home. I just wanted her to know she wasn’t alone.”
Every day, Dallas CASA volunteers speak up for children who cannot speak for themselves. They help ensure children’s needs are seen, heard and addressed.
In this case, advocacy looked like refusing to give up after a home visit. It looked like one volunteer sending one more email because she couldn’t stop thinking about two little children trying to stay cool in the Texas heat.
Because CASA was there, a grandmother received help when she needed it most.
And because CASA was there, two young children could remain where they belonged — together, safe and surrounded by family.
