Neesha came into foster care at age 17, still a sophomore in high school, desperately in need of jaw surgery and with a family legacy of violence and addiction to overcome.

Child Protective Services became involved after Neesha came to school with a busted lip. Her stepfather had hit her for leaving the front door unlocked.

Neesha was assigned a Dallas CASA volunteer, Page, to advocate for her. When they first met, Neesha was frustrated. With no relatives able to care for her, she was living in a group home with other teenage girls, and she chafed at the rules and guidelines in place there. She wanted freedom, but her defense mechanism during conflict was to fight.

“She was so reactionary,” Page said. “When she got mad or upset, she would react badly. And a group home with teenage girls from similar neglectful backgrounds was ripe for conflict.”

Page served as a resource and an ear in those beginning days. As the pair established trust over days and weeks and months, they joined together to get things done. One of Neesha’s priorities was fixing her jaw, which was so severely misaligned that her back teeth did not meet up causing her to be unable to chew.

Both together and with CPS, they began the process of working with Medicaid to get the surgery, a process that ultimately took mountains of paperwork, multiple doctor visits and two years of waiting before she had the surgery.

Along the way, Neesha graduated from high school. She enrolled in a trial independent living program for teens aging out of care and moved out of the group home. She learned new ways to cope when she was frustrated. Page encouraged Neesha’s interest in braiding hair, which turned into a part-time job.

“I’ve seen how much harder things are for her,” Page said. “But she keeps getting back up and trying again.”

Today, Neesha’s case is closed. She turns 23 this summer, but she and Page continue to stay in contact. Neesha calls Page when she has a need but also for advice or venting or simply to touch base.

“What impressed me from the start was she wanted more for herself,” Page said. “I told her ‘I can’t give up on you because you don’t give up on you.’”

Neesha lives in an apartment of her own. She works at a hotel and braids hair on the side. She recently got her insurance adjuster’s license. She has set boundaries with her family and worked on learning new ways of living that do not involve the violence she knew growing up.

And she’s done it all with Page cheering her on.