When I was thirteen, I became a ward of the child welfare system. My foster parents, Patty and Eric, had three kids of their own: two boys and a girl, plus three foster kids, all boys. All the children were under the age of eight, except for one of the fosters, a teenager who was away visiting relatives. This house full of rambunctious children was a dramatic change from my quiet life with a soft-spoken mother who loved opera and theatrical recordings of Shakespeare. There was, however, one thing that was very familiar: the culture of smoking...
With more than 28 years of PCASA service between them, Kati Naess and Lexie Boris are retiring. Kati leaves her CASA supervisor position in March. Her successor, Becky Bassett (see below) has already noted that she has some mighty big shoes to fill. In January, Lexie moved from full time advancement director to part time communications director, and will completely retire at the end of June. With two years of PCASA experience under her belt, our events coordinator, Ann Douglas Irby, is taking on the role of advancement director. It's only January but the PCASA new year is already full of hopeful new beginnings!
Meet CASA Supervisor Becky Bassett
“The longer I was teaching, the more I empathized with how hard it is to raise children. I used to think, ‘Why don’t the parents do more?’ but I came to recognize the challenges many families face, especially those who don’t have the resources — income, housing, education — others do. I started to see the need for this community to do more, and I began to wonder how I could contribute beyond school walls.” That realization prompted Becky to look into the job opening at Piedmont CASA.
This time, Foster peeks out from the pages of Longwood, a magazine for alumni and friends of Longwood University. As a 2008 graduate, Kari Joyner discusses her book Foster: The CASA Cat, "an allegory for the emotional journey of children in foster care ... a story that helps children understand why some of their peers might seem withdrawn... and how patience, empathy and kindness can make all the difference."
The general fund for Virginia CASAs has not increased since 2008. The result is that in FY24, thousands of kids across the Commonwealth went without CASAs. Right now, Piedmont CASA has 43 kids on the wait list. Please contact your legislator in support of a budget increase that would enable us to retain more Advocates and meet the current demand. If youare in Delegate Callsen's district, please thank her for patroning the budget amendment.
