Everyone can do it: Children need our help

Do you love kids? Do you wish yours hadn’t grown up so fast? Here’s how you can fill that void: There are hundreds of children in New Mexico available for adoption. Visit www.heartgallerynm. org/find-a-child.

Many more are in foster care waiting to see if they will be reunited with their families, and some are waiting for a foster home. All are waiting for a permanent family. The process is slow — agonizingly slow for the kids. What happens to those kids once they become part of the child welfare “system”?

As a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, you are involved in a foster child’s case by court order from the Children’s Court judge. You can talk to teachers, foster parents, biological parents, therapists, medical staff and anyone who participates in the child’s life. You essentially are the Court’s eyes and ears.

When a child who is at first leery of you finally realizes you are there for them and gives you that first hug, you know you are on the right path. When a child asks,“When will you come back to see me?” you realize how great an impact you have on that child. For some of those kids, you may be the one person they know they can count on.

If you are one of those looking for something meaningful to do, consider joining me as a CASA Volunteer Advocate at CASA First (casafirst.org).

We have both working people and retired people making a difference to these kids. But we don’t have enough volunteers to have one assigned to each child in the foster care system.

Join us. We have a training class starting in January.

Bob Martin is a retired civil servant who grew up in Los Alamos and lives in Santa Fe. He attended St. Michael’s High School downtown as a boarding student in 1961-62.