Advocate Makes Impact for Brothers Separated in Foster Care

Mark Skaggs became a CASA Volunteer in July 2021 and was immediately assigned a case with two boys who were living 2.5 hours apart. Within a few weeks of the case, Mark made plans to see both boys in their placements. He called one boy to introduce himself and get a feel for what he liked – turned out he loves race cars – so Mark went to the store and got him a car and a new soccer ball. Mark's visit with the boy was wonderful! They played for several hours and built great rapport.

Two days later, Mark visited the other teen on the case. He brought him a soccer ball and some cologne (which happened to be his favorite brand). They had great talks and continued to email afterwards. Mark was able to advocate for these children to get phone calls with each other, since they haven’t seen each other since they were removed from their homes.

Mark has become the stable adult in these boys' lives. Even though they live so far away, Mark told them he would visit once a month and call in between visits, because no one else is going to be visiting them. He is also working to find family or a support system for the boys! This photo is one of the boys proudly displaying his newly built Lego car; it was very complex, and the little guy put it all together in 45 minutes!