An informational meeting set for Thursday will teach community members about opportunities to help foster children through Voices for Children/CASA, said Eva Hillis, who serves as a volunteer coordinator for the organization.

The need is evident. Missouri has more than 19,000 children in the custody of its Children�s Division, and in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties, about 400 children are in foster care.

More than 400 were brought into custody in 2017, and those children need an advocate to help speak on his or her behalf as they make their way through the court system, according to a news release.

A meeting set for noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at My Daddy�s Cheesecake, 265 S. Broadview St. in Cape Girardeau, is open to the public and, Hillis said, is designed to help community members learn about the different ways they can provide support to local children in the foster-care system.

And, Hillis said, the children are in foster care for several reasons, the biggest factor being parental substance abuse.

�We�re still seeing a lot of meth here, and it just makes crummy parents,� Hillis said, adding it renders people incapable of making good choices.

Meth can also be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, Hillis said, so even if a parent isn�t smoking meth around the children, �if you�re holding them (later), your kids can get it. Often, these kids are testing positive for drugs and that�s how they come into care.�

Hillis said there are many misconceptions around how and why children come into foster care.

�These are normal kids who need a break,� Hillis said. �They can have behavior issues � their lives have been pretty chaotic, but for the most part, they respond so well to some attention and some good parenting skills.�

Hillis and her husband serve as foster parents, she said, and she encourages people in their early 50s to consider becoming a foster parent.

�We�re retiring a little bit younger and healthier,� she said, and as children leave the nest, it�s an option to bring foster children into a loving, stable home.

In the news release, Hillis said, �Kids in foster care need our voices; we want to show adults how to use them.�

The meeting will have information about advocating for children within the foster system, according to the release.

Adults can volunteer as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) for children to provide an objective, unbiased voice as they go through the court system, the release stated.

After completing training, volunteers typically commit five to 10 hours per month for at least 18 months with their assigned case.

Despite the limited time commitment, CASAs� involvement has been shown to benefit the children: with a CASA, a child is more likely to spend less time in foster care, do better in school, and find a safe, permanent home, the release stated.

The volunteers serve as independent monitors and advocates for abused and neglected children in or out of the foster-care system, according to the release, and that�s important, Susan Bundy, 32nd circuit manager with Missouri Children�s Division said in the release.

�I think having a representative from Voices for Children/CASA is a huge benefit for families and children in custody,� Bundy said in the release. �The representative is not affiliated with Children�s Division, the Juvenile office, or the attorneys on the case, and as such they have a unique perspective.�

More information is available online at www.VoicesForChildrenSEMO.org, or by contacting Hillis at (573) 225-9494.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630