Moxie Fall/Winter 2016

Norma Castilla-Blackwell

A VOICE FOR ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDRENBY KRISTY HURST

More than a decade ago in Laredo, a young girl was sexually abused by a stranger. Her aunt, Norma Castilla-Blackwell, was outraged. Channeling her anger into a quest for justice, she successfully pushed for a sexual assault medical exam and for the perpetrator’s prosecution. Without her advocacy, Norma is sure that the man who violated her niece would have gotten away with it.

the plight of other children caught up in the legal system – especially foster kids whose lives have been torn apart. She discovered a passion that would lead to a career helping children in tough circumstances, who just need an adult on their side. As a teacher, she had witnessed and reported the effects of abuse and neglect on her own students. She had seen the bruises on their skin, their frequent absences, their inability to stay awake in class. Some of them had pulled her aside to whisper their heartbreaking secrets. Too many times, she had called the state hotline to report her suspicions that a student was being abused.

And while she knew that many abused and neglected kids land in foster care, she never found out what happened to those children after she made those calls. She didn’t know if they, like many other foster kids, were juggled from home to home, school to school, courtroom to courtroom. But she knew that for many kids, foster care is a scary new world, with few familiar faces.

So Norma made a choice: She would stand up for those kids, too.

She volunteered to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate through Texas CASA in Laredo, becoming a stable figure in foster children’s tumultuous lives. Appointed to work with a specific child’s case, a CASA volunteer independently investigates each child’s situation and makes recommendations to family court judges about what is truly in the child’s best interest – whether it is returning the child to safe parents; finding relatives willing to raise them; or finding another safe, loving home through adoption. CASA also helps kids who stay in foster care get the skills and education they need to succeed as independent adults.

As a neutral voice for each abused or neglected child, Norma gathered information about the child’s daily life from family members, foster families, teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers – anyone who could help her understand the child’s needs. She spent hours with each child, gaining trust. Then, she advised the court about how to best give the child a safe home and a shot at a happy life.

It’s a job that’s only growing more demanding, as the need for CASA services is growing in

they wanted nothing to do with him. When he was released after five years, he finally got to read copies that had been kept by the children’s grandmother, and he was inspired to rehabilitate himself and rebuild his relationship with them. Those children thrived.

As a CASA volunteer, she witnessed both happy endings and heartbreak. There was the 10-year-old boy living in a bus behind a fast food place, with no restroom except the one inside the restaurant. After the child was placed in foster care, his father attempted to bring a gun and knife to a supervised visit at the CPS office.

And she’ll never forget the three kids whose parents were incarcerated for drug-related crimes. With their letters to their Dad being withheld by the jailers, he thought

“It was a bit of a culture shock, being from Mexico, moving from Laredo, and not knowing anyone,” she says. “But I was welcomed by the community, and now I’ve been here for 13 years. And I love my job. I always say that although don’t have kids, I really have 482 kids.”

After marrying and moving to Canyon Lake, Norma returned briefly to Laredo to start a new CASA office, then started looking for a way to give back in her new community. When she learned that the Central Texas CASA organization, based in New Braunfels, was looking for an executive director, she applied for – and got – the job in 2003.

“I’ve been helping for a long, long time,” she says. “My passion is helping vulnerable children and animals. I love to be busy.”

A former case manager for Communities in Schools and an executive director for the Holding Institute – a non-profit providing educational services to students on the U.S.-Mexico border – Norma has dedicated her entire career to working on behalf of children.

A lifetime of service