Nominee #5: Catherine (Cat) James
Catherine James started her journey with CASA in April 2019 and in this short time she has truly gone above and beyond. She began her CASA journey with a single-child case and then took on another case with two children a few short months later. Over this past year, Catharine has travel over 4,500 miles on behalf of these children, making sure their needs are always met and she is currently still assigned to both of these cases.
In Catherine’s original case, she was assigned to a very medically needy child. Cat spent hours on conference calls with doctors and in various meetings to find this child a forever family. She has used her background in education to fight for the child’s educational needs, she was able to help a caregiver with insurance issues, and she has brought things from Hope’s Bridge Resource Room to help the children in the home. She is fierce in the courtroom and always has in depth updates to give to the judge. She also is constantly in contact with legal parties to the cases and CPS caseworkers. The caseworkers on Cat’s cases love her!! One caregiver said that she “is so thankful for her children’s CASA; she has helped us tremendously and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without her”.
One of the children that Catharine serves is currently on the road to adoption. Catharine has taken the time to gather pictures from previous caregivers of this child growing up to make a “Life Book”. This “Life Book” will be given to the child and her new family when she is finally adopted, allowing the child to have a lifetime of memories in her new home.
On top of her advocacy for children, she was a part of our Amplifying Advocacy Conference Committee in 2020 and helped greatly during our 2019 Conference. She and her family donated prizes for our 2019 Christmas in July BINGO event and she helped sell tickets outside of Brookshire Brothers in Trinity for the Parade of Playhouses raffle! She has also helped by speaking at CASA 101’s and is ALWAYS willing to help, in any and every way possible.
Catharine has such a patient, kind, serving heart. Everyone at CASA is so thankful for all the hard work and dedication she has given over the last year.
