Council dips into court fund for CASA program

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The mayor announced Wednesday that the city-county council is allocating two million dollars to assure foster children get an advocate. Right now, 800 children are waiting for a volunteer who will be their voice in the foster care system.

Child welfare experts say the tragic death of TaJanay Bailey illustrates the need for child advocates.

TaJanay spent much of her short three years in the care of foster parents. After the Department of Child Services returned the toddler to her mother in October of 2007, TaJanay's child advocate saw troubling signs and went to court in November, fighting to have TaJanay removed from the home.

That same morning, the boyfriend of TaJanay's mother was instead removed from the home. He left in handcuffs because he had killed TaJanay. A jury convicted Lawrence Green for beating and torturing the child. TaJanay's mother, Charity Bailey, was convicted for failing to come to her child's aid.

The mayor said he hopes the presence of advocates helps prevent tragedies like the toddler's death. He asked the city-county council to allocate $2 million from the court's reserve fund for the program.

City county councilor Ryan Vaughn defends the decision to deplete the court's reserve fund, arguing it's money well spent. It guarantees foster children will have the court-appointed special advocate mandated by state law.

Child advocate Danielle Pierson understands the importance of her job because she spent most of her childhood in foster care, assigned to a dozen different caseworkers some of whom rarely visited.

"But Brian (Robinson), my child advocate, made sure he came to see me and was a consistent player in my life,” said Pierson.

Robinson became a mentor, a father, a friend, guiding Pierson into adulthood. She aged out of the foster care system and went to college, earning a degree in sociology from IUPUI. Danielle Pierson urges others to remember tragedies like TaJanay's death, but she urges people to remember her story too.

"We hear so much about those cases that we forget that there are Danielle Piersons," she said.

She believes hers is a success story made possible by a child advocate.

If you would like to volunteer to be an advocate, visit childadvocates.net