16 / matters magazine / summer 2026
I
n communities like ours, where daily 
life moves through school pickups, cof­
fee shop conversations, neighborhood 
gatherings and familiar routines, chil­
dren navigating foster care are part of 
the everyday fabric of community life.
One of the biggest misconceptions 
surrounding foster care is the belief that it exists 
somewhere else, says Marla Higginbotham, execu­
tive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates 
(CASA) Essex County. “People don’t believe it’s in 
their community,” she says. “But it is.”
Children enter foster care after experiencing 
circumstances that make it unsafe for them to 
remain at home, often carrying little more than 
a backpack. Housing changes. Schools change. 
Routines disappear. “There’s very little consisten­
cy,” Higginbotham says.
Honoring 40 years of advocacy, that quiet real­
ity is exactly why CASA Essex County exists.
CASA, a nationwide organization, trains and 
supports volunteers who advocate for children 
navigating the foster care system. Appointed by 
family court judges, CASA advocates serve as a 
consistent presence in a child’s life, helping ensure 
they are seen, heard and supported during a pe­
riod often marked by significant change and un­
certainty.
Volunteers undergo extensive training before 
being assigned a case, learning about the child 
welfare system, trauma, court procedures, educa­
tional advocacy and how to support children and 
families experiencing crisis, says Higginbotham. 
Advocates typically commit to working with 
a child for at least 18 months. They spend sev­
eral hours each week checking in, attending court 
hearings and gathering information from teachers, 
therapists, doctors, caregivers and social workers, 
while building a trusting relationship with the 
child. They provide recommendations directly to 
the court to help judges make informed decisions 
about placement, education, services and long-
term stability.
“We are a constant in the child’s life,” Higginbo­
tham says. For a child who has learned not to rely 
on adults, that consistency can change their 
trajectory. 
For one young woman in Essex County, 
it meant finding someone who stayed.
When Courtney Anderson entered foster 
care as a teenager, life was marked by insta­
bility, changing placements and a growing 
distrust of adults. By the time she was 18, she 
felt overwhelmed by the number of professionals 
involved in her case: caseworkers, therapists, law­
yers and program staff. Yet she still felt unheard.
“Everybody had a role,” she says. “But I felt like 
nobody was really hearing me.”
Feeling lost within the system, Anderson re­
members asking for someone who could help 
guide her “almost like a life coach,” she says. 
“Someone who would genuinely look out for me.”
Anderson was matched with Maplewood resi­
dent Joy Peskin through CASA Essex County.
As their relationship developed, Anderson says 
she began to understand what made CASA dif­
ferent.
“With a CASA, you can voice how you feel, 
and they won’t judge you,” she says.
Although Anderson officially aged out of the 
CASA program at 21, the relationship did not end. 
Changing the Lives of 
Children in Foster Care 
Local volunteers advocate for youth in crisis
BY AMY LYNN-CRAMER
L to R: CASA Essex County board president Neil 
Yaris, executive director Marla Higginbotham 
and board member Ed Schwarz.

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