Phyllis Hayes stood before the judge, described the problems facing her foster youth and recommended that the teenager’s estranged mother be required to attend his therapy sessions.

As the mother sat silently, the judge agreed, handing Phyllis a victory in her quest to improve the life of her emotionally and mentally challenged youth.

“I’m pleased,” Phyllis, a court-appointed special advocate (CASA), said afterward. “The boy wants to say certain things to his mother, and he wants to do it with the therapist in the room. The therapist gives him a needed sense of security.”

As a retired school principal and former teacher, Phyllis knows the value of homework, and did hers before going to court.

She spoke with the youth’s teachers and counselors at his school where she found that he had failed to be given required educational and psychological assessments. As a result of her advocacy, they will be given this year.

Phyllis also conferred with counselors at his therapeutic group home as well as the boy’s aunt, who has been his legal guardian since he came into care.

“I work closely with his aunt,” Phyllis said. “She calls me ‘Ma.’”

Before going to court, Phyllis also checked in with her Case Supervisor, Jeanmarie Graves.

“Phyllis is very diligent,” Jeanmarie said. “She knows her youth. She knows his case. She knows what needs to be done and works to get it done. Phyllis is truly a special advocate.”

As a CASA volunteer, Phyllis follows the same philosophy that she preached as an elementary school Principal.

“As a Principal, I told teachers that they should want to be the same type of teacher that they would want their own children to have,” Phyllis said. “If they weren’t, they knew that they were coming up short.”

“I now want to be the same type of CASA volunteer that I would want for my own child,” Phyllis said.

“My goal is to get for my youth all the service that are open to him, and to help him get the skills needed to get a job – one that he truly likes and makes him feel successful,” she said. “I want him to be able to live in a group home, to be able to go shopping, to be able to participate in society.”

“I want him to do so well,” Phyllis said.

At just their second meeting, the teenage foster youth told his new CASA volunteer, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” responded the CASA, James Allison.

The brief exchange spoke volumes. It made it clear that the youth, who has been in and out of several foster homes, had accepted James as his advocate and even friend. It also showed that James was committed to the boy.

“These kids need that assurance,” James said.

Two years into their relationship, James and his youth remain bonded. James is now helping him get ready to transition out of foster care and into independent living.

“I’ve been teaching him how to cook,” said James, who elicits love as well as respect.

“Oh, we’ve butted heads a couple times,” James said. But, he quickly added, they are always able to talk things out. James said the boy has repeatedly told him, “You’re the father I never had.’”

Most foster children never had a father in their lives. They have been neglected, abused and often abandoned by their biological parents, moms and dads.

James, who runs his own business – providing voice overs for such products as corporate websites, audio books and educational videos – said he became a CASA volunteer largely to help address the lack of male role models for black youth.

“I wanted to help,” James said.

James encourages others to become a CASA volunteer, “but only if you do it for the right reasons.”

“If you are there to burnish your resume, don’t do it,” he said. “Don’t waste your time or the youth’s time.”

 “If you do it, make sure you are ready to commit and keep your promises. These kids don’t need more disappointments,” James said. “They need someone who they can rely on.”

CASA volunteer Pamela Meredith initially had difficulty getting her foster child to talk with her. Then they had what could be called, “A Pizza Summit.”

“She had closed me out,” Pamela said. “She didn’t communicate with me. So, I took her to a Pizza Hut and we had a heart-to-heart.”

 “I explained that just like her, I had a rough start,” said Pamela, whose mom and dad were substance abusers. Pamela was raised primarily by her mother’s nephew and his wife, who she called, “’My Second Mom.’”

Pamela told her foster youth that she is now a divorced mother of three girls, two of whom were born when she was in college. She went on to graduate and earn an advanced degree while working at the American Bar Association.

Pamela said her own responsibilities increased three years ago when her cousin gave her custody of her newborn baby, who had crack cocaine in her system.

“If I could make it, you could make it,” Pamela told her foster youth – who had been abused, neglected and abandoned by her father, and whose mother is incapable of caring for her.

 “I told her, ‘I’ll help. But I can’t do it for you,’’ Pamela recalled. “I said, ‘You have to make the effort.”

Since becoming Pamela’s foster youth a year ago, the teenager has buckled down with her studies. In fact, she took extra classes to make up for lost time and is now back on schedule to graduate from high school next year.

“I’m proud of her,” Pamela said.

“I think what she likes best about our relationship is that she can count on me,” Pamela said. “She might not like everything that I have to say, but she respects what I have to say.”

Nan Booth, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), helped persuade a judge in 2014 to remove a boy from a foster home that she deemed as unfit. A year later, she returned and successfully argued, along with the Department of Social Services, that the boy should be moved again.

Nan – short for Nancy – is pleased with these courtroom victories that resulted in the boy finally being placed in a good home. But she sounds even more proud of what that the boy says about her: “Ms. Nancy taught me to read.”

“I don’t think I actually taught him how to read, but I did teach him how to love reading,” said Nan, who began the infatuation by introducing him a few years back to “Archie” comic books.

With that love of reading, the boy, now 11, is doing well in fifth grade – still reading “Archie” comic books as well as hardcover books – and is already talking about going to college.

“He says he wants to be a scientist,” said Nan.

Nan and her husband had been foster parents before she became a CASA in 2013. She did so after she retired as a social scientist at the University of Maryland and after her husband died.

“I wanted to do something of substance,” she said. “And I was impressed by CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates/Prince George’s County). They are serious.”

Nan was assigned to the little boy, now in his third foster home.

“I’ve been the constant in his life,” she said.

“All in all, he’s doing quite well,” she said. “He has his moments. But I know where he was and where he now is. He doing a lot better than a few years ago. He smiles a lot more. He’s a hoot.”

Nan encourages others to consider becoming a CASA.

“If you love children, and have the time, I can’t think of a better volunteer experience,” said Nan. “You will have the opportunity to improve a child’s life through your advocacy for them in court,” making sure that they are safe and secure.

Outside of court, and “equally important,” she said, “you will have a journey with the child during some difficult times,” such as by helping them to survive and even thrive in school by becoming a strong reader, a key to successful life.

“What can be more important than that?” Nan said.