As black America prepares to officially commemorate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, becoming a CASA volunteer to assist foster children would be a fitting way to honor the civil rights leader, according to Glenda Hatchett, popular syndicated TV judge and national spokeswoman for the National CASA Association.

“I’m hoping people will volunteer, see the need, and do it in the name of Dr. King’s legacy,” Hatchett told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
 
“People would be shocked to know how many children are in foster care and how many are there without enough attention,” Hatchett said. “We’re recruiting caring adults. We need more eyes, more ears and more importantly more giving hearts for these children.”

Although black youth make up only 15 percent of children in the U.S., 49 percent of children in foster care are black.

The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Guardians ad litem (GAL) are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children in the legal and social service systems to ensure they are placed appropriate group and foster homes. In 2008, nearly 60,000 CASA volunteers served more than 240,000 abused and neglected children through 954 program offices, according to the National CASA organization.
 
Hatchett said caseworkers are overwhelmed and that the economy has worsened the picture.

“We’ve got kids coming into foster care who never would have been there before," she said. "They are there because their homes have been foreclosed upon; their families have been evicted from their rental units; they were living in cars and the cars are being repossessed and the family is trying to make ends meet. The parents are transient and the kids aren’t getting the proper care, enough food, clothes, or going to school regularly.

“Just to put it in perspective for you,” she said, “when I did the media tour for Foster Care Month in May 2008, I said that on any given day, there were 500,000 children in foster care. By May 2009, the number was 700,000.”

The judge, who is probably best known for her creative rulings on her popular syndicated television program, "Judge Hatchett," which is now in its 8th season, once served as chief presiding judge of the Fulton County, Georgia Juvenile Court, becoming the first black chief presiding judge of a state court and the head of one of the largest juvenile court systems in the country.

Hatchett has worked with community organizations and businesses, including the Boys and Girls Clubs and Urban League, to design a program to introduce troubled youth to successful executives and community leaders who could inspire them to change their lives. Her sentences have often sent juvenile offenders to one of the participating organizations for direction and mentoring.

“CASA really does bring in people that make a difference. The research has shown us that the child who has a CASA volunteer is not going to stay in the system as long and is less likely to come back into the system,” Hatchett said.

Volunteers don’t need special skills or a legal background, Hatchett said. Just go to www.nationalcasa.org or call information in your town for the nearest CASA program.

“We’ll train you,” she said. “All we need is for you to have a special heart.”

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