Emily
Jane, a CASA volunteer, was assigned to 5-month old Emily, after the baby was severely beaten and brought to Morristown Medical Center. She was in critical condition; she was hemorrhaging from her brain and eyes and her tiny body had 22 broken bones in various stages of healing.
Jane was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit the day she was assigned to the case and continued daily visits to comfort and help feed Emily during her month long hospital stay. When the baby was moved to a specialized hospital some distance away, Jane visited at least once a week.
Eventually Emily was placed with a foster family who had special training to take care of medically fragile children, and Jane visited every few weeks. The strains on a foster family caring for such a child are great. Various doctor appointments and daily in-home therapies are just some of the obstacles the family must confront. Jane was at the foster mom's side, pushing the stroller and offering support through numerous medical procedures and therapy appointments.
The resources of the Department of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) are finite and such was the case when Emily required a specialized wheelchair and the cost was beyond what DCPP could approve. Jane was relentless in her search to find a funder for this wheelchair. She contacted the Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia which agreed to evaluate Emily and the result was a customized $6,000 chair with no cost to the foster family! However, Jane was not finished. She worked with Habitat for Humanity to build a ramp providing wheelchair access to the foster family's home.The foster family finalized Emily's adoption having experienced strong support from Jane, the CASA volunteer who advocated for 3 1/2 years to bring Emily to a place of love, safety and security.
A CASA volunteer touched Emily’s life in an extraordinary way.
