June is National Reunification Month, which celebrates families that have been reunited after going through tough times. and one Chatsworth family is proud to take part in that celebration.
“It took a lot of work, but it was something I knew I was going to accomplish,” said Justin Blue.
Blue said he became addicted to drugs and was “arrested a couple of times,” leading to his children being placed in foster care.
“When I was in jail, (his caseworker) came to me and explained the situation,” he said. “I started talking to my attorney. Upon my release, I had a case plan, things I had to do — drug screenings, classes. I finished all that. I’m still on probation, but I finished all of that case plan.”
Blue said being reunited with his children Nevaeh and Cole was vital to him.
“Getting my kids back was a major, major motivation to me to get clean,” he said. “Everything they asked me to do, I did my best to go above that.”
The process took a little over a year. He said the day he was reunited with his children was “one of the proudest days of my life.”
“When I went into court that day, the judge said, ‘You’ve done everything I said. There’s nothing more I can ask,’” he recalled.
“When I went to school to pick them up, I walked into the classroom and they were just in awe to see me,” he said. “The first thing they said was ‘Are we going home?’ and when I told them we were they were so excited.”
Melissa Broom was the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Blue’s children. CASA volunteers advocate for the best interests of children in the foster care system. Broom has been a CASA since 2010.
“He (Blue) was working on his plan, so I just kept track of him, kept track of the kids,” she said. “I went to the school and talked to the counselors. We (she and Georgia Division of Family & Children Services representatives) had a plan just like he did, and we were working on that. We were all working on reunification.”
Broom said the goal is always to reunite parents with their children if possible.
“Each case is different,” she said. “Some last longer. Some require more involvement. With Justin, I was just checking in from time to time. Some finish fast and some take a while.”
Broom said she was also excited when Blue was reunited with his children.
Broom was recently named the Family Support Council and Murray/Whitfield CASA 2024 Volunteer of the Year.
Broom’s staff supervisor, Yurilen Aviles, said to her Broom gets “the Big Heart award, because whether it’s to lend an ear, show up for her kids’ ballgames or even help oversee other programs’ cases, she is always willing to show up and help. Even when her cases are closed, she still follows up with her kids and families.”
Chelsea DeWaters, Murray/Whitfield CASA program manager for the Family Support Council, said it is great to have an opportunity to celebrate family reunification.
“National Reunification Month is a time to celebrate every family in our community that has overcome the biggest imaginable obstacles as they’ve fought long and hard to be together,” she said. “They’ve made our community stronger and healthier, and our future brighter, and we are proud to salute them this month.”
She said in the CASA program the first hope for the children is that they will be able to safely return home to the family members they love.
“Foster care is meant to be a system that helps families that are in crisis, by providing a temporary, safe way station for children, while helping their parents heal and build a safe home for their family to come back together,” she said. “Most of the children we serve in the CASA program came into foster care because their parent was in such deep crisis themselves, that they simply could not maintain a safe environment for their kids. Our kids love their parents and are incredibly disrupted and grief-stricken at being separated from them, and most of them want to go home as soon as possible.”
DeWaters said the best case scenario for any child is to grow up in a loving, nurturing home with their parents.
“When we see parents change their lives, build a safe space for their kids, and bring their families back together, we see our biggest and best dreams for our kids come true,” she said.