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The importance of family and impacting early childhood early on is what drives Rosa Arevalo, Senior Program Coordinator for CASA of Los Angeles, to keep advocating for children and families every day.

Shaquenta "Q" McDonald, a former transitional age youth and now Program Coordinator for Los Angeles nonprofit Hathaway-Sycamores can relate to the many struggles foster youth face.

Although David Green often wears his advocacy hat these days, representing the Service Employees International Union’s (SEUI) local chapter, Green has been a social worker with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services for 16 years. Empathy is a language he speaks fluently.

For Nurit Kotick, long-time Pasadena resident, wife, mother, mentor volunteer and board member at nonprofit Hillsides, mentoring youth has changed her life.

Maegan Mattock is a Senior Program Coordinator for CASA of Los Angeles who trains CASA volunteers to advocate for children in the Los Angeles foster care system. CASA volunteers develop plans to help children navigate resources for successful outcomes in all areas of life.

At first, 12-year-old foster youth Jack wouldn’t talk to his Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), Lynn Temple. He might nod or shake his head, but he used no words. Jack had come into the dependency court system when his father, struggling with PTSD, felt unable to care for him and dropped him off at one of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services offices.

In his own words, corporate attorney Forrest Prull shares how he helped the Walt Disney Company bring happiness to LA’s foster youth and their families.

Being a social worker is a difficult job and is never a “nine-to-five.” The children keep me going. The cases that make my job worthwhile are the ones where biological families turn themselves around and reunify with their children. I believe every child deserves permanency.

Dwayne Castronova is a busy video producer at PBS SOCAL’S KOCE-TV. But he also still finds time to be a dedicated CASA volunteer at CASA OC (Court Appointed Special Advocates, Orange County). A couple of times a month, Dwayne spends time with a youth in the foster care system, providing mentoring, support, advocacy and even a little fun.

Peter Gragnani, who volunteers with Community.2.0, a collaborative of local community organizations and churches, including Five Acres, found his calling to volunteer later in life.

When words fail, grieving children can find an outlet in music. Arvis Jones has impacted the lives of many foster youth and their families at Los Angeles-based mental health agency Hathaway-Sycamores with her musical therapy.

Three years ago, two women met randomly at The RightWay Foundation, an organization which provides transition age foster youth (TAY) employment and mental health services. One was The RightWay Foundation’s Director of Programs and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Andraya Slater. The other was a former foster youth, Jasmine Morgan, unsure of which path to take in life.