Foster children represented in Douglas courthouse exhibit

By Erik McNeal
emcneal@neighbornewspapers.com

Atlanta- Douglas County Court Appointed Special Advocates are hosting a “Forgotten Children” exhibit in the courthouse's main lobby which uses life-sized cutouts to represent children in foster care.

The cutouts stand upright and represent the estimated 100 Douglas residents in foster care.

“They are not actual pictures of children who are in foster care but they are holding signs of direct quotes from when they were in foster care,” said volunteer coordinator Jane Bray.

The exhibit opened on April 11 and runs through Friday in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.

The organization’s national office in Washington, D.C., initiated the program in 2009 and state and local offices have done similar displays, Bray said.

“We say ‘forgotten’ because it seems like children in foster care are forgotten and CASA’s goal is to make sure that they are not forgotten,” she said. “We advocate for the child’s best interest and make judges aware of what the child would like to have happen. FULL STORY

I left a comment there-

A note about the "Best Interest of the Child" thing-

"Best interests operates as an empty vessel into which adult perceptions and prejudices are poured." -Hillary Rodham, Children Under the Law, 43 Harv. Ed. Rev. 487, 513 (1973)