Story provided by CASA for Kids serving Payne and Logan counties
Deanita Henry is CASA’s July Volunteer of the Month. Deanita is from Stillwater. She has six children with the oldest, who they adopted at age 11, being 20. Deanita has two biological children, ages 17 and 13, and three adopted girls ages 9, 7, and 6. When her biological children were young, she was asked to take in two children. This experience introduced them to the foster program. Deanita’s family helped the children bridge back to their parents. After this, they felt that God had more for them to do and opened their eyes to the need at present. They decided to adopt an older child. Following adoption, they still felt called by God to serve this demographic. They completed the process of becoming a foster family. Deanita sees their children as a blessing.
After these children were adopted, she still felt that God wanted her to do more. She was blessed to work with Terrie Kerr as her CASA for her youngest three children. Deanita learned the role of a CASA from Terrie, particularly how influential CASAs are in doing what is best for the children and being their voice. After they settled in with adopting their youngest three children, Deanita felt like becoming a CASA volunteer was her next step and was recruited by another CASA volunteer Kristina Egnor. As a PRN nurse and with all of her children in school, she felt she had the capacity to pursue becoming a CASA. She was trained in 2017 and has served on two cases.
Becoming a volunteer is a great way to be present but also in the background of helping a child in state custody, she said. Her little girls’ adoption anniversary was in June and reflecting on this, she found a scripture today that speaks to the meaning of CASA volunteers:
Proverbs 31:8-9
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy“
If you want to learn more about CASA and how you can make a difference in a child’s life, visit casaforkids.com or call 405-624-2242.