100: One Caring, Consistent Adult: What It Means to Be a CASA with Dr. Michele Ogden

Dr. Michele Ogden has spent her career in California schools as a teacher and principal, but some of her most meaningful work happens outside of them: eight years as a CASA, a court-appointed special advocate for youth in foster care. In this episode, Michele explains what the role actually involves, from ramen outings and first train rides to the one-page court reports a judge reads before every hearing. She shares how she built trust with a teenager who couldn’t believe a volunteer would keep showing up (“They don’t pay you?”), and how the work reshaped her classroom... the way she welcomes students who arrive late, and how she talks about weekends and vacations now that she knows home isn’t a soft place to land for every child. She also covers the practical side: the training, the time commitment, and why educators’ skills translate so naturally to advocacy. If you’ve been looking for a way to be one caring, consistent adult in a child’s life, this conversation shows what that looks and sounds like in practice.