Via Fort Worth Report

Denee Borchardt is working to expand the courts’ concept of family to help foster children.

“Kids need to be with their families unless it’s just absolutely not possible,” said Borchardt,  program director at Court Appointed Special Advocates of Tarrant County. 

With that mission in mind, she has led the CASA of Tarrant County to adopt a pilot program that creatively connects a child with family members like grandparents or close kinships such as a neighbor, a favorite teacher or any distant relatives. The initiative is called Collaborative Family Engagement. 

Although the child may not have a direct family member to offer support, the pilot program’s main focus is to find someone else who can through more nontraditional connections, Borchardt said

In many cases, the children would say that they “don’t have any family,” thinking of immediate family, but these connections can be family friends and extended family. Borchardt said each person can have up to 300 of those connections. 

Historically, if family members couldn’t be considered as a foster parent for the child when the case was opened, they were dismissed and forgotten, Borchardt said. That might mean an older sibling who was still a minor or a grandparent with little resources would never again be an option as a foster parent.

The staff’s work

Denee Borchardt, program director at CASA of Tarrant County, was honored with the 2023 Liberty Bell Award by the Tarrant County Bar Association. (Courtesy | CASA of Tarrant County)

Child advocacy specialist LaZedrick Blackshire coaches volunteers to explain to teenagers in active cases the importance of connecting them to their immediate family. The volunteers talk to the kids about what they want and value when connected to a foster family. These volunteers evaluate all of this information in the cases thoroughly to ensure the child is placed with the best possible caregiver. 

“Getting to know the kid helps you know who they would want to depend on in the future,” Blackshire said.

Once the staff members have identified the best options, they ask if the connection can provide care and resources for the child, Borchardt said. There is always the risk that they can’t, but Borchadt said it is always worth trying.

In June, CASA of Tarrant County received a $10,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to boost the pilot program.