Someone To Rely On

Janet Kissel Earns Darlene Kamine Advocate of the Year Award

3 years | 9 kids | 4 families

Though Janet Kissel has been a ProKids advocate since 2021, her journey to becoming one — unknowingly — began decades prior. As a youth mentor in her early 20s, Janet felt she had done the “bare minimum” for her child. But years later, she received a call. Her “little,” now a grown woman, had tracked her down. She wanted Janet to know she was fine. She told her that she was the only positive influence in her life as a child.

“You could have knocked me over with a pin,” Janet said. And while she did volunteer after that call — delivering food to those in need and even trying mentorship again — Janet craved a role that would allow her to address the root causes of issues she cared about. When she heard a ProKids ad on the radio, she knew that she had found it.

Janet is now a CASA to six ProKids children, who’ve been incredibly lucky to have her, according to her CASA Manager, Maria Turner. One of those kids is “Colleen,” who came into the system at just 6. At that very young age, she had witnessed violence and drug use at home, and since entering foster care, had bounced around — with many foster parents unprepared to care for her.

But as a CASA Volunteer, Janet could be a constant. 

“She knows she can rely on me,” Janet said, “I’ve been there when she needs me to be” — from taking her to doctor’s appointments to picking her up from therapy camp. It’s in those moments and moments like them, listening to music in the car, grabbing lunch, or watching Colleen play on a trampoline, that they’ve been able to establish trust.

With Colleen meeting therapy consultants from Job and Family Services and therapists in and out of school, “the last thing she needs me to be is somebody else poking and asking questions,” Janet said. So, Janet’s work has often revolved around strengthening the support that surrounds Colleen — ensuring the child’s main therapist remained consistent between moves, acting as a bridge to the system for an aunt who’s offered respite care, and coordinating with each new set of foster parents.

But after 18 months passed without a safe, permanent, and nurturing home identified, Janet was left with questions. Why had other children she’d served found stable, adoptive homes and Colleen hadn’t? What could Janet do to help Colleen reach one?

With the support of her CASA Manager, Janet did find a way she could help. When reviewing a county document that was being shared with potential placements, Janet didn’t see the smart and creative Colleen she knew being illustrated. The document classified her as high maintenance, with tantrums. And while of course she needed parents who were aware and prepared — she was like so many other kids in the system with appointments and medications, kids who’d experienced trauma. After consulting with Colleen’s Job and Family Services caseworker and trauma team, as well as Colleen’s aunt, who knew her best of all, Janet advocated for that document to be revised, and together, they were able to paint a fairer portrait of this little girl, highlighting both her needs and her strengths to families looking to foster and adopt.

From coordinating camps and assisting with transportation to communicating her kids’ needs to the folks who should hear them, all of Janet’s work has been about seeking stability for abused and neglected children.