The heart of Amy Hart: From foster parent to advocate, it’s always been about the children

Amy Hart’s heart has always been for foster children. Even when she and her husband were dating, they talked about fostering one day.

When that day came, they started by providing respite care for other foster families — bringing children into their home so foster parents could periodically have a few days of rest. 

Three years later, the Harts became licensed foster parents through Families 4 Families.

They were primarily interested in taking in teenagers— their own kids were young teens at the time — feeling it would be a good fit for their family and a chance to pour into an age group that can sometimes be overlooked.

“I hate to say this, but I just feel like people are afraid of that age bracket — what that looks like, what kind of problems that comes with,” Amy said. “It’s just more than a lot of people want to take on. There are just not enough people to advocate for and take in and love teenagers, and that’s really why we focused on them.”

Over the next few years, many teens came through the Harts’ home. Some of them have stayed in their lives long after their placements ended.

“They’re still part of our family, even though they weren’t with us for a super long time,” Amy said.

But after a particularly difficult placement, Amy needed a break. The Harts, along with their Families 4 Families case manager and the organization’s leadership, were asking the courts for certain evaluations and to help the child who was struggling in certain areas — to no avail. 

“At the time, I felt like I was screaming at the wall,” she said. “I cannot say enough good, amazing things about Families 4 Families, but even their hands were tied with people not hearing us.”

For Amy, stepping back from fostering didn’t mean not serving. Her heart was still for children in the foster care system. It was during that pause, at a monthly Families 4 Families gathering of foster parents, that she first heard the term CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocate.

CASAs are appointed by judges to advocate for a specific child in the foster care system. They engage with everyone in a child’s orbit, including the biological parents, foster parents, siblings, teachers, therapists and case managers. Then, through that collaboration, they make recommendations the court can turn into binding orders.

“We never had a CASA for any of the children that we fostered, and I knew there were none for any of the children we did respite for,” Amy said. Soon after, she went through training and became one.

“I absolutely love it,” she said. “You’re there to help make good decisions for the child, and not just what they want, but what’s best for them. I finally have the ability to do what I felt like I needed to do for my foster kids, when I really had my hands tied.”

For the children she serves, she sees her role as being a constant presence in a system that often has many adults cycle through their lives. 

“Just showing up for the child — that sometimes means more to children than even having things done and fixed,” Amy said. “It’s just being that support.”

Amy is now in a full-time role with Child Enrichment, a CASA affiliate in Augusta, Georgia. Her insight into the foster system both as a foster parent and as a CASA has reinforced her endorsement of private foster care agencies, including Families 4 Families, for people interested in fostering.

“If I was just licensed [as a foster parent] through the state and didn’t have the extra support, I don’t know what I would have done. I would have lost my mind,” she said. 

And as a CASA, she always feels reassured that a child is in the best situation possible when Families 4 Families is involved. 

“The case managers — they go above and beyond,” Amy said. “They reach out, they communicate and they collaborate.”

For Amy, the work — across every role she’s held — has always come back to the same thing, the heart of the matter:

“I love working with children. I love working with the families. I love working with Families 4 Families,” she said.