CASA of Grayson County Staff Spotlight

Texas CASA is honored to share this story sent to us by Lee Ann Whitmire, tenured CASA volunteer of eight years and President of the CASA of Grayson County Board of Directors. She reached out to Texas CASA to celebrate one of their staff members, Cassie Smith.

“Cassie began her journey with CASA of Grayson County as a Volunteer Advocate. Her role within our CASA organization evolved to supervisor and, most recently, our Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) coordinator. 

Cassie’s transition to CFE coordinator in April 2025, and she hit the ground running. Her diligent efforts have already changed the trajectory for children in two of our cases, one of which I’ve worked on for approximately 15 months. 

I received a case involving 2 elementary-aged children in April 2024. The children lived with a biological parent and step-parent; the location of the other biological parent was unknown. Empower and CASA conducted an initial search for the biological parent without success. 

As we continued to work on the case, it became apparent that it would not be in the children’s best interest to return to their home. With no known other family or fictive placement options, we faced advocating for the children to become wards of the state. The children exhibited extreme behaviors reflective of severe trauma, so there was great concern they would have a difficult time finding an adoptive home and potentially remain in foster care until they aged out. 

When Cassie stepped into the CFE role, she diligently searched for the missing biological parent or other possible relative. She made phone calls, sent emails, wrote letters and sent them to all possible addresses. And then the call came in! One of Cassie’s letters was forwarded to the biological parent, and they immediately called. They were not aware their children were in care and explained their journey and efforts to better their lives. 

They showed up in court with documents showing their employment, housing, classes they had taken, etc. The court immediately took steps to begin reintroducing the children to their parent, and hopefully placed with them. 

Because of Cassie’s efforts and the tools the CFE program offers, these children and others have a greater chance of remaining with family.”