Meet Our Advocates
City CASA advocates come from all walks of life: diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds; city dwellers and county residents from throughout the metro area; college students to retirees.
Some are nurses, business owners, lawyers, firefighters and full-time parents. Others are writers, teachers, metro bus drivers, computer analysts and sales managers.
Nearly 200 CASA advocates work on behalf of children in the city of St. Louis each year. What they have in common is their passion and dedication to the children they represent.
Meet City CASA Advocate Travis Laws
Quite possibly, Travis Laws was born to be an advocate for abused and neglected children. The experiences of Travis’s life and his work history seem to have led him directly to Voices for Children.
Travis has a considerable background working with children as a former teacher, coach of youth baseball and part-time band director at an elementary school. But perhaps the greatest influence on his becoming a volunteer advocate was being a foster parent to a child in the St. Louis city system. From this experience, he gained understanding, familiarity and enthusiasm for abused and neglected children.
His knowledge of the “system” and its effect on children comes to life through the dedication, hard work and passion Travis has applied to his work on behalf of many children over the past three years. Travis's cases have involved very complex issues including Munchausen by proxy, a severely physically abused baby and a non-compliant teenager. He works diligently to obtain medical records, speak to doctors, acquire therapy reports for parents and advocate for the best possible placements for these children even when he is in opposition to the majority of the professional team.
Travis's first case involved premature, drug exposed twin newborns. From the start, Travis was excited to begin representing these helpless infants. He visited with the children, spoke to their doctors, acquired medical records and followed up with Children’s Division case managers as often and for as long as it took to make progress. Travis is not afraid to go the extra mile to make sure these children’s best interests are first and foremost.
Travis has also represented Bryant, the twins' 16-year-old brother, who had been placed in a residential facility with what seemed like no progress toward permanency. Travis conscientiously worked with all involved parties to ensure that Bryant received the level of care that he needed while advocating for Bryant to establish a relationship with family members. Travis knew the importance of that familial bond for Bryant.
Travis goes above and beyond what is asked of him and does so with passionate determination to help children through the foster care system and to affect meaningful change for each child.
While Travis is an extraordinary child advocate, there are 200 or so City CASA advocates just like him who speak up for our kids each year.
