How a special advocate named Glenna helped a teen girl find her voice after trauma

Abbie had just turned 11 when neighbors became worried that she had been home alone for four days. Her mother was not in her life and her father had recently been arrested and jailed. No arrangements had been made for Abbie’s care at the time of his arrest.

Caseworkers from the Department of Human Services arrived at her home to find filth and a terrified, nonverbal little girl in obvious distress.

Abbie went to live with her first of two wonderful foster moms that day. It was June of 2021 and her Dependency & Neglect case would stay open for three years while teams of caring adults worked to find her safety and permanency.

One of those caring adults was Glenna Callarman, a Court Appointed Special Advocate who had been advocating for vulnerable children since 2018.

Abbie was Glenna’s fourth CASA case.

Glenna first met Abbie about 5 months after she had been removed from her dad’s home and the child was selectively mute. She would only speak to the foster mom because interacting with others was far too stressful. The abuse and neglect Abbie had suffered in her life had caused trauma which she dealt with by remaining reclusive and unkempt.

“Early in my involvement, we would go into her room, and she would show me her favorite things but only with pointing,” recalls Glenna.

She eventually progressed to grunting and then to a white board.

“The day she started talking with me, we were doing her favorite activity – thrift store shopping,” Glenna recalls. “As I was driving, I asked her what fast food restaurant we should go to. She wrote it on the whiteboard. I told her I can’t drive and read at the same time. Then, she quietly said Wendy’s big bag. Talking was fine from then on.”

Glenna advocated for Abbie in court, expressed the child’s wishes concerning visitation with her dad, and supported her growth in school. She stuck by her side as she improved in math and writing, encouraged her as she developed social skills, and bragged about her in court when she read War and Peace at only twelve years old.

Glenna stood by Abbie’s side until she found permanency through an allocation of parental rights to the girl’s beloved second foster mom in the summer of 2024.

“I’m so proud of her,” says Glenna. “She’s now a 15-year-old high school student with friends and lives in a home with other children. CASAs are those who have time, not a schedule. This allows the child to feel comfortable, to trust, and to grow. CASAs have ears to listen to whatever the child has to say, even if it is a grunt.”

Kim Alvarado is CASA’s Teller County Program Manager and she’s thrilled to have Glenna has a Teller County advocate. Kim says that Glenna’s current case involves a lot of driving, but that it doesn’t phase her.

“She will drive long distances to ensure she gets to meet with the kiddos on her case and she has facilitated multiple sibling visits for these kids,” says Kim. “The distance between the kids has never stopped her. Glenna is truly incredible and I am so grateful she is part of the Teller County team!”

To find out how YOU can be like Glenna and advocate for kiddos in need, check out the volunteer page of the CASA website and sign up to attend an upcoming Volunteer Orientation!