INDIANAPOLIS — When the court decides a child needs protection, their journey is often filled with uncertainty, from where they’ll live to whether they’ll stay in school.
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At Kids' Voice of Indiana, two programs are working to change those outcomes… one voice, one classroom, at a time.
Onnie Corbin serves on Kids' Voice of Indiana's Youth Impact Board.
"My goal is to have all the children that feared for their lives to be brave. I have a little girl myself, and I couldn't imagine putting her through what I went through," Corbin said.
She wants kids to know they are not alone. Corbin said between the years of 14-17, she moved from foster homes to residential homes and group homes.
"I done been through it all, I done been abused. I have been sexually assaulted. I done been abandoned," Corbin said. "I want them to have a voice because one thing that we don't have is a voice because we don't have nobody… a lot of people forget that we don't have nobody."
Brian Robinson, Director of Older Youth Initiatives at Kids' Voice of Indiana, said the organization relies on the board's insight.
"We staff cases with them because we want to use their expertise in real time and then also make changes that we can implement to improve our practices," Robinson said.
He emphasized the importance of the mission at Kids' Voice of Indiana.
"There are young people in the system that don't have homes to go to, and they need the support of the community and then also agencies such as Kids' Voice to help them be successful," Robinson said.
The work does not stop with teens. Across Marion County, Kids' Voice educational liaisons work with children involved in trauma and neglect cases. The team is made up of 10 former educators who collectively take on more than 700 cases a year.
"I think any time a child has had trauma, that's just challenging. And so for us to ask a child to sit in a classroom and learn from their teacher or participate in a classroom when they might be thinking about their mom or dad, where they're going to be staying that night, where they're going to get their next meal, that's a challenge," Wooten said.
Naomi Nelson is a Kids' Voice of Indiana educational liaison.
"I've had hundreds of students now who've graduated from high school who are now in college... but just being a part of that to see students' goals come to life and dreams that they never thought they could actually accomplish, it's just been, yeah, it's been very rewarding," Nelson said.
Leaders wish every kid they served could have an educational liaison, but the demand is too high.
"One thing that we really need is more volunteers like Carolyn to work with our youth. We do have such a high need here in Marion County," Nelson said.
Carolyn Freeman is a retired teacher who is now helping make a difference in the lives of vulnerable kids in the community. Volunteers like Freeman take on just a few cases, but leaders say it makes a huge impact.
"It's so great to see the kids thrive and be successful with the intervention. We want them to feel safe in the schools and be understood and know that they're heard," Freeman said.
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