SPECIAL REPORT: Non-profit helping at-risk youth and families

A California non-profit is helping at-risk kids, youth and families across the state including the Central Coast overcome the odds and thrive in their communities.

22-year-old Abraham Casillas told KION he was taken away from his parents at seven-years-old.

He had nine brothers and sisters and a mother and father mostly absent.

“There was a day when me and my oldest brother were trying to find something to eat and our mother wasn’t around our last resort was to look through a garbage bin for stuff to eat up, but the neighbors called out to ask if we were hungry and would to come for dinner,” said Abraham Casillas.

A few days later, the police showed up to his house and he and his siblings were taken away from their mother.

“She said you’re going to have to go away for a little bit. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to go, I’m sorry I didn’t take very good care of you. I’m sorry,” said Casillas.

They were put in the back of a patrol car and placed in social services.

“A group of ten ended up becoming just a group of three, my oldest brother and second oldest sister at the time.”

“You were separated from your brothers and sisters?” “Yes, most of them went
into foster homes, some group homes and others got adopted no less than two months later.”

Casillas said his parents would visit him over the years, promising they would be reunited, but he said eventually the visits would stop and he realized they weren’t coming back.

“It affected me hard, felt like a big lie that smacked me in the face.”

Casillas spent several years in and out of foster homes, group homes and even juvenile hall when there weren’t enough beds available. Then came the moment that changed his life forever.

Casillas said when he was ten-years-old, he was living with a foster family who
severely abused him.

He showed up to school with cuts and bruises and eventually a teacher noticed.

“They pulled up my sleeves and saw different marks of a cane of a belt of an
iron or hanger,” said Casillas.

Teachers and staff reported the abuse to police.

Casillas was taken to the non-profit Aspiranet’s Cherish Center in Monterey County, a safe place for kids to stay until they find a permanent home.

“I didn’t know anybody and wasn’t from the area, but when I saw all this amazing stuff, toys I never had growing up, food I could actually eat, I went crazy, I was lit up with joy,” said Casillas.

That’s something Aspiranet wants every kid who walks through their doors to feel.

“What we do is we provide a place that is safe and positive for the kids. Safe, positive visits,” explained Doctor Rohn Van Williams, Program Manager for Aspiranet’s Visitation Center.

“Unfortunately for them, we have this weird system where we have the parents who are the ones who have committed the wrong or broken the law and the kids feel like they’re being punished for it,” said Doctor Rohn Van Williams.

Aspiranet works with the Department of Social Services to work with parents and their children to repair the relationships with the goal of getting them back together again.

“It doesn’t always work out, most of the time it does, but it doesn’t always. The idea these days is just to not cut off all ties with their families.”

Doctor Van Williams told KION there is a six to one year period to place the kids in a permanent home or foster care.

In the meantime, they set up supervised visitations for families. They said they get anywhere between 65 and 100 visits per week.

“For the kids it is very important no matter what happened to them, they want to go home. All studies have proved kids usually want to go home if that can happen, one way for a judge, therapist, social worker to feel good about that is when they can see they’re parents can actually parent in a supervised situation,” said Van Williams.

Casillas never got to go back to his mom and dad, but Aspiranet did find him a foster family to call his own in Hollister.

“That’s where my home dream became a reality,” said Casillas.

“I can have a smile on my face and say I did make it, I am making something of myself. I may not be the best, but I’m trying.” Casillas went on to say “I know that being in the system was a burden at first because I didn’t know what to expect. All the abuse, the sorrow, and the pain I went through, but the people I met over the years, I don’t think I would have ever met them. I think back and I wouldn’t have graduated, I wouldn’t have gone to college, I wouldn’t have had the chance to find love with anybody, I would have been on the streets still a criminal or in prison or even just not living.”

Casillas said he did find love and is now the proud father a new baby boy.

For more information on Aspiranet click here.

Aspiranet will be holding a fundraiser at the Monterey Tides Hotel on Sunday, October 21st from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. All proceeds with go to the Cherish Center.