Named in honor of Casey's former president and CEO Ruth Massinga, these awards honor foster care constituents who work to provide, improve and prevent the need for foster care.

Casey Family Programs congratulates the winners of the 2008 Ruth Massinga Awards:

Award for Alumni
David Louis-Martinez, Honolulu, Hawaii
Founded Heart Gallery Hawaii, executive director of Heart Gallery of America, author of “Scars That Can Heal”

David, an alumni of foster care, founded Heart Gallery Hawaii (HGH) in 2005, which resulted in Hawaii eliminating a ban on sharing pictures of children in foster care with the public. With passion and stories from his personal experience, David convinced the state to remove the ban by expounding on the crucial need to find homes for foster children. HGH is now the foremost recruitment tool for the state, working with every child who is in permanent custody. HGH has extended services to include independent living skills, mentoring, gathering donations and providing scholarships for youth. HGH also offers post-adoptive services, including family activities and mentoring to help with placement stabilization. In addition, David helped bring Family Finding to Hawaii after attending the 2006 Casey Conference in Washington, D.C.

Nationwide, David has volunteered his time and funds to impact the lives of foster children. After self-publishing his instructional memoir, “Scars That Can Heal,” he went on speaking tours through 18 states from W.Va. to Calif. David uses every penny from book sales to offer financial help to foster children—paying for proms, football uniforms, airplane tickets for reunification visits and even graduation parties.

In honor of his work ethic, passion, dedication and persistence, David was appointed as the first executive director of Heart Gallery of America, managing 107 Heart Galleries across the country, a position that he gladly fulfills on an unpaid basis.

Award for Birth Parents
Marvin Charles, Seattle, Wash.
Founded Divine Alternatives for Dads Services (D.A.D.S.)

Marvin and his wife, Jeanett, overcame addiction and homelessness to regain custody of their children. Together, they founded Divine Alternatives for Dads Services (D.A.D.S.) D.A.D.S. provides a one-on-one case advocacy program for fathers in need of family services. This includes assistance in reuniting fathers with their children, referrals to drug and alcohol treatment programs, employment counseling, assistance with child support adjustments and plans to pay off arrearages, help with housing, legal assistance, parenting classes and family stability programs.

D.A.D.S. serves more than 200 parents each year through parenting classes, support groups and other means to develop positive, engaged and committed fathers.

At every opportunity, Marvin speaks to individuals and groups—judges, tribal elders, social workers and community members—about the need for each father to take responsibility for his actions, to focus on his child’s needs and to use his faith to find a way to help his suffering child. Furthermore, Marvin works as a minister at a local church.

Award for Foster Parents
Rachel M. Ewald, Roswell, Ga.
Fostered 48 children, founded the Foster Care Support Foundation, Inc.

Born and raised in a French Canadian bilingual family of seven children in a small country town in southeastern New Hampshire, Rachel has been married for 33 years to Mark Ewald. Together they have cared for 48 foster children aged from birth to 13 years, while raising four biological children of their own. They currently live in Roswell, Georgia, outside of Atlanta.

Realizing that many foster homes were not able to support the foster children that were in their charge, and knowing that many potential stable foster homes couldn’t take the risk of jeopardizing their own stability if they took in needy children to support, she started the Foster Care Support Foundation, Inc. Originally operating from her garage. The foundation moved to a classroom trailer on the Roswell United Methodist Church grounds. Today they occupy a crowded 7,000 square-foot rental space on Alpharetta Street in Roswell. FCSF serves almost 4,000 foster children yearly from all Georgia counties, with a mission to help improve the quality of care for children in foster care.

With eight and-a-half years behind them since their incorporation, FCSF operates what should be a $3 million program on a shoestring budget of $250,000 with only three paid staff and 50-150 weekly volunteers. Their goal is to eventually serve up to 20,000 abused and neglected children per year and build a permanent facility on land they have already acquired in the Roswell/Alpharetta area. A recipient of the 2003 Commissioners Award from the State of Georgia and a 2003 Daily Points of Light honoree, Rachel recently received the 2007 Friends of Children award from Catalyst for Care and the Department of Family and Children’s Services. She continues to ask for help to reach out to children in crisis and hopes to one day have ample support for many more services that help improve the success of this underserved population.

Award for Kinship Caregivers
Harriet Jackson-Lyons, Dorchester, Massachusetts
Founded Raising Our Children’s Children (ROCC)

In 1991, Harriet came forward to care for and subsequently adopt her two granddaughters. Her experiences led her to found Raising Our Children’s Children (ROCC), a support and advocacy organization for other grandparent caregivers. ROCC offers caring support, training, advocacy and social networking, primarily for low income and minority families. Harriet has advocated and organized community meetings with state legislators, which led to the drafting of two bills in Massachusetts that addressed the inequities experienced by non-licensed relative caregivers. Partnering with Brandeis University and the University of Massachusetts, Harriet worked with academics and advocates on research projects that resulted in policy, regulation and statute changes, both locally and nationally.

Most importantly, Harriet strives to create opportunities and develop leadership skills for others in her support group. Harriet opens her home and her kitchen to monthly lunch meetings, knowing that the conversation flows best over a shared meal. Whenever she hears of a caregiver in need, Harriet corrals all her resources and contacts to help them. She gives tirelessly of herself, serving on committees, task forces and focus groups, often as the only nonpaid individual.