Indelible

By Terri Conlin


The scene is etched into his mind's eye. Ed Allen saw children falling from the sky through jagged cracks in the earth and tumbling into darkness below. The television ad was an appeal for CASA's, Court Appointed Special Advocates. These volunteers are trained to represent an abused or neglected child in court, one child at a time. Ed was officially sworn in by the judge after completing an initial six-week training session and FBI background check.

After meeting with his child, teachers, parents, social workers, doctors and counselors, Ed prayerfully created a report recommending the child's best placement to the presiding judge. Ed's retirement plan included a new life beyond travel, golf and leisure. His stamp on three boys over nine years marked those lives forever, perhaps his own most of all.

The children's stories branded his soul, but the blessings of hope fluttering in a little boy's heart gave wings to Ed's own. One boy in particular pierced Ed's heart. His mom had six children, all with different fathers. The boy had lost his smile and soon Ed understood at least one reason why. Instead of that adorable two-front-teeth-missing smile that marks most six-year-olds, due to extreme neglect, his mouth was full of rotten teeth. On his way home, Ed found himself standing at a dental reception desk asking for the doctor. It was a cold call from a warm heart. The orthodontist generously agreed to provide complicated dental work all the way through braces. The day the boy flashed a broad smile of brilliant white teeth is a day engraved forever on Ed's heart. Sparkling new dreams imprinted with hope replaced the black rottenness of neglect. The boy began to talk of becoming a lawyer.

Barbara Johnson, Director of the Clackamas County CASA program, remembers Ed as a blazing emblem for other CASA's, committed, passionate, and professional. He inspired others to seek dental care for their assigned child and now those services are inked into the medical care of every foster child. Barbara acknowledges Ed's deep and lasting impression on all foster children in Oregon. In 1999, Ed testified in Salem for Senate Bill #689 providing a shortened timeline for placing children in permanent homes. He lobbied to increase statewide funding from $400,000 to $1.4 million, a budget in place until this last Senate session.

Ed's time as a CASA coincided with the birth of his Christian faith. The two entwined together left a tattoo on his heart. A new scene emerges in Ed's mind, this time silhouettes with outstretched arms catch children falling through the sky. He is one of them. ©

I will not forget you.
See I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.
Isaiah 49:15-16