Love Your Space! A Workshop for Children Living in Foster Care

Southworth Interior Design is excited to announce an upcoming collaboration with CASA of Kern County! In February, Ashley Southworth will be leading a workshop for foster youth and their Court Appointed Special Advocates titled: “Love Your Space!” Keep reading to learn more and find out how you can support this amazing organization!

During this workshop, children will participate in an educational presentation focused on what it means to keep their space organized, along with simple ways they can decorate a space that reflects their unique style. In addition, the youth will decorate a picture frame to take home, including their very own instant photo with their CASA volunteer to help them remember the day. Ashley will also share a bit of her personal story in hopes that it will help the children feel less alone in their journey through foster care.

More from Ashley…

My love for CASA of Kern County started back in the fall of 2020 when I trained to be a Court Appointed Special Advocate. However, my desire to advocate for children in the foster care system began through my own personal experiences as a child.

In the early 80s, my mother was sentenced to jail and was incarcerated while pregnant with me. Thankfully, she was released to give birth, but sadly our time together as new mom and newborn was short lived. When I was just three weeks old, my mother was forced to return to jail to complete her sentence.

Fortunately, I had family members take care of me while she was incarcerated, but the experience was difficult for everyone involved. A few years later, my paternal grandparents received guardianship of me, and I lived with them consistently until I left for college at the age of 18. Growing up with my grandparents offered many blessings as my mother continued to experience a variety of struggles throughout my childhood.

Sadly, many children do not have the safety net of living with family members when their birth parents are unable to care for them. In some cases, children may only have a few minutes to gather a few belongings before being rushed off with CPS.

Losing everything you know and being separated from family is incredibly traumatic.

The goal of the “Love Your Space!” workshop is to show the participants simple ways they can take ownership of their belongings through decorating and organization. Many of the children may not even have a photograph from their birth home, but they will walk away from the workshop with a tangible memory that they can use to decorate their own space. While we can’t change the past experiences of these children, we can work together as a community to support them, and CASA is doing just that!

The CASA website reads: “Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Kern County speaks for the best interest of abused and neglected children and youth in the juvenile court process by training volunteers to advocate for their safety and well-being in the courts, in schools, and in our community.”

To date, CASA has served 3,375 children during 12,000 volunteer hours since 1994. In Kern County, we currently have 278 children receiving support from a CASA, and there are 83 children on the waitlist. (More stats on foster care in the United States can be found HERE.) This amazing nonprofit has boots on the ground serving the most vulnerable children in our community. The volunteer CASAs are putting in the hours to make sure these children do not fall through the cracks and that, despite the possibility of living in multiple foster homes, they will have a consistent adult in their life whom they can trust—an adult who keeps their best interest at the forefront and helps track education, medical care, mental health services, while also maintaining positive relationships with family, and so much more.

To help make this workshop extra special, I am asking my family, friends, followers, and supporters to donate to this amazing cause. Would you please consider skipping a drive-through coffee this week and instead donating $5 to help fund this workshop? Donations can be sent to my Venmo using this LINK or by making a purchase on the workshop’s Amazon wish list using this LINK.

Your donation will go toward the purchase of:

• 1 Fujifilm Instax Mini Camera and Instant Mini Film (60 sheets)

• Mini picture frames

• Craft supplies to decorate the frames

Any extra funds leftover will be donated directly to CASA of Kern County so that they may continue serving children experiencing foster care in our community.

Your support means the world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

rise + SHINE

Ashley of Southworth Interior Design

P.S. If you are a local contractor, painter, interior designer, furniture store owner, etc. and are interested in helping out with future projects, please email Ashley at howdy@southworth-design.com

We have plans to do a room makeover later this year for a young adult who has recently aged out of foster care. Southworth Design looks forward to collaborating with you on this future service project to show local foster youth in our community that they matter, they are not forgotten, and they are loved.

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2.6.24 UPDATE!

The “Love Your Space” workshop took place this past week, and it was a joyful time! We had five CASA volunteers participate with six children ranging in age from early elementary grades all the way up to a senior in high school. Ashley shared organizational tips and simple ways the participants could decorate their space. Participants then took instant photos and decorated frames to take home. Check out these photos from the event. Thank you again to everyone who donated!