Leah DeLanoy, founder and director of Uphold Homes Inc., shared with the Bainbridge Lions Club her unique insight that makes her qualified as an advocate for children in distressed family situations.

DeLanoy told the Lions that she began her journey into the child welfare system as a volunteer for Florida’s Guardian Ad litem CASA program. She said that during that time she watched as over-worked and under-paid case managers seemingly forgot that the children and families were not files or tasks to be completed; but rather were human beings who needed assistance.

“Seeing that these individuals, who were placed into a government system with people they never met and with no control over their circumstances drove my passion to advocate for them and their interests,” DeLanoy said.

She told the Lions that years later she was hired as a resource development case manager for Georgia’s Department of Family and Children Services. That position allowed her to recruit and train families who desired to become foster parents or adoptive parents.

“I loved that position because it allowed me to get to know each foster family individually so I could place a child with a family and feel confident that he or she would be loved and properly cared for.”