Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She'd done the suburban mom thing, too - chauffering her 16-year-old to games and back, Fed-Ex-ing her 19-year-old son homemade Parker House rolls at college.
During the Persian Gulf War, Davies led a local support group for 86 families of soldiers sent to Iraq, winning the Commander's Award for Public Service.
When the war ended, she asked herself: What now?
She found the answer in Lillie, a 29-year-old crack addict whom she has chauffered to detox, driven to the emergency room, even snatched from amid a late-night drug raid in Lincoln Terrace. In her Mercedes.
She found it in the two toddlers she rescued from a roach-infested apartment. One had rubbed his head so hard against his crib that a bald spot appeared - he was that eager to be touched. Both, she suspects, were fed beer regularly to keep them quiet in their cribs.
And she's finding it now in her fight to keep ``Lauren'' away from her parents, who Maggie suspects have abused her - mentally, physically and sexually.
The gritty reality of Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court is a far cry from Maggie Davies' six-figure lifestyle. But it's home base for her and the 34 other Court Appointed Special Advocates - CASA volunteers who crusade on behalf of the area's abused and neglected children.
``They give the courts information, they push for a permanent plan for the child - whether it's adoption or fixing the family situation - so the kids won't have to linger in foster care,'' says CASA director Carol Key.
Maggie, Key concedes, often goes beyond the call of duty.
While evaluating David, Lillie's 2-year-old son, she stopped in almost daily, unannounced. She was able to document a case for removing the child to foster care, and then to an adoptive home, by reporting what she found - the child being left home alone, or with a parent who was too drunk or high to watch him.
At Christmas, she helped the family put up a tree. For birthdays, she baked them cakes.
``They liked me,'' she says. ``But I had to tell them, `I'm sorry, I can't say little David can go back to your home - with the way you continue to live.' ''
When Maggie made her final argument in court for removing their parental rights, ``I thought they'd be so mad at me, I'd need a police escort out of there,'' she recalls.
``I took them over, crying and sobbing, to sign the papers, and after it was all over Lillie hugged me and said, `Maggie, will you adopt little David?' ''
Maggie isn't adopting David, but another family is.
And the two neglected toddlers - who once spent 22 hours a day in their cribs, in separate rooms - have been placed in the care of a grandmother. After speech therapy and physical therapy, their development is finally up to speed.
``It took six months for the girl to smile,'' Maggie says. To get her used to being touched, the therapist sat her in a pool of dry beans and rice, rubbing her skin with the food.
They are scenarios that 47-year-old Maggie Davies never imagined she'd witness, let alone participate in.
``What it's done, it's put a face on a lot of novels,'' she says. It's also taught her a lot about empathy and the human condition. And herself.
``I've been very fortunate, I've been able to stay home to raise my kids. But now that they're grown, playing tennis and golf just doesn't do it for me, I'm sorry.
``I need something meaningful.''
In an age when politics seems to take precedence over prevention, when money for prisons robs from programs like Head Start, Maggie Davies' ventures out of her safe-haven suburb seem significant.
Just ask Lillie. Even she's a believer.
With 132 children in need but only 35 volunteers to serve, the Roanoke Valley CASA program needs help. For information, call Carol Key at 981-2407. Volunteers undergo 30 hours of training before receiving assignments, followed by monthly in-service sessions.
Beth Macy is a Thursday Extra columnist and feature writer. Her number is 981-3435 or (800) 346-1234, ext. 435.
by CNB