"That kid you wrote off as a 'bad seed,' he's the 'bad kid'? There's probably more to it than that," Kristen Willig said. "Those kids deserve more, not less."
Several years ago, the Edgewood resident became one of the more than 70 volunteers with CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, of Harford County, which aims to represent as many children in Harford County's foster care system as possible and to advocate for their rights in the legal system.
On Wednesday evening, Willig was one of a handful of CASA volunteers, leaders and supporters who were at the Harford County Circuit Courthouse in Bel Air, planting small, shiny pinwheels throughout the grounds facing Main Street.
The pinwheels, a symbol of childhood and innocence, were blue to match the color for Child Abuse Prevention Month, which is in April.
"A pinwheel is what national CASA has come up with to remind us of the freedom that children should have, and when you see a pinwheel you think of a child and freedom," Donia Schmiege, a supervisor for the group, explained.
In previous years, the pinwheel event has also included a vigil or ceremony. This year, director Ross DiEdoardo was ill, Schmiege said, so they didn't have a ceremony.
Schmiege has been with Harford's CASA for a year and a half after arriving from Kansas, serving as a transition leader for young people ages 14 to 21 to encourage them to be independent by age 21.
"You don't necessarily see CASA out in the community. This is the one time of the year that we are very visible in the community," Schmiege said of the pinwheel event, noting that volunteers commit to at least 15 hours monthly spent with their advocate child alone or in court.
Volunteers like Willig said they hope the pinwheels reminded passersby that abuse and neglect of children is everywhere.
"[People] think it's something that happens on a made-for-TV movie but people don't think it's in Harford County," she said, adding that, on the contrary, "it is here. It's not just in Edgewood, it's not just in that neighborhood or this neighborhood. It's everywhere."
Longtime volunteers like Shirley Eldringhoff, who has been with the organization for 12 years, said many foster care cases will "break your heart."
"It's a noble profession, a volunteer profession, because you do help children," she said of working with CASA. "My thing is, God called me to be a farmer and all he asked me to do is turn over some of that soil and help a child to grow, and that's all I can do."
The group planted 200 pinwheels Wednesday, just a few shy of the roughly 230 children who were in foster care in the county 2014. CASA served about 119 of those children, Schmiege said.
"What we want to see in the next couple of years is to see every child in foster care in Harford County have a CASA," she said, explaining those who have an advocate "go through the system more quickly, end up in more stable, loving, healthier homes and are not a repeat of the system."