Dennis Cardoza on "The View"
OK, forget for just a moment all the controversy about Rosie O'Donnell leaving "The View." Oh, all right, let's go ahead and think about it for a minute. OK, my attention span exhausted. Next? How about a wild and outrageous and intelligent and provocative woman from the Valley in that chair? We grow lots of outspoken women here... Who do you like?
While you're noodling over that, did you hear that Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, appeared Thursday on the show to observe National Foster Care Month? He was accompanied by his Congressional aide Estakio Beltran, a young man who was raised in the foster care system.
Cardoza has a special expertise in foster care issues, since he adopted two foster children seven years ago. that gives him some pretty substantive credibility as an advocate on behalf of adoption and foster children in the California Assembly and in Congress. He recognizes, however, it has its successes and failures. Cardoza wants additional oversight, government attention and funding for programs like the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). CASA volunteers are at work here in the Valley, investigating children's unique situations and advocate for the child's best interest.
Here's what "The View" had on its Web site about him: "There are over 500,000 kids currently in foster care, but once they turn 18 they are left to fend for themselves. Our final guest, Estakio Beltran, was shuffled around the system nearly 30 times, but has recently joined forces with Congressman Dennis Cardoza, one of the nation's strongest foster care advocates, to make sure that no other child has to ensure the same nightmare he did." .