Causes:
Adoption,
Children & Youth,
Foster Care,
Human Services,
Unknown
Mission: Children in foster are more likely than other children to have developmental delays, medical problems and emotional difficulties. Family Court judges assign the most difficult cases to CASA. Once assigned, CASA volunteers monitor the proceedings and ensure implementation of social and rehabilitative services intended to move children quickly and safely out of the foster care system and into permanent homes. CASA advocates can be an essential, tangible link between the court and the professionals who serve the children, assisting the court at the earliest possible time to gather information about a child?s health, developmental and educational needs, to identify needed services and to make the information relevant to permanency decision making. CASA's volunteer advocates facilitate communication between the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), foster-care providers, foster parents, biological parents and all attorneys; coordinate services and placements for children with multiple service needs and/or large sibling groups and track the paperwork and requirements of moving a child in care to another state. After gathering all the pertinent information, CASA advocates then submit reports to the judges to help them select the best option for the child's best interests and permanent safety. The CASA advocate continues to monitor the case, seeing that it reaches a swift and satisfactory conclusion, that all mandated services are accessible and provided and the child's safety--free from further abuse or neglect--is maintained.
Results: CASA advocates serve children in all five boroughs. In 2014, CASA’s 101 volunteers worked with 1,007 children and youth in foster care, ages birth to twenty-one. Studies have shown that children who have a CASA volunteer are more likely to find a safe, permanent home, are more likely to be adopted, and are half as likely to re-enter foster care.
Target demographics: Children and youth in New York City foster care.
Direct beneficiaries per year: 1007 children and youth
Geographic areas served: CASA-NYC serves children and youth from birth to 21 in all five boroughs.
Programs: CASA-NYC has one mission: to ensure that children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect do not spend needless time in foster care, that they are returned to rehabilitated and loving parents, freed for adoption or prepared to leave foster care and live on their own. CASA gives a face to each child in care, and simultaneously humanizes the system for those impacted by it. Trained by professional staff to provide one-on-one, individually tailored advocacy, CASA’s citizen volunteers ensure that children receive the critical services they need, and do not languish for years in care, bouncing from home to home.
