14 Apr CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Awarded $5,000 Grant from American Century – Community Partnership

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the American Century – Community Partnership to support their Child Advocacy Program.

CASA will use funds for its Child Advocacy program that will provide 450 children with 185 Volunteers who advocate directly for children involved in the court system due to abuse, neglect, or divorce-related custody and visitation disputes. Specifically, CASA will use funds for Volunteer training expenses, and to support the Training Director and Program Coordinators’ salaries.

Research concludes children with a CASA Volunteer are more likely to receive timely and appropriate medical and behavioral services, spend less time in foster care, are 50% less likely to reenter the court system, and are more likely to live in safe and permanent homes.  CASA Volunteers and CASA Program Coordinators together ensure children involved in the court system: 1) are safe from further abuse and neglect; 2) have a stable adult presence in their volunteer; 3) remain in safe and permanent homes once their court involvement has been completed.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) serves children ages 0 to 18 years in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. These children are involved in the court system to due abuse or neglect and are now in foster care, or due to divorce-related issues such as custody or visitation disputes.