30 Jun CASA of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties Receives $52,269 Grant from Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City

CASA of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties was recently awarded a $52,269 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (now the Health Forward Foundation) to sustain and expand our work and evaluation in addressing the risk factors of our client population.

HCF Funds will be utilized to:

(Ongoing Activities)

• incorporate trauma-informed care into pre-service training for all new volunteer advocates
• provide continuing education sessions focused on mental health topics relevant to the characteristics of the children and youth in care
• deliver continuing education sessions to advocates focused on helping transition-age youth improve knowledge of health literary and skills related to accessing healthcare

(Expanded Activities)

• Design and implement process measures to track and assess services and the impact on improving children’s health and wellness. This “deep dive” into program evaluation will provide more data to better understand our client’s needs.
• Using this information, CASA will carefully examine current training and advocacy activities, and will modify current practice to ensure our advocacy with children provides maximum impact on children’s long-term health outcomes.

CASA plays a unique, unduplicated role that allows us to identify and influence children’s access to mental health and healthcare. CASA’s frequent, consistent interactions with the children, as well as participating in case planning and monitoring services provided, supports children’s access to care. Further, CASA’s Teen Advocacy services target transition-age youth, providing both advocacy and mentorship for youth preparing to “age out” of foster care. CASA’s work helps to equip older youth with health literacy information through life-skills education.

CASA of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties (CASA) was established in 1985 to provide trained volunteers as advocates for children involved in the Johnson County District Court system’s “child in need of care” courts. In 2005, the agency expanded services to Wyandotte County District Court. In select cases, a judge issues an order for a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) to be assigned to the child. Cases ordered for a CASA volunteer Advocate are often those with severe abuse, very young victims, parental mental illness, parental substance abuse, or other areas of high concern, and youth that are “transitioning” out of care into adulthood. CASA plays a unique, unduplicated role in serving victims by providing consistent, longer-term advocacy from the time of assignment throughout the duration of the child’s court involvement.