Contributed photo
CASA of Southern Connecticut members.
Josiah Brown sent in the following release about CASA, where he serves as executive director.
The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Southern Connecticut has been awarded a $100,000 Local Special Project Grant from the National CASA Association for Children.
CASA of Southern Connecticut recruits, trains, and supports volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect.
The Local Special Project Grant will enable CASA of Southern Connecticut to focus on increasing the number of children served in its region: New Haven County initially, and eventually also Middlesex and New London counties.
For example, this Local Special Project Grant will enable CASA of Southern Connecticut to better address the needs of children in greater New Haven who have been affected by the opioid epidemic, which — after a multi-year decline — has driven the total number of children in foster care in the state to upwards of 4,300 in any given month.
“This grant will be instrumental as we build on our encouraging start-up phase in 2019 to begin serving children with carefully trained, supported, and supervised volunteers in 2020,” said Josiah H. Brown, executive director of CASA of Southern Connecticut.
“We look forward to working with the state’s Judicial Branch and Department of Children and Families (DCF), and encourage prospective volunteers of all backgrounds to apply to join this movement. Volunteer advocates help identify safe, permanent homes where children can thrive.”
He added, “The grant from National CASA provides both tangible resources and a signal of confidence as we begin raising funds locally to make CASA’s lean, volunteer-based approach widely available in our state.”
There are 950 CASA-affiliated programs nationwide, including 45 state offices. The federal grant funds distributed through National CASA are provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, as authorized under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990. In 2018, National CASA was awarded nearly $10 million in federal grants.
About CASA of Southern Connecticut
After starting up and receiving federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2019, CASA of Southern Connecticut recently launched its website —with information about the CASA role in advancing child welfare in Connecticut; how to volunteer; the Advisory Council; the inaugural Ambassadors raising awareness about CASA in our region; and how to donate to support this work.
As an op-ed summarized on the occasion of Adoption Month, CASA of Southern Connecticut is dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting volunteers to help determine and defend the best interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect.
These volunteers meet with children at least monthly, getting to know them and their circumstances — including teachers and social workers, foster parents and families. Carefully screened and trained through a systematic curriculum and part of a national network recognized for improving outcomes for kids, CASAs make evidence-based recommendations to judges.
At the center: these caring, consistent volunteers’ relationships with the children themselves — with whom these adults can make a lifelong difference through one-on-one interactions at a difficult time.
The CASA network is expanding in Connecticut as a result of a 2016 state law, and is bolstered by a new statewide association, along with an established program in Fairfield County: CASA of Southwest Connecticut.
Until now, only 1 percent of Connecticut’s children in foster care had CASAs, reflecting an unmet need and an enormous opportunity for volunteers to get involved. In 2019, CASA of Southern Connecticut (and CASA of Northern Connecticut, working initially in New Britain/Hartford County) opened and began welcoming applications from prospective volunteers and interviewing them.
The first cohort trained in December 2019 and will begin volunteer advocacy in juvenile courts early in 2020. Engaging as a CASA is one proven way to help change a child’s story. Ultimately the goal is to identify a safe, permanent home where the child can thrive.
Contact CASA of Southern Connecticut about the opportunity to volunteer: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).