CASA for Kids, Inc.

PROJECT PURPOSE

Our CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Program recruits, screens, trains and supports community volunteers who advocate in the best interest of children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and/or neglect inflicted by their biological parents or family. Abuse, neglect, and other trauma can mark a child for life. Physical abuse and neglect are two of a number of highly stressful, potentially traumatic experiences known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Trauma can cause feelings of helplessness and fear. Trauma impacts brain development, mental health, educational achievement, and future employment. The purpose of the CASA is to humanize the complete child welfare system for the child victim by providing a trained volunteer who will act as a consistent role model, advocate, and potential life connection. The goal of CASA is to prevent abused and neglected children from being lost in the Juvenile Deprived Court System and to contribute to breaking the cycle of abuse in families. The objective of matching a CASA-trained advocate volunteer is to ensure the child's best interests are being represented in the court system and heard by the Judges.

EVIDENCE

Weiner, Farrell, Gitlow, Small, et al. The CASA Program: Judicial Perspectives Survey and the Path to Evidence. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. 2020. Chapin Hall researchers executed a study aimed at understanding and defining the CASA/GAL intervention in local courts and communities. Highlight include: judges that use CASA/GAL volunteers tend to want one on every case; over 93% of judges report a very positive overall experience with the CASA program; judges report the impact of CASA is most pronounced in ?promoting long-term wellbeing? (92.2%), followed by ?appropriate services to child and family? (83%) and ?psychological wellbeing? (79.9%).

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

The populations we serve are children 0-18 years old in Kay, Logan, and Payne Counties who are in the foster care system. During the uncertainty of these times, the stability of families is often shaken leading to an increase in domestic violence, child abuse, neglect, and/or substance abuse often creating court and OKDHS supervision for families. Children are more vulnerable to abuse during COVID-19. Research by the American Pediatric Academy shows that increased stress levels among parents is a major predictor of physical abuse and neglect of children. Stressed parents may be more likely to respond to their children?s anxious behaviors or demands in aggressive or abusive ways. CASA volunteers are critical to the well-being of children in these situations. A tremendous impact is made for children who have been assigned a CASA volunteer advocate; they are more likely to move to permanency faster, more likely to not only complete high school but further their education and are less likely to have future OKDHS involvement than children in similar situations without a CASA volunteer.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

CASA for Kids, Inc. captures metrics to measure the performance of the program using software called Optima. This captures volunteer effectiveness through metrics such as meetings, court recommendations, court recommendations, volunteer time, and mileage. We also capture metrics related to the outcome for each child with a CASA assigned including the services received and recommended, their educational well-being, identifying the best outcome for the child, the court-ordered outcome, and if they re-enter the foster care system.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma