CASA has had only one mission from the beginning: to move children out of foster care and quickly place them into safe, permanent homes where they can thrive—either with their parents or in adoptive homes.
Today, almost 17,000 children are in foster care in New York City. They’ve been removed from their homes because they were abused or neglected, or their families felt unable to care for them properly.
Foster care should be a temporary solution. Too often, it is not. Many children languish in foster care for years, changing guardians as frequently as library books change hands.
Family courts and social support agencies are overwhelmed. A judge may have as few as 10 minutes to decide on the future of a child.
That’s where CASA comes in. Our program is unique. It offers a community volunteer solution to the foster care problem. Aside from our small professional staff, we rely entirely on trained volunteers, known as CASA Advocates. The advocates are responsible for the children’s cases, ensuring that they reach a swift, satisfactory conclusion, that all mandated services are accessible and provided and the child’s safety is maintained.
CASA provides a neutral entity involved in every aspect of Family Court proceedings involving children in foster care. It’s a simple mission. In a very complicated city.
