“Keeping children safe must be everybody’s business. CASA volunteers play a unique role on behalf of some of our most vulnerable children. Their commitment, vigilance and persistence offer hope where there has been little. They help to light the way for these children.”
Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President, Children’s Defense Fund
The Adoption and Safe Families Act (1997) established three national goals for children in foster care: safety, permanency and well-being, with safety being of paramount concern for all child welfare services.
The children CASA of the Tenth serves have been removed from their home for reasons of safety. Tragically, some are removed from one unsafe situation and placed in another. While the Department of Children and Family Services has primary responsibility to ensure each child it places lives in a safe environment, this task is of such importance that one of the first responsibilities of a volunteer CASA is to confirm the child is safe.
After being appointed to a child by a Juvenile Court Judge, the CASA investigates educational, physical and mental health concerns in the child’s environment by:
One element of being safe is feeling safe. Kim Geno’s CASA children had been traumatized by multiple moves that were required for their own safety. The unintended consequences included fear, distrust and disengagement. Kim worked closely with the foster family to take a gentle, sensitive approach to building new trust, including engaging the children in decision-making when possible, and keeping their communication open and transparent.
