Newsletter Fall 2021

CAC Expands to Meet Community Needs
and Help More Children with New CACY Program

Community Advocates for Children and Youth (CACY),
are trained and supervised community members available to work one-on-one with vulnerable children or youth up to age 23 to:


  • Advocate for the child’s best interests in the community by interfacing with mental health, educational and other community systems to assure that the child’s needs are met 
  • Develop a caring and trusting relationship with the child 
  • Serve as a connection to clinical and support services 
  • Focus on positive development and core competencies 
  • Act as a positive role model 
  • For older youth, CACY volunteers will work to enable educational success, prepare youth for adulthood, increase access to housing, employment, financial stability, and promote health—including improving access to mental health services, as well as preventing homelessness and substance use disorders 
To make a referral or to volunteer please contact CAC
Congratulations and Welcome to CAC's
2021 Volunteer Training Class
In the midst of a pandemic, 15 incredible volunteers successfully completed 35 hours of Zoom training to become CAC volunteer advocates
Jennifer Barnard
Jo Briggs
Rachel Diehl
Dena Fayad
Debbie Finkel
Eileen Gress
Gloria Hollace-Vargas
Robert Kipness
Doug Michelman
Caron Palder
Bud Prenevost
Craig Schiavone
Katherine Skinner
Megan Weiss
Barbara Zerzan
Inspiring Compassion. Transforming Lives.
CAC Volunteers donate to help Department of Children and Families redecorate rooms for child and parent visitation
Thanks to the generosity of CAC volunteers, these wonderful hand-painted murals of peaceful meadows, cheerful seals at play, and trains on the move now fill the walls of visitation rooms where children in foster care meet with their parents and siblings. CAC volunteers are also donating toys and books to enhance this family time.

Murals by artist Carolyn Gamanos
Thank you!
Many thanks to the Robert and Joan Dircks Foundation
for a generous $7,500 first-time grant in support of CAC
Many thanks to the New Canaan Community Foundation
for a generous $7,000 grant in support of CAC
What a difference a CAC volunteer advocate can make...
Click to watch Garth's story
CAC is determined that every vulnerable child has a volunteer who is there for them, and will advocate for their needs and best interests.

At-risk children frequently face physical, psychological and/or emotional trauma and uncertainty. All this chaos and inconsistency has long-term effects.

But having a caring, consistent adult - someone who listens, checks in and puts a child’s best interests before all others’- like a CAC volunteer advocate,
can make all the difference.
Child Advocates of SW Connecticut transforms the lives of vulnerable children and youth
by providing trained and supervised one-on-one volunteer advocates
in the community, classroom and courtroom
Child Advocates of SW Connecticut | www.ctchildadvocates.org 203.642.7020