Advocate Newsletter

April 1, 2024

In this edition:

Strengthening Families Month
The Welcome Home Project
HOPE Recap
Continuing Education

April is Strengthening Families Month

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The state of Wisconsin also honors Strengthening Families Month in April. There are so many ways for you to get involved and spread the word.

Attend Mandated Reporter Training on April 3

Outagamie County now offers their own training done remotely via Zoom. Whitney attended and said they added some unique perspectives.

Get Information

Wear Blue On April 5

Join us in bringing attention to child abuse prevention and building strong families.

Ideas to show your support

Bring Some Friends to the Concert

Last call to order tickets for our first concert benefit on April 11th. Use promo code "Advocate" to get $10 off your ticket.

Concert Information

Support our Pinwheels for Prevention Campaign

Provide financial support or start a Pinwheel Garden to help ensure every child will have a voice in court.

Pinwheels Info

Read the Prevention Resource Guide

Complete an independent study form for continuing education credit after reading this thorough guide.

Read the Guide

The Welcome Home Project

The Appleton Housing Authority recently received Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) vouchers. FYI vouchers help young adults who had previously been in foster care obtain housing. In a partnership with Fox Cities Leadership, Appleton Housing Authority, and Neighborhood Housing, Inc., you can help prepare these young adults for their new residence.

Click to: Learn more, visit their Facebook page, check out their Amazon wishlist, or learn more about FYI vouchers.

CASA of the Fox Cities is not affiliated with this program.

HOPE Recap

Our first HOPE session was on March 25th. 13 advocates joined us to hear the good news of HOPE and the early science that could pave a clearer path to impacting outcomes for the young people and families we serve.

Some of our discussion groups.

Another look at discussion groups.

Putting it all together.

At the end of the evening, our groups created the following statements to reflect our ability to promote access to the building block of relationships.

Through consistent visits, a CASA creates a relationship with a child that affirms them, allows expression of feelings, and helps them develop the tools to build their own healthy relationships.

C-Consistency | A-Attentive | S-Supportive | A-Accepteance

Model and Encourage Relationships that can provide growth and develop self-confidence

Court-appointed advocates are in the unique position to promote a child's access to family, community, and peer relationships through our long-term and consistent, dedicated connection with our youth as we encourage healthy interactions that will build their personal network of life-long connections.

By being consistent and modeling healthy relationships, CASAs have the ability to assist in advocating for meaningful relationships for their CASA kids/teens.

We thought this was a great session, but you don't have to take our word for it! Here's what advocates said after the event:

"I enjoyed the "deep dive" into relationships as it relates to HOPE. It was very helpful to have the entire session devoted to this topic so we could all really sink our teeth into what the advocates' role could be."

"The HOPE session I recently attended helped reiterate the importance we as CASAs play in the life of the youths we serve. "

"I highly recommend this topic. There were many pieces of information that directly impacts the work we are doing."

"This Hope program has new, insightful learning that will be helpful to us advocates."

Watch for our next session in a few months, in which we'll focus on another building block of HOPE!

Continuing Education

To keep on track, set aside an hour each month to complete some continuing education. There are events on the calendar and lists of other beneficial materials on the website.

CE Calendar & Resource Page

Independent Study Guidelines

Attachment & Relational Development

Join us Monday, April 22nd at 6:00 PM

Come show your support for our fabulous intern, Maddie, who created this session to examine the importance of attachment, relational development, and what it all means to you as a CASA.

Connect with us!

Visit our Website