Advocating for Appropriate Mental Health Care
Children in foster care have a high risk of being diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder in their lifetime. This can be expected, as children in foster care have typically faced abuse or neglect by their own families, compounded by the trauma of being removed from their homes and often shuttled from one temporary placement to another. CASA volunteers and other concerned adults can do a variety of things to improve the situation of children in foster care who have mental health needs.
139 CASA volunteers served 292 children in August and helped find safe, permanent homes for 13 of those children.
127 children are still waiting for someone to be their voice!
Recruiter's Corner
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are specially trained and supervised community volunteers appointed by a Judge to advocate for the best interest of a child who has experienced abuse or neglect.

Contact the recruiter today at 1-800-798-1575.
Visit our website at www.childadv.net.
CASA Volunteers' Most Important Job
CASA Volunteers wear many hats when advocating for children. We gather information, advocate for services and permanency, write court reports, and attend meetings and court. Sometimes it is easy for us to get so caught up in getting it all done that we lose sight of our most important role, connecting with our CASA children.
Remember to keep your CASA Volunteer file up-to-date with your current
auto insurance card, driver's license, and contact information. 
And remember to visit your CASA child face-to-face at least once a month.
In August, the Children's Advocacy Center provided advocacy and forensic interviews to 78 children.

In the River Region, 29 children and families were provided 70 hours of counseling.


What are Adverse Childhood Experiences?

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, is the term given to describe types of abuse, neglect, and other traumatic childhood experiences. This concept was discovered in a landmark study by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente. They found that “the experience of adversity in childhood has a profound effect on health across the lifespan.” ACEs are 10 categories that include: Physical, Sexual and Emotional (Abuse), Physical and Emotional (Neglect), Parental Divorce/Separation, Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, and Incarceration (Household Dysfunction). In the study, 17,000 participants were surveyed and over 64% had one or more ACEs. Researchers also realized that 87% of those with one ACE were more likely to have additional ACEs. This led to the realization that ACEs were common and tended to cluster with participants.
Upcoming Webinars and Conferences
*CASA Volunteers are required to receive 12 Continuing Education hours per year. Only 4 can be articles, newsletters, and films.




Ongoing: TBRI Fridays




Brave children tell their stories. Courageous adults help these children through their trauma and assist them in finding a safe future. Buttons of Bravery represent the journey of one child for a year under the care of Child Advocacy Services. 
In 2022, Child Advocacy Services CASA Program served 479 children with 179 volunteers dedicating over 6,485 hours. The CAC Program provided 758 forensic interviews and 540 counseling sessions to children and families.

YOU can help us do more by investing in services for children!
CHILD ADVOCACY SERVICES | CHILDADV.NET