Casa of Los Angeles

CASA of Los Angeles seeks to reduce and reverse the effects of child abuse and neglect, with ultimate goals of safety, permanency, and well-being for children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. This year we had 978 volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) and 1,112 total children served. CASAs served 1,061 of those children through one-on-one advocacy by learning about their individual living situations, identifying needs, and providing recommendations to the court in the best interest of the child. CASA volunteers help children find safe, permanent homes, encourage family visitation, and support children's medical, mental health, and educational needs. CASAs served 23 unique children through our newer Essential History Program, in which volunteers complete a detailed review of a child's file and write a report outlining the child's developmental, medical, and mental health history to ensure critical details are not overlooked by the various stakeholders in the child's case. This program aims to help social workers, attorneys and judges make trauma-informed decisions about the young people they serve by providing them with a summary of the young person's experiences and history in critical areas of life. Additionally, through our newer specialized programs, our staff were able to directly support 28 unique children/youth (15 youth through our Expectant & Parenting Youth program, 8 Transitional Aged-Youth through our Prevention and Early Intervention Program, and 5 youth through our Youth Justice Program).