When everything is uncertain, a trusted adult who listens, checks in, follows up and holds the system accountable makes all the difference.
When everything is uncertain, a trusted adult who listens, checks in, follows up and holds the system accountable makes all the difference.
While its impact is universal, there is widespread evidence to show that the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the most vulnerable among us the hardest. For children who have experienced abuse or neglect or for those who are at-risk of maltreatment, social isolation and economic uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 has turned things upside down—support networks disrupted, critically important services suspended and foster homes in short supply.
During COVID-19, CASA and GAL volunteer advocacy has meant everything from delivering groceries, dropping off home cooked meals, putting on graduation, adoption, birthday or “hang in there” car parades, answering questions about school or court or next steps on the case, reading stories over Facetime, participating in remote hearings and more.
For more details around our impact during the pandemic, download our COVID-19 impact report (March 2020 – August 2021).
Thanks to the generous support of our funding partners, we are providing new trainings for staff and volunteers, emergency funding to programs and distance learning tools for program staff and volunteers to help them advocate effectively for children and families under changing circumstances.
As we work to return to a sense of normalcy, National CASA/GAL is committed to supporting our programs and volunteers so they can continue to advocate for what the 242,000 children and families we serve need most—mental health care, housing, food, technology, educational resources and more. We know that stress, uncertainty and social isolation are not healthy for children at risk of maltreatment. While early data show that the most severe cases of abuse and neglect are still reported, when the dust settles, we anticipate more children may need a caring, consistent adult by their side to help them navigate the system—not to mention the thousands of children we have not previously had the capacity to serve.
National CASA/GAL is working to drive volunteer recruitment, support our highest need programs on the ground as they work to serve their communities emerging from this crisis and ramping up our training efforts so our programs and volunteers can provide effective, trauma-informed advocacy for children and families.
“The current situation with COVID-19 has only given us energy to do this work. It hasn’t stopped us, and it has pushed us to use our imagination to create more opportunities to show the children how special they are.” – Louise, CASA Volunteer, Clark County CASA (Vancouver, WA)