Our
Mission
… is to provide a powerful voice and a meaningful connection for children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and abandonment.
CASA of Orange County is a member of the National Court Appointed Special Advocates and Guardian Ad Litem Association for Children. CASA OC is a privately-funded non-profit organization that serves severely abused, neglected and abandoned children through the recruitment, training, and continued support of volunteers–CASAs–who advocate for and mentor these children. From the courtroom to the classroom, CASAs represent the best interests of the children they serve.
Change a Child’s Story™
Founded in 1985, with major support from the Junior League of Orange County, CASA OC serves over 1,000 children each year who move through the Orange County child welfare system as a result of abuse and neglect.
CASA volunteers commit to a minimum of two years with a youth in the child welfare system. Each volunteer undergoes extensive training to learn how to best connect with their youth. CASAs will often assist their youth in navigating the complex child welfare system while balancing school and home life.
About the Child Welfare System
“There are over 3,450 children and young adults under the jurisdiction of the Dependency Court in Orange County, traditionally referred to as “foster care.”
Once placed into the child welfare system, many children never return to their families. They spend their childhoods in the system until they age out, which occurs between 18-21 years of age.”
Most long-term children in foster care experience multiple placements—being moved from group home to foster homes. This can cause frequent changes in school enrollment and disruption to athletic and extracurricular activities, eroding the child’s sense of stability and security and often increasing behavioral issues and other challenges for these children.
The Challenge
Youth in the child welfare system:
Experience PTSD at twice the rate of returning U.S. war veterans
Have a 58% high school graduation rate
Have a 50% chance of being unemployed by the age of 24
Have a 20% chance of becoming homeless within a year of emancipating
The CASA Difference
Children with CASA Volunteers…
Experience a high school graduation rate of 92%.
Have significantly less placements than children without a CASA volunteer.
Tend to perform better academically and behaviorally in school as measured by whether or not they passed all of their courses, whether or not they were expelled, and their conduct performance.
Report significantly higher levels of hope, which is linked to academic success, overall wellbeing, increases in self-control, positive social relationships and optimism.
