RivCo Foster Children Still Need Advocates: How To Support Local Youth With End-Of-Year Charitable Donations

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA —A nonprofit organization that provides Riverside County youth in foster care with volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), released a special call for donations as many supporters in the community begin their end-of-year gift planning.

Voices for Children supports the recruitment of CASA volunteers and advocates for youth in various settings, including court, school, and medical settings, to ensure their needs are met. Voices for Children is the sole provider of CASAs for San Diego County/Riverside County children in foster care. The organization recently marked 10 years of operation in Riverside County.

Voices for Children’s President & CEO Jessica Muñoz, Esq. MFS, discussed a way that you can help in a recent news release.

“If you are looking for a way to make the greatest impact with your charitable dollars, please consider supporting vulnerable children in foster care,” Muñoz said. “CASA volunteers can be the difference between a child feeling totally alone in the world and feeling supported, wanted, and capable of great things.”

CASA volunteers build trusting relationships with the youth they serve by taking them out for fun activities, attending their concerts and games, being a listening ear, and even holding educational rights to better advocate for them at school, according to Muñoz.

Their primary purpose is to provide detailed reports to the court about the child’s life that help inform judges’ decisions about their care. CASAs are dedicated to only one child or sibling group at a time, and they often become the most stable adults in the lives of their case youth.

"Children who have CASAs are statistically more likely to find a safe, permanent home; spend less time in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems; experience fewer foster care placements; and succeed in school," the release stated.

If you donate, those funds raised help recruit, train, and support qualified CASA volunteers. Thanks to the generous support of donors, last year Voices for Children was able to:

• Serve 2,315 children in foster care across San Diego and Riverside Counties;
• Recruit, train, and support 1,222 community members who served as CASA volunteers;
• Enable 222 CASAs to hold education rights for their case youth, giving them more power to speak up and ensure the children had the support they needed at school;
• Help close 337 cases in successful reunification with parents, adoption, or legal guardianship.

“By simply being there for a child in foster care, building a trusting relationship, and providing detailed court reports to the judge presiding over their case, Voices for Children’s CASA volunteers have helped guarantee brighter futures for more than 100,000 kids since our founding," Muñoz said.

For more information, please visit www.speakupnow.org

To make a charitable donation, please visit: www.speakupnow.org/giving