Texas CASA Kicks Off Statewide Volunteer Recruitment Campaign

Effort aims to double impact by recruiting a volunteer for every
child who needs one

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Texas CASA has launched an ambitious campaign to recruit a volunteer for
every foster child who needs one in Texas. The statewide recruitment
campaign, “Every child has a chance – it’s you,” was unveiled at Texas
CASA’s annual Champion Recognition Luncheon held on Feb. 23 in Austin.
The aim of the multi-touch awareness campaign is to recruit a diverse
pool of potential CASA volunteers to speak up in court for more foster
children across the state.

“CASA volunteers enter foster children’s lives at a very uncertain time.
They serve as a voice for the children in court, and other settings, to
give them a chance at finding permanent and stable homes,” said Texas
CASA CEO Vicki Spriggs. “The difference CASA volunteers make is life
changing. Roughly half of the children currently in foster care in Texas
– approximately 26,000 children – are in need of volunteers to
advocate for their safety and future.
We desperately need more
volunteers to serve our most vulnerable children.”

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national volunteer
movement with 72 local programs in Texas, serving children in the foster
care system in 213 counties. A CASA volunteer is an everyday citizen who
is screened and trained, and then appointed by a judge to represent a
child’s best interests in court. When a child enters the system because
his or her home is no longer safe, these committed volunteers guide
foster children through the overburdened and complex system to
ultimately reach a safe and permanent home.

“A CASA volunteer gets to know the child and gather information from
everyone involved in his or her daily life, including family members,
foster parents, teachers, doctors and social workers,” said Spriggs.
“Volunteers often become one of the only consistent adults for these
children, spending a significant amount of time with the child and
gaining his or her trust.”

CASA volunteers use the information they gather to report to the judge,
advocating for the child’s physical and emotional needs. They are not
foster parents; they are highly trained community advocates acting as a
powerful voice for a child or sibling group. As a result, children with
CASA volunteers often have more court-ordered services than those who do
not have a volunteer.

In an effort to recruit potential volunteers, the campaign utilizes
television, radio, online and out-of-home advertisements.

How to Help

To learn how you can help children in your community, find your local
Texas CASA program at BecomeACASA.org. Volunteers must be 21 years of
age or older and willing to commit to at least one year of advocacy.

CASA programs also need help spreading the word. Local spokespeople are
available to speak to organizations, corporations or faith-based groups
about how to become involved.

About Texas CASA

Austin-based Texas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is the
statewide organization of 72 local CASA programs that recruit and train
volunteers to advocate for children in the child protection system. Last
year, 8,476 well-trained volunteers served 25,947 children in 207 of the
254 Texas counties. Texas CASA supports the local CASA programs by
advocating for effective public policy for children in the child
protection system and by providing funding, training and technical
assistance to program staff, board and volunteers.

CASA volunteers are everyday members of the community doing
extraordinary work by choosing to speak up for abused and neglected
children in their communities. They are screened and trained, then
appointed by the court to advocate for the best interests of a child or
sibling group in the foster care system. Often the CASA volunteer is the
one constant in a child’s life while he or she goes through the
overburdened system. CASA volunteers work to move the children through
foster care and into safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible.

www.TexasCASA.org
| Twitter.com/TexasCASA
| Facebook.com/TexasCASAInc

Contacts

GDC Marketing & Ideation
Emily Price, 210-538-2835
Sr.
Public Relations Account Executive
eprice@gdc-co.com
or
Texas
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates)

Debbie Berins,
512-610-6121
Senior Marketing & Communications Specialist
281-777-7996-cell
dberins@texascasa.org

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