Opinion: To protect PA’s vulnerable, abused kids, fund CASA organizations who care for them

In 2023, approximately 600 children were adjudicated dependent by the court in Delaware and Chester counties. They entered the child welfare system for a number of reasons, ranging from abuse and neglect to other extraordinarily challenging life circumstances and traumas. And as you might imagine, these children often don’t have a trusted adult in their corner to protect them or to look out for their best interests as they navigate their new overwhelming and confusing circumstances, often experiencing a revolving door of foster parents, schools and caseworkers.

Needless to say, these children are also children, often not afforded a meaningful way to advocate for themselves.  And too often, this means that their individual needs are overlooked or fall through the gaps in the safety net that the child welfare system is meant to provide.  Those gaps have only grown larger in the last few years as many of our child welfare agencies across the state face unprecedented staffing shortages.

However, the Pennsylvania Court Appointed Special Advocates Association (PA CASA) has been working to change the stories for children who have experienced abuse and neglect by advocating for an increase in funding for this vital advocacy program.  CASAs are highly trained community volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children involved in the child welfare system. Advocates are recruited, screened, trained, and supported by the professional staff across 21 local CASA programs serving 28 counties in Pennsylvania.

Here at CASA Youth Advocates of Delaware and Chester counties, we served 303 children on 190 cases in 2023, setting a record for the most children and most cases we’ve ever served in a single year. 

Our work is critical – data shows that children assigned a CASA volunteer are substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care and are less likely to re-enter the child welfare system. Less than 3.02% of children assigned a CASA volunteer re-entered foster care in 2022, compared to 15.46% of children in the general foster care population in counties served by local CASA programs – thereby reducing significant expenditures and saving taxpayer dollars.

CASA volunteers also become dependable people in a child’s life, which are needed now more than ever to protect our vulnerable children. The average length of service for our CASA volunteers is 41 months, allowing CASAs to often be the consistent voice during this time of turmoil in a child’s life.  In fact, 100% of children responding to a case closure survey said they were able to go to their CASA with anything they needed. 

The only downside of CASA volunteers is that there aren’t currently enough of them. While there are over 23,000 children involved with Dependency Courts across the state every year, only 2,074 were lucky enough to have a CASA volunteer assigned to them last year – just 9% of the kids who could benefit from CASA’s advocacy services.

That’s why we implore the PA General Assembly to allocate $3.6 million for PA CASA in this year’s state budget – to ensure that more of the Commonwealth’s neglected or abused children can receive the dedicated advocacy of court-appointed, trained volunteers.

The Commonwealth funded PA CASA for the first time in 2022. Until that point, Pennsylvania was one of only three states in the nation that did not provide support to its statewide CASA Association. 

 While we applaud state legislators for taking this big step in 2022, keep in mind that Delaware County CASA has been serving children since 1992 — funded solely by grants, donations, and special events for decades.

Please join us in thanking our state legislators for finally funding PA CASA and providing much-needed support for one of our state’s most vulnerable populations – but please ask them to increase their support.