“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” – Confucius
Dear Friends,
This month marks the kick-off of a new school year for more than 6 million children returning to classrooms in California. Since 2013, the educational needs of youth in foster care have been included in the state’s Local Control Funding Formula, legislation that fundamentally changed how all local educational agencies in the state are funded, measured for results, and the services and supports they receive to allow all students to succeed to their greatest potential.
There’s also a toolkit that outlines the educational rights of foster youth and provides an overview of how to obtain school-related resources. While these developments form a good foundation, they alone will not solve the unique challenges faced by children in the foster care system. One comprehensive study specifically about foster youth in California found that they had the highest dropout rates and were less likely to graduate from high school than other students. The study showed that they were:
· Consistently among the lowest-performing subgroups academically in math and English;
· More likely than the general population to be enrolled in the lowest-performing schools;
· Twice as likely to be designated with a disability;
· Five times more likely to be classified with an emotional disturbance; and
· More likely to change schools during the school year.
It’s no surprise, then, that CASA volunteers pay special attention to school support and services. Many CASAs also become educational rights holders to add stability to an ever-changing situation. The COVID-19 safety restrictions of the past school year had our CASAs scrambling to find laptops, reliable internet service, and online learning tools for the children and youth in their charge. As schools return to in-person learning, follow-up of learning loss due to the pandemic will continue to be a top priority for our CASA volunteers.
At California CASA, we aren’t just raising awareness of the educational rights and needs of foster youth, but also of the wondrous world that learning offers to a child. All kids deserve the joy that comes with mastering knowledge and discovering the universe in new ways, and we are so thankful to our state’s thousands of CASA volunteers for their part in making this happen.
With warmest regards,
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Sharon M. Lawrence Esq., CEO, California CASA Association |
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California CASA supports Senate Bill 17 (SB 17) that would establish the first state-wide office of racial equity. If enacted, the Office of Racial Equity and the Racial Equity Advisory and Accountability Council will identify existing policies and practices in the state that contribute to, uphold, or exacerbate racial disparities and develop proposals to address these disparities, to be recommended to the Governor’s Office and Legislature. It will analyze, develop, evaluate, report on and recommend strategies for advancing racial equity across state agencies, departments and the Office of the Governor. The Council will create and provide a Racial Equity Framework for the state and direct agency Secretaries to develop, adopt and implement Racial Equity Action Plans as well as creating a budget equity assessment tool to determine whether budget requests and annual allocations benefit or burden communities of color. |
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Many of our network’s programs are currently facing the extraordinary crisis of massive wildfires. The northern counties have experienced devastation of ancient forests and catastrophic fires in small mountain towns. We stand ready to assist in any way we can, supporting our local CASA programs in places where fires large and small have occurred in just the past month, including Siskiyou, Kern, Lake, Tulare, El Dorado, Mendocino, Sonoma, Yuma, Shasta, Amador, Nevada, Placer, Tehama, Calaveras, and Plumas. |
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CASA News Around the State |
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New Members Join CA CASA Board of Directors |
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At its first meeting of Fiscal Year 2021-2022, three new Board members—Renée Espinoza, George Lai, and Tyrone Roderick Williams—were welcomed by Board Chair Kevin Gardner and the California CASA Association. Mr. Gardner said, “We are delighted to add these three accomplished individuals to our Board of Directors. Each of them brings unique talents and experience, and share a profound commitment to the mission and vision of our organization: to ensure that children and youth in the California foster care system have a voice and the services they need for a stable future.”
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A Place in our Hearts: Making a Difference |
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Art Kits donated by a local DAR program are helping foster youth feel better during difficult times. CASA Bob of CASA of San Luis Obispo County showed off this drawing made by his non-minor dependent CASA youth when they took a road trip to get a pre-surgery Covid test. The youth had been deaf in one ear since early childhood and after a few years of trying other treatments, had successful surgery and is now in junior college considering a career in design.
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A Santa Clara County program, which helps foster youth, helped lay the groundwork for a recently approved and funded statewide guaranteed-income program. Cities and counties across California can apply for funding from a $35,000,000 pool to support current or new pilots that prioritize foster youth who recently left the foster care system and pregnant mothers. One recipient of Santa Clara’s program was Veronica Vieyra, a recent San Jose State University graduate. |
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Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham presented a resolution naming CASA of Santa Barbara County the 2021 Nonprofit of the Year in Assembly District 35. According to Cunningham, "CASA organizations throughout the state do amazing work to help the most vulnerable children in our society. Throughout the pandemic, the volunteers and staff at CASA of Santa Barbara County helped bring positive change to hundreds of local children."
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California State Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Promotes The CASA Mission |
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It just takes one stable relationship with a caring adult to help reverse the negative impacts on a child who has experienced abuse or neglect. California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has spent her career studying childhood trauma and its profound impact on public health. In a new PSA for CASA, she talks about how Court Appointed Special Advocates help reverse the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACES. |
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Interested in opening your heart to a foster child? |
CASA volunteers are recruited and trained by CASA programs in each county and are sworn in by a Juvenile Court judge. They fulfill a unique role to an abused and neglected child as they are one of the only adults who stay with them through their journey through the system. Find your local program here.
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