Expansion of CASA of the South Plains' Advocacy Program. https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2012/expansion-of-casa-of-the-south-plains-advocacy-program https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Expansion of CASA of the South Plains' Advocacy Program.

Additional Information
Used for	CASA of the South Plains is requesting funding from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation to assist in expanding Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of the South Plains’ advocacy services. This funding will help our agency recruit and train 30 additional volunteer advocates. With these new volunteers, CASA will be able to serve an additional 56 foster children and move towards our vision of providing an advocate for every foster child on the South Plains.
Benefits	These funds will ensure that more foster children spend less time in foster care. With the appointment of a CASA volunteer, foster children spend five months less in foster care; therefore, reducing foster care expenditures for all taxpayers. Additionally, foster children with a CASA volunteer are half as likely to reenter the foster care system resulting in the development of healthy, productive citizens.
Proposal Description	CASA of the South Plains recruits, trains, and supports a diverse community of volunteers who advocate for the best interest of abused and neglected children in the foster care system in the counties of Hale, Hockley, Terry, Yoakum, Cochran, and Lubbock. CASA advocates investigate and monitor foster children’s cases to ensure that their needs are met, as well as adoptive homes or other permanent placements for these children sought expeditiously. CASA volunteer advocates are appointed as Guardian ad litems working to ensure the best interests of foster children are continuously represented. CASA continues to increase the number of children served and volunteers trained annually with 869 foster children receiving advocacy services in 2011. Of those 869 children, 672 were served by 248 volunteer advocates. CASA recruited and trained 103 new volunteer advocates in 2011 compared with 48 in 2010. CASA requests $20,550 to recruit and train an additional 30 new volunteers. This request is necessitated by the overwhelming demand for CASA’s advocacy services. The Lubbock region continues to have one of the highest per capita rates of child abuse in the State of Texas. This resulted in 1,210 children in foster care in Hale, Hockley, Terry, Yoakum, Cochran, and Lubbock counties in 2011. CASA was unable to serve 341 of these children due to a lack of financial resources to train and support the number of necessary volunteers. Additional financial support is also being sought due to state and federal funding cuts. Currently CASA receives funding through the Texas Attorney General’s Crime Victim Compensation fund and federal VOCA fund to support volunteer recruitment efforts. CASA was recently notified of a 5% and 10% funding cut to each respective fund. These cuts took effect September 1, 2012 and resulted in a funding reduction of $26,988. In light of this environment of reduced public support, CASA’s Board of Directors is working to expand the private and community support for our program. In 2011, over fifty percent of CASA’s revenue came from private support. Volunteers selected for the program will be at least 21 years of age, able to pass a criminal background check, and participate in thirty hours of initial training prior to case assignment. Length of CASA’s volunteer program varies with the average volunteer continuing for up to 50 months. CASA volunteers are appointed at the start of a foster child’s case and serve as the child’s advocate during the length of their time in foster care. Statistics from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services indicate that it takes on average 34.7 months for a foster child’s case to close due to adoption or 18.6 months for a child that is reunified with their family. CASA needs increased financial support to ensure that additional volunteers are recruited and trained to serve all children in foster care. CASA fulfills a unique role through its utilization of volunteers appointed as the Guardian ad litem on foster care cases. Legal requirements mandate that every foster child be appointed a Guardian ad litem. Thus, either a county paid attorney or CASA volunteer fulfills this role. In 2011, CASA assisted in saving taxpayers over $2 million through this appointment. Additionally, attorneys appointed to fulfill this role are appointed to multiple cases while a CASA volunteer is assigned to work with one case or family group of children. CASA volunteers not only reduce a child’s stay in foster care, but assist in reducing the economic burden of foster care on taxpayers. The requested funding will be utilized for the recruitment and training of 30 new volunteers. Funds will go towards recruitment activities consisting of newspaper ads, radio advertisements, printing of program brochures to be distributed at area community and health fairs as well as presentations. In 2011, CASA conducted 47 presentations to 2,044 participants regarding the agency’s services and need for volunteers. Staff members also attended 14 community and health fairs distributing information to 1,157 attendees and conducted 38 radio and television interviews regarding this need. Requested funds will also go towards training expenses that include the cost of staff salaries in the provision of classroom training, cost of background screenings, and office supplies for each training including paper, binders, and laminating paper to produce official badges for each volunteer. Total recruitment and training expenses in 2011 were $70,526. Expenses associated with recruiting and training volunteers cost the agency $685 per volunteer in 2011. Thus, $20,550 would allow the agency to recruit and train 30 new volunteers. The success of this program will be evaluated through examining the number of new trainees attending upcoming volunteer training classes and the number of new volunteers resulting from CASA’s recruitment activities. Each potential volunteer completes an application prior to program acceptance. This application asks individuals to document where they learned about CASA’s need for volunteers. CASA’s volunteer recruitment staff will tabulate and assess these results quarterly to determine the success of various recruitment methods. Additionally, CASA’s Recruitment and Retention Committee will quarterly evaluate the number of recruitment activities conducted and new volunteers resulting from these activities. Prospective volunteers will also complete evaluations of CASA’s training following each of the four classroom sessions. These results will be utilized to assess training effectiveness, appropriate facilitation, and level of knowledge gained. Current training evaluations show a high degree of satisfaction with CASA’s training facilitators, an increase in trainee knowledge, and greater understanding of the CASA role. Finally, CASA will conduct an annual program evaluation assessing the program’s effectiveness, volunteer satisfaction, and training effectiveness. Evaluations will be distributed to all CASA volunteers, Judges, attorneys, and CPS caseworkers. 2011 evaluation results indicate that 91% of volunteer respondents believe they are making a difference and the initial training adequately prepared them for their role as a CASA. Judicial responses indicate that 100% of respondents believe CASA volunteers are valuable to the courts and make appropriate recommendations for the children. Annual evaluation results will be sought to continually improve CASA’s program and aid in the recruitment of additional volunteers. CASA’s Executive Director will also monitor the resulting volunteer appointment from these efforts to ensure CASA meets the program goals.