AI-assisted summary
• The Department of Justice has cut funding to the National CASA Association, impacting local branches like CASA of Southwest Missouri.
• The funding cut, totaling $95,000 for the southwest Missouri branch, could affect up to 95 children in foster care.
• CASA volunteers provide crucial support to abused and neglected children, often uncovering critical needs overlooked due to overloaded caseworkers.
• CASA is seeking community support through donations and volunteer applications to offset the funding loss.

A letter from the Department of Justice to a national victim services organization has an area branch scratching its head and scrambling: The DOJ has cut funding to the National CASA Association because it no longer "effectuates department priorities" including protecting American children and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault.

Court-appointed special advocates are volunteers who help the court protect the best interests of abused and neglected children, offering individualized attention that caseworkers and attorneys often cannot due to caseloads.

"Very clearly in that memo received from the Department of Justice, one of their priorities is to protect American children and I would argue the fact that CASA does just that. We protect American children who happen to be in foster care," said Laura Farmer, executive director of CASA of Southwest Missouri.

In fact, the grant funds the southwest Missouri organization should have received were specifically meant to help serve more children by covering the costs of background checks that are part of the extensive screening process CASA volunteer applicants go through, as well as covering the cost for the 30 hours of classroom training each CASA must complete, Farmer said.

While the National CASA Association is appealing the DOJ's decision, CASA of Southwest Missouri is left with a $95,000 shortfall, the organization said, which could impact up to 95 children in foster care. Each volunteer works with one child or sibling group at a time, and currently CASA SWMO is serving nearly 500 children in foster care in Greene, Christian and Taney counties, according to a press release. There are currently 200 children on the waiting list for CASA volunteers.

"The foster care system is very complex, and it can be difficult at times, so having the ability for that volunteer to have a CASA staff person who is their support and their guide while they are providing that quality advocacy for that specific child in that specific case, it’s really important," Farmer said.

The foster care system is also very expensive, she said, as it's estimated to cost about $25,000 per child per year in the foster care system. Data indicates that children with a CASA spend four months less in foster care, according to a CASA press release, and are less likely to re-enter foster care later on, all of which saves taxpayers money.

"If we can reduce the length of time that a child is in foster care, not only is that better for that child’s wellbeing, but it actually saves money in the long run," Farmer said. But that cannot happen without volunteers.

CASA volunteers serve as additional safety net in children's lives

With more than 1,200 children in foster care in Greene, Christian and Taney counties, case workers and juvenile officers are often overwhelmed. CASA volunteers, with their focus on one child, are an additional level of support that ensures children get the services they truly need.

CASA volunteer Lisa Cox has seen firsthand how CASA changes lives of local children in foster care.

In her first case in 2010, a single line in the child's 100-page file stood out to her — that an 11-year-old girl was requesting a cell phone because it made her feel safer "after the rape." When she brought that to the girl's juvenile officer, Cox found out that the girl had been raped at age 9 and hadn't received any support or therapy to address the situation.

"The team wasn't even aware that she had been raped, so I was able to kind of intervene and get the help she needed," Cox said, adding that she doesn't blame the case workers or juvenile officers for missing that. "She was really struggling in school, in life, acting out, all kinds of things."

Today, the girl in Cox's first case is a young woman in her 20s who is "thriving and contributing to society."

"Who knows how much differently that could have gone without a CASA to step in and catch that," Cox said.

In Cox's most recent case, a teenage girl who had post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual assault was in a foster home with nine other foster kids. When the teen became suicidal, she was put into an area psychiatric hospital for what was supposed to be five to seven days.

However, the foster parent was concerned about the younger children, and felt the teen should not come back to the home. With nowhere to go, the teen had to stay in the hospital for three weeks — something that is not unusual in Missouri or across the nation.

The teen's case worker was searching for a place for her to go, but Cox was the one who was able to connect her to a group home to get her out of the hospital before finding a kindship placement.

"It was just lucky that I had a connection to be able to do that," Cox said. "Her social worker was so inundated — and this was post-COVID, like early 2021 — and he had so much on his plate, he wasn't having any luck with his resources."

Getting the teen out of the psychiatric hospital when she didn't need to be there wasn't just good for her mental health.

"We're saving the government so much money. It's tough to think that they're cutting funding that's actually, ultimately, going to shoot them in the foot" and cost more in the long run, Cox said.

'Everybody can do something to make a difference'

Farmer said CASA SWMO is focusing on three ways of engaging with the community as they await news on the National CASA Association's appeal.

First, she encouraged people to call elected officials, especially U.S. representatives and senators in Congress.

Second, people can donate money, online or in-person.

"Individuals can come alongside us by providing a donation, so we don’t have to decrease any of our advocacy services for our children who are in foster care that may be impacted by this cut," Farmer said.

Third, people can donate their time by applying to become a CASA volunteer.

"Getting involved, getting plugged in, we believe everybody can do something to make a difference," Farmer said. "This is a time period where we believe our children in foster care are really going to need some strong advocacy efforts in our community."