Mission
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Mercer and Burlington Counties’ mission is to train and supervise community volunteers, appointed by the Family Court, to advocate for the best interests of children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and/or neglect. Our dedicated volunteers strive to ensure the emotional, physical and educational well-being of these children while they reside in foster homes or residential facilities. The ultimate goal of our volunteers is to help establish a safe, stable and permanent home for each child we serve.</strong>
While there are other social service and youth-serving organizations in Burlington and Mercer Counties, CASA is the ONLY organization whose sole focus is on securing the best possible outcome for children involved with the foster system.
CASA is central to fulfilling society’s most fundamental obligation by making sure a qualified, compassionate adult will fight for and protect a child’s right to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to learn and grow in the security of a loving family. Our long-term goals and the focus of this request are to ensure that every eligible child has a CASA.
Impact story
Guillermo was trafficked to the United States from Ecuador when he 11 years old and forced into manual labor, in order to pay off family debts. He was made to work every day and was not allowed to attend school. One day, at age 16, he was able to run away and contact the local police. Child protective services helped Guillermo move into a youth homeless shelter as an emergency placement. CASA volunteer, Noelle, was assigned to Guillermo a month later, in October 2016. Noelle quickly realized how much support Guillermo needed and didn’t hesitate to act. Guillermo, on top of having no family connections, spoke very little English and had not gone to school since he was 10 years old. Noelle drove to the school and the shelter as often as she could. As his advocate, she developed strong relationships with school personnel and his caseworker in order to find him a safe, permanent home. However, the school, which had become so invested in his education, did not want to see him moved out of district. As a result, Noelle connected with a parent whose son was Guillermo’s best friend, which ultimately led the parent to become approved as a foster home. Guillermo now resides with his friend and the family considers him one of their own. Despite being out of school for so long, due to the stability offered at his new home and the partnership Noelle formed with the school, Guillermo is thriving and will have the opportunity to graduate with his peers in a community that cares about him and a family that loves him. These successes strengthen our resolve to serve every child in foster care that needs a CASA volunteer to speak up for them and ensure they reach a safe permanent and stable home.
How to make a donation:
Send checks payable to "FUND NAME" and send to: Community Foundation of South Jersey P.O. Box 446 Haddonfield, NJ 08033 For contributions of appreciated securities, please be sure to notify Lee Albright, lalbright@communityfoundationsj.org, 856-528-3385 regarding your gift at the time of transfer. In this way, stocks can easily be identified, retrieved, sold, and directed to your fund without delay. Please direct all stock contributions to: Fidelity Investments DTC Number: 0226 Account Number: X39-154555 Account Name: Community Foundation of New Jersey, our parent organization, for further credit to the Fund. For current year tax benefits, contributions must be received by December 31. Please note that with some brokerage houses we have experienced that security transfers may take 14–21 days for settlement, so please plan accordingly with your year-end giving to your fund. For wiring instructions for cash contributions, please contact Lee Albright, lalbright@communityfoundationsj.org or Patty Heath at pheath@cfnj.org or 973.267.5533, x223 For making a grant from a DAF with another charity organization, make the grant to Community Foundation of New Jersey - Fund Name, EIN 22-2281783, PO Box 446, Haddonfield, NJ 08033, please notify Lee Albright when making the grant at lalbright@communityfoundationsj.org, 856-528-3385 |