GREEN BAY - Wisconsin CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) has launched a statewide campaign to recruit more volunteers in order to help children in Wisconsin's foster care and child welfare system. The goal is to prevent children from going through the court system alone.
"Every year, more than 6,400 children in Wisconsin find themselves in foster care or in the child welfare system, and less than 700 of them have an advocate," explained Sue Schwartz, Wisconsin CASA Executive Director.
"No child should have to go it alone through the court system. The CASA advocate plays an incredibly important role by helping a child navigate through this uncertain time in their life, knowing that a trusted, adult volunteer is standing by their side. CASA wants to provide an advocate for every child, but we need help; we need volunteers."
WI CASA has launched a statewide, "I Am For the Child" campaign, to draw awareness to the need and the program.
The awareness campaign includes multiple outreach efforts, including: A PSA by Green Bay Packers President and CEO, Mark Murphy. Murphy and his wife have served as foster parents and Murphy's father was a CASA volunteer.
"Volunteers are the life blood of our organization," Schwartz added. "Thousands of children have been able to find safe, permanent homes because they have a CASA advocate working in their best interest. We want to see the number of children helped by CASA volunteers continue to increase."
