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-Stacia Tauscher
About CASA
Our Mission:
To provide trained community volunteers to advocate for the best interests of those children who come to the attention of Family Court as a result of abuse and/or neglect.
Our Vision:
Every child referred to CASA for Children by Genesee County Family Court will have a trained community volunteer who will work to secure a safe and permanent home for the child.
Our History:
In 1977, Judge Soukup in Washington State determined he was not getting enough information to make very important decisions in the lives of the children before him for abuse and neglect.
In answer to this concern, he created as a trial, an innovative program that trained volunteers to advocate for children and provided judges in court with more information so they are better equipped to make life changing decisions about children. As a result, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) was born.
In 1999 Genesee County CASA was formed.
What does CASA stand for?Court Appointed Special Advocate
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Ashley Hausfelder |
Executive Director |
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Mark Woodward |
Ameriprise Financial |
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Karen Cutitta |
Five Star Bank |
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Barbara Hale |
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Edmund Leising- |
Elcon Incorporated |
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Loretta Boylan |
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Patricia Burns |
Consultant |
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Dawn Busch |
Brighton Securities |
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Michelle Dills |
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Francis Marchese |
CPA |
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Myra Schroeder |
YWCA |
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Carm Reinhart |
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Patricia Wormley |
Retired Professor |
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Patricia Zambito |
Hillside Family of Agencies |
About CASA for Children:
Every year in Genesee County hundreds of children are abused and neglected and end up without a home to call their own. On average, these youth spend more than two years in the child welfare system and can be moved as many as 15 times, wreaking havoc on their education, friendships and sense of belonging. Although the number is staggering the Court Appointed Special Advocate program of Genesee County is helping to make a difference. The CASA program makes a positive impact in the lives of these children by training volunteers to advocate on behalf of their best interest in family court. CASA volunteers help to secure safe, permanent homes, where youth can thrive in the shortest amount of time as possible.
It’s also incredibly effective. When a child has access to a CASA volunteer, they are half as likely to languish in the foster care and child welfare system, and that much more likely to find a safe loving home. But today there are still nearly 50% of the children in our foster care and child welfare system that are unable to be served.
