Texas Bar Foundation Awards Grant to Help Children in Foster Care

The WOODLANDS, TEXAS -- CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County is pleased to announce that the organization has received an $8,750 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation. These funds will support CASA Child Advocates’ expansion of their Collaborative Family Engagement program to more efficiently and effectively serve abused and neglected children in foster care.

Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) is an approach to find people in the lives of the children in foster care who can be supportive and caring. They may be relatives, teachers, school counselors, or neighbors - anyone who has taken an interest in the child and who can and will continue to have a connection with them.

Studies have shown that the children who have a network of committed adults in their lives have a better chance of becoming productive adults. Children in foster care have lost connections with many of their family members and friends. They don't have a community of support. Many feel alone and isolated, which makes it harder for them to do well in school and maintain good relationships with those around them. CFE is a collaboration between Child Protective Services (CPS) and CASA to find people who care about these children, over and above their caregivers.
The CFE Facilitator Project will allow CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County to hire a contract facilitator to help at least 50 children (often multiple children in one family session) and an estimated 250 family members over a period of three months. The facilitator will help children create “connectedness maps” or genograms, finding family members of both parents as well as other caring adults in the child’s life. The goal is to create a lifetime network that belongs to each child – people on whom each child can depend.

CASA Executive Director, Ann McAlpin, shared the organization’s excitement upon receiving the grant funding. “So much of what we do involves working within the legal system. This connection with The Texas Bar Foundation feels like a natural partnership for us,” McAlpin continues, “We appreciate the foresight of The Texas Bar Foundation in helping CASA become more responsive to the children we serve.”
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $19 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably-funded bar foundation.

It costs approximately $1,500 to provide a volunteer Advocate for one abused or neglected child for one year. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are appointed by the court to speak up for the best interest of children who have been removed from their home and are under the Court's jurisdiction. CASA’s goal is to continue to provide a court-appointed volunteer to serve as Guardian ad Litem for every child in the foster care system. For the past 26 years, CASA has been training volunteers, raising awareness in the community, and working to stop the cycle of child abuse in Montgomery County.

For more information about CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County, visit the website at www.CASASpeaks4Kids.com, call (936) 441-5437, or email info@CASASpeaks4Kids.com.