Original article here
Author: Brooke White
This year, KCare is proudly pledging 1% of our profits to Voices for Children reaffirming our ongoing commitment to giving back to our community. Voices for Children is a nonprofit organization that pairs caring volunteer advocates with children in foster care, ensuring these children have a voice and a champion—someone who is always looking out for their best interests.
What is a Court Appointed Special Advocate?
Children in foster care have often experienced abuse and neglect, and they are unprepared to navigate the complexities of social workers, court hearings, attorney visits, new homes, and new schools that come with the dependency system. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) are volunteers from all backgrounds who commit to advocating for the needs of the child or sibling group they are matched with.
A CASA foster care advocate routinely reports on a child’s progress and needs, communicates with professionals on their behalf, and provides judges with insights to help make informed decisions about the child’s future. Court Appointed Special Advocates also assist with practical problem-solving, such as ensuring a child gets glasses or their records are transferred to a new school, so none of the little things get overlooked. Over time, a CASA often becomes the most consistent person in a child’s life, creating a caring and reliable presence for a child in foster care.
Meet Tati Fregosi, a Court Appointed Special Advocate & One of Our Own
Tati works for KCare’s parent company, Radicle Health, and brought Voices for Children to our attention when we were seeking nonprofits for our annual Pledge 1% donation. Tati has been a CASA for Voices for Children in San Diego since February of 2023.
Tati first learned about Voices for Children over a decade ago, while working for an international child advocacy organization. At the time she was advocating for youth in the child welfare system on a large scale, but she was drawn to the idea of providing the personal attention and consistency needed to make a big difference for one child.
She has now had the privilege of supporting the same youth for the past year and a half and says that seeing the positive impact of their trusted relationship has been incredibly rewarding. The youth Tati supports is overcoming unimaginable obstacles and traumas, and together, they have navigated many ups and downs. With care, consistency, and safety in their relationship, this youth has progressed from flunking out of school to being on the principal’s honor role. Tati shared:
“She is amazingly resilient, and it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking that she’s been able to make such big strides with just the additional relational support and consistency of a CASA volunteer in her life.”
Additionally, Tati says that she cannot “...speak more highly of the value of the CASA program and the amazing role of Voices for Children in not only recruiting and training CASA volunteers, but in continuing to ensure we have the support and resources to meet the complex needs of our youth buddies.” She believes the CASA program is pivotal because it provides youth in foster care with consistent, dedicated adults to advocate for their best interests, ensuring their needs don’t fall through the many cracks of the foster system, so they have the opportunity “to just be kids.”
Interested in Becoming a Foster Care Advocate?
Voices for Children needs your help! This year, an estimated 3,500 children will spend time in foster care in San Diego County and 4,000 in Riverside County after experiencing abuse and neglect. These children need someone to speak up for them- maybe that someone is you! Attend a Volunteer Information Session to learn what it takes to be a CASA. Don’t worry if you have questions, a current CASA will be there to walk you through the process. You also receive 35 hours of training to learn about child development and dependency law, and you’ll have a supervisor to provide resources and support.
You Too Can Donate to Voices for Children
The foster care system is made up of many caring and dedicated professionals who work tirelessly for children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. However, the system is overburdened, and the CASA model offers unparalleled support to youth in foster care by empowering trained volunteers to investigate the needs of children and help judges make the best decisions about their futures.
By donating to Voices for Children, you can help provide foster children with consistency, safety, and stability. Your donation will support the recruitment, training, and supervision of volunteer advocates who always have the children’s best interests at heart. Visit Voices for Children’s donation page to make a difference today!
KCare Supports Foster Care Families
The work of Voices for Children is near and dear to our hearts, and we’re proud to support their mission through this year’s Pledge 1% donation. At KCare, we support foster care agencies and families with our suite of EHR software solutions designed for foster care case management. We work hand-in-hand with organizations that make a difference in the lives of children in foster care every day, and we understand the tremendous impact foster care advocates can have on families. Thank you, Voices for Children, for the important work you do!
