April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to acknowledge the thousands of children across the country suffering from abuse and neglect.

For their own safety, many of these children are removed not only from unsafe caregivers but also from their homes, pets, toys, and everything familiar. Children removed from their homes due to neglect or abuse become wards of the state.

April is also National Volunteer Appreciation Month, making it a perfect time to recognize a crucial person in a foster child’s life — the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer, who is appointed to represent the child’s best interests.

At CASA of Santa Cruz County, we recruit, train, and supervise CASAs to provide one-on-one volunteer advocacy to children. CASAs talk to teachers, social workers, caregivers, doctors, and, most importantly, the children themselves. A CASA learns what the child needs and what’s truly in their best interest.

Sometimes a CASA’s “job” means being a proud audience member for a child’s school play or baseball game, or getting them a reading tutor, or making sure they see a doctor or dentist.

When a child is assigned a CASA, they gain a mentor and friend to set them on a better path. The CASA makes sure the child’s voice is heard – in court, in school, and in the community.

Research shows that children paired with CASAs are more likely to find safe, permanent homes, succeed in school, have better medical outcomes, and are half as likely to re-enter foster care.

Although CASA of Santa Cruz County is a private nonprofit organization, we provide vital, no cost support to our county’s courts and social workers.

But private funding alone is not enough to sustain the level of care our children and families need. We depend on state support to ensure every child in our foster care system has access to a dedicated CASA volunteer. By helping youth achieve stability and opportunity, CASA programs save local and state governments millions of dollars each year.

For all these reasons, investing in CASA is both a compassionate and cost-effective choice.

We are at a critical point in our ability to continue delivering these essential services. The state Legislature has not yet renewed funding for California CASA in the 2025–2026 budget — funding that provides enormous benefit to our local program here in Santa Cruz County.

This funding supports the recruitment and training of new volunteers to walk alongside children in foster care or juvenile probation, as well as the operational support we need to do this work every day.

We are deeply grateful to state Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and state Sen. John Laird for their support, and we urge our community to contact your state representatives — Robert Rivas, Gail Pellerin, Dawn Addis, and John Laird — and ask them to ensure continued support for CASA.

You can find your representative here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/findyour-representative. Help us continue providing life-changing services to our community’s most vulnerable youth.

To learn more, go to www.casaofsantacruz.org.

Lynne Petrovic is Executive Director, CASA of Santa Cruz County.