Changing a Child's Story Starts With You!

Friends of Iowa CASA and ICFCRB collaborates with our Iowa communities to support volunteer advocacy programs for children who experience abuse and neglect. At the center of every juvenile case is the child, and at their side are Iowa's CASA (court-appointed special advocate) and foster care review board volunteers who give their time and passion to advocate for these vulnerable children.

In 2023, the 660 volunteer advocates with CASA and foster care review board donated a combined 35,757 hours and 220,725 miles in the course of advocating for children who experience abuse and neglect - this saved the state of Iowa $1.8 million! These volunteers are often the only consistent adult in the child's life as they navigate the legal and social systems they entered through no fault of their own.

Over the course of the past 12 months, the Iowa Dept. of Health and Human Services has been charged with funding all of the operational costs of the CASA and foster care review board programs, and Friends has been charged with providing support to different initiatives to recruit and retain more volunteers in Iowa for these programs. This will be achieved though recruitment campaigns and events, gas cards to offset volunteer travel costs, providing opportunities to attend conferences and conventions with other child welfare advocates, among many others - the sky is the limit on how we can serve our volunteer advocates and the children they are appointed to represent!

And recruitment of more CASA volunteers is critical. In Iowa, for every child with a CASA (court-appointed special advocate) volunteer, five more cannot access one. The Iowa Child Advocacy Board (ICAB) has calculated it will cost $1.5 million to serve another 1,224 children, with the ultimate goal of ensuring every eligible child in Iowa has a CASA volunteer by 2030.

There is much work for us to do, but 2025 already looks bright thanks to our generous donors.

As you plan your charitable giving this holiday season, we humbly ask you include Friends of Iowa CASA and ICFCRB on behalf of the 660 volunteer advocates and more than 5,000 Iowa children in foster care placement. Working together, we can provide the best outcomes for abused and neglected children – every child and every time.