|
There are roughly 800,000 children living in foster care in the U.S. each year, at an estimated cost
to taxpayers of $2,396 per month per child. Last year CASA volunteers served 243,000 of these children.
As you read on, keep in mind two things: 1) CASA volunteers are generally appointed in only the most serious cases of
maltreatment, meaning they speak for the children who are much more likely to be placed in foster care, to remain in foster
care longer, and, if they leave the system, are most likely to reenter it; 2) It costs only $80
per month to provide a CASA volunteer. That's a very modest investment compared to the cost of keeping a
child in foster care for another month. So let's look at the return on that investment.
|
 |
|
Consider these findings from a December 2006 U.S. Department of Justice audit of CASA: 5.5% of children with a
CASA volunteer remained in the foster care system for more than three years, compared with a rate of 13.3% for all foster
children; less than 10% of the children served by a CASA volunteer end up reentering the foster care system, compared to 16%
of the general foster care population. If the children served by CASA last
year end up spending just an average of one month less in foster care than they would with out a CASA, that would
mean a savings of $582 million. What's more, the long-run savings are
potentially enormous.
|
|
|
|
CASA Volunteers Save Taxpayer Dollars
|
|
|
A study by Prevent Child Abuse America (September 2007) estimates the annual cost of child abuse
and neglect is a staggering $103.8 billion--with about one-third in direct costs (hospitalization, mental health care,
child welfare services, law enforcement) and the remainder in indirect costs incurred over the course of shattered lives (special
education, juvenile delinquency, mental health and health care, the adult criminal justice system and lost productivity).
Over the coming year and beyond there's going to much debate in this country and soul-searching in every household
over where to put our limited resources. Even setting aside--for a moment--all the reasons of the heart that compel
us to support CASA, there is a compelling case to be made that investing in these abused and neglected children by supporting
CASA is a sound economic policy--and that's something we can all agree on.
THANK YOU! We could not do what we do for the children without your support!
|
|
