Ohio CASA

Remembering Charlie Kessen

Charlie Kessen, a CASA volunteer in Wood County for 8 years, passed away on Tuesday, January 17. As of May 2011, Charlie had advocated for 50 children, drove over 12,000 miles and served over 900 hours in volunteer time in addition completed over 160 hours of in-service training as a CASA.  He provided support and encouragement to CASAs with difficult situations and was an excellent collaborator with other agencies, schools and attorneys.  He worked well with children and families from all backgrounds and experiences and needs, finding strengths to build on toward success.  He remained professional at all times regardless of the situation. Charlie attended many of the Ohio CASA conferences and shared the information he learned with other CASAs unable to attend.  He also shared his passion about CASA with others in the community assisting to recruit other’s to serve in our program as CASA/GAL. Charlie shared that this experience changed his outlook and view of life and “made him a better person."

Happy Birthday (to us)!

Most children look forward to their 18th birthday because it symbolizes autonomy and new beginnings, but this is not the same for abused and neglected children in foster care.  A foster care child's 18th birthday means aging out of the system without a family and often adequate resources or a known future.  That's where our CASA volunteers can help.  This year we began a new initiative enhancing CASA advocacy for foster youth ages 10 to 18.  Next year we will begin training our volunteers to use a set of new practices that we feel confident can increase the number of older youth in Ohio who get a permanent family and preparation for a smoother transition to adulthood.

Ohio CASA was established in 1993, making 2011 our big year.  Help us celebrate our 18th birthday by making a donation so the children we serve can look forward to theirs.

Yes, I'd like to make a donation!

I want to learn more about the Older Youth Initiative.

A message from Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption President & CEO, Rita Soronen:

This morning we released the life-changing research of our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, and we could not be more excited.  Not only is Wendy’s Wonderful Kids working, the research shows that children, particularly older children, served by our incredible WWK recruiters are up to 3 times more likely to be adopted.  This is incredible news!  We are so grateful for your leadership and your partnership helping us find homes for thousands of children, particularly those most at risk of turning 18 and leaving foster care without a family.  Please take a moment to watch a short compelling  video about this linked here, check out today’s edition of USA Today to see our ad, and review all of the research materials, including the executive summary on our website.

Thank you for helping us make the notion of “unadoptable” unacceptable.

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Follow this link to download the Ohio CASA Outreach Video