1. United States
2. Ga.
3. Letter

As a social worker who has spent over a decade supporting youth in foster care, I am writing to express my deep concern and heartbreak over the Department of Justice’s decision to immediately terminate funding for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program. This decision is not just administrative—it is a blow to the very children who most need our protection, our attention, and our voices. CASA volunteers are lifelines for children who have already endured the trauma of abuse, neglect, and separation from family. These are not abstract statistics to me—they are the youth I sit beside in courtrooms, the teens I drive to therapy, the young people I support as they navigate life after unspeakable hardship. Many have no one else consistently in their corner. CASA volunteers are that someone. They are the ones who show up, listen, advocate, and never give up on these children. To say that this funding cut “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities,” particularly those involving “protecting American children,” is not only inaccurate—it is devastating. CASA volunteers do protect children. They are appointed by judges specifically to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected youth. They are often the only stable adult presence for kids whose lives are marked by uncertainty and loss. In Georgia alone, including the eleven counties in Region 1 DFCS that I have firsthand experience with—Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Dade, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Murray, Pickens, Walker, and Whitfield—CASA volunteers are vital to the child welfare system. They are passionate, consistent, and committed. And many of them are unpaid volunteers who answer this call out of love and a sense of responsibility to our community’s most vulnerable. Please, I urge you: contact the Department of Justice immediately to inquire about the sudden termination of these awards. Advocate for a reversal of this decision. Make it known that this action is unacceptable and directly harms children who are already shouldering far too much. CASA/GAL programs change lives. They have changed my young people’s lives. Do not let this support system be dismantled without a fight. Thank you for your time and, I hope, your advocacy.