Jackson, CA…The Amador Community Foundation (ACF) has awarded a check for $2,300 to the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program of Amador and Calaveras, administered locally by Nexus Youth & Family Services in Jackson.  The award was made possible thanks to the Women & Children’s Support Resource Fund, an ACF donor-advised fund aptly named after Women & Children’s Support Resources, an entity created by the late Ruth Gottstein, founder and publisher of Volcano Press. The entity’s active participants, including Doug Ketron, a Nexus board member, and Dale Ketron, a CASA volunteer, used the remaining monies upon Gottstein’s death in 2022 to continue the legacy of long-term support to women and children she embraced in her life and professional career. CASA, which supports children in the dependency court system, seemed a perfect fit.

CASA Program Manager Fara Roberts said, “We deeply appreciate this donation. The CASA program is critical to so many local children in the foster and dependency court system, who too often lack supportive, healthy relationships in their lives. Donations of this kind are set aside to help with activities that volunteers can do with their assigned child or other needed support for volunteers.”

The CASA program was initially developed by a judge in Washington State who desired additional insight into the lives of children coming before him in dependency court cases before making critical decisions about their care. In the program, a CASA volunteer spends time building a safe, healthy relationship with their matched child through various activities. Feedback from the CASA volunteer is weighed, along with information from assigned social workers, attorneys, and other professionals in the court system. As the name implies, CASA volunteers advocate specifically and solely for the child’s best interests and well-being.

About the program itself, Roberts said, “There is a deep need for more volunteers who are willing to dedicate time to a child in the foster care system. Many children are on the waiting list, hoping for their advocate.”
For more information on becoming a CASA volunteer, contact Nexus Youth & Family Services at 209-257-1980.
For information on creating a donor-advised fund through the Amador Community Foundation, please call 209-223-2148.

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