The Bergen CASA Bulletin

Volume II: Fall / Winter 2022

Letter from our Executive Director

Lucy Rosen

Executive Director

Bergen County CASA

Read more from Lucy

Rutgers Study affirms CASA's value

The results of a five year long study by Rutgers University provided a strong endorsement of the valuable contributions made by CASA. In collaboration with NJ CASA, the comprehensive research included interviews with judges, youths, advocates, and program staff, as well as analyzing court and Optima reports.

Here are a few highlights:

100% of the participating judges said that the court is better served because of CASA
95% of the Judges said that the type and quality of information CASA provides is beneficial to their decision making
Foster child: ”CASAs listen when not everyone else does.”
Advocate: “I think that’s the best gift a CASA (volunteer) gives is continued, dependable presence, not just physically showing up, but, you know, actually...being there for the child.”

Bergen CASA's impact in 2022

This year continues to be auspicious:

All Bergen County’s foster children (eligible for a CASA) had an Advocate by their side
To date, 94 Advocates have helped 132 children
Provided more services for our foster children than ever before including dance classes, swim classes, rec camp, sports camp, tutoring etc.
Supplied over 400 fully stuffed backpacks to children
Collecting holiday gifts for all over 300 children

A foster child's story

“Tommy” was removed from his drug-addicted mother when he was found, with siblings, living in a hotel room with little food and no schooling. By the time he was seven he had been moved to four different homes, was attending a behavioral school, and lost his mother to a drug overdose. All the changes and losses in his life manifested in the form of difficult behavior.

Read the rest of Tommy's story

Meet a CASA:

Jeanne McVerry

For the first 11 years of Jeanne McVerry’s life she was in foster care. During that time CASA did not exist and Jeanne did not have someone advocating for her interests and needs outside of what the Division could provide for her.

“When I learned about the role of CASA, it wasn’t even a decision that needed to be made and I jumped at the opportunity to participate,” said Jeanne. “Being able to look at the whole child— their interests, needs, and goals while working as part of a team to make sure those things are addressed is incredibly gratifying”.

What is a Costume Crawl?

On October 23 we held our very first Costume Crawl. It was a day planned to inform the community of who Bergen County CASA is while getting our steps in and giving our foster children a day of Halloween fun. There was a bubble show , a waffle food truck, cupcakes, a make-your-own slime booth, pumpkin decorating, and more! More than 150 people participated and really had a great day!

"Fore" the Kids Golf Classic

On July 11, we held our second annual Fore the Kids Golf Classic at Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, NJ. This event was a great success! Not only was the weather ideal, but we surpassed the number of attendees from our 2021 golf event (from 72 golfers in 2021 to over 110 golfers in 2022). We also exceeded our net profit from last year by 200%.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for October 2, 2023, for next year’s outing. Can’t wait to see you there.

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