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Today, approximately one in 50 of San Francisco's children has been subjected to abuse and neglect and has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Dependency Court.

Of the City's 116,000 children, over 2000 are wards of the Court. Severe public sector fiscal constraints forcing staff reductions in the San Francisco Department of Human Services (DHS) have dramatically enlarged child welfare worker caseloads. Child Welfare Workers are usually unable to visit their assigned clients more frequently than every six months. Thus, they cannot perform careful, ongoing assessment of the needs of young abuse victims and cannot provide these young people with access to services that they need and to which they are entitled.

The San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate (SFCASA) Program recruits, screens, trains, and supervises volunteers from San Francisco's diverse communities who advocate for and mentor children involved in Dependency proceedings. SFCASA is the only agency operating in San Francisco dedicated exclusively to providing individually tailored advocacy and mentorship to children in the Juvenile Dependency Court system.

San Francisco's foster care population as a whole has the highest percentage (76%) of children and youth in long-term placement—without prospect of returning to parents—of all California counties. These children spend an average of five years in foster care and are repeatedly reassigned from one Department of Human Services Child Welfare Worker to another.

Frequent change of residence—for San Francisco's foster children, an average of five times while in foster care—results in disruption of educational program, healthcare, and record keeping, as well as in the trauma of separation from familiar people and places and in the unrelenting necessity to adapt to new rules and environments: these children comprise a population of displaced persons for whom anonymity is a fact of life.

According to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, children in San Francisco's Juvenile Dependency Court system "have high rates of serious health problems. Compared with other children of the same socioeconomic background, they suffer much higher rates of serious emotional and behavioral problems, chronic physical disabilities, birth defects, developmental delays, poor school achievement, high rates of dental decay, smaller stature, and malnutrition." Children in the Juvenile Dependency Court system are typically without the support of a consistently responsible and caring adult.

Relying for assistance on a heavily stressed public social services system which lacks the resources to provide careful monitoring, consistent needs assessment, and services for them, these children urgently need safe and permanent homes, appropriate educational and health services, and the support of a consistently responsible and caring adult.

SFCASA volunteers provide consistent one-on-one mentorship and advocacy, carefully evaluating and addressing the needs of client children—for stable, culturally appropriate, and nurturing residential placement, for educational programs, for healthcare, and for after school activities that build self-esteem and community. SFCASA volunteers are able to optimize young clients' opportunities for healthy development and reverse or minimize the consequences of abuse and neglect.

SFCASA is a volunteer based organization with demonstrated expertise in case management and with experience working with high risk youth and their families, as well as with the juvenile justice system, Department of Public Health, the School District, and community based organizations providing needed services to foster children in San Francisco.

SFCASA recruits volunteers from all of San Francisco's culturally diverse communities. Volunteers are rigorously screened, complete 36 hours of classroom training and 12 hours annually of in-service education, and, supervised by a licensed Case Supervisor, prepare Case Plans for their assigned clients based on comprehensive assessment of individual need and background. One of over 900 affiliate agencies of the National CASA Association, SFCASA operates in compliance with National CASA Association Program Standards, with Judicial Council of California Rule #1424, and with local rules of court. We are co-signatories of Memoranda of Understanding with the Juvenile Dependency Court and the Department of Human Services.