Fostering Futures Through Advocacy

For older youth in foster care, the path toward adulthood can come with enormous challenges. When permanency may not be reached before a young person “ages out” of foster care, advocacy has to look beyond the immediate moment and toward the future they are preparing to build.

With guidance from National CASA and Illinois CASA, EveryChild’s CASA team has embraced a new approach to serving older youth through Fostering Futures, a curriculum designed to help advocates think creatively, identify unmet needs, and support young people as they prepare for adulthood.

One CASA volunteer recently put that approach into action for a young woman who has been part of our program for nearly four years. With her transition out of CASA services approaching, the young woman was preparing to enter the workforce while also caring for her baby. She needed employment—and she needed the confidence to take that next step.

Her CASA volunteer recognized that something as simple as having appropriate clothing for a job interview could make a meaningful difference. The young woman wore a clothing size that wasn’t available through local resources, leaving her without an important piece of the puzzle as she prepared for employment. When no community resource could meet the need, EveryChild stepped in to provide clothing.

Because advocacy is about more than meeting a need—it’s about helping a young person recognize their own worth.

One of the seven C’s of resilience we teach is Confidence, and that became an important part of this young woman’s journey. Her CASA team also discovered that she had never had someone consistently encourage her to care for her skin or teach her basic skincare. When EveryChild provided simple skincare products, she was eager to learn and begin taking care of herself.

These may seem like small things. But to a young person preparing to step into adulthood, they can be anything but small.

Feeling comfortable in your clothes. Learning how to care for yourself. Looking in the mirror and feeling good about what you see. Walking into an interview with confidence. Knowing that someone believes you are worth investing in.

Those moments can help change the way a young person sees herself—and the way she carries herself into her future.

That is the heart of CASA advocacy: seeing the whole young person, recognizing what they need to thrive, and finding creative ways to help them get there.

The young woman later emailed the CASA program to share her gratitude:

“I appreciate everything CASA has done for me and forever thankful to you guys.”