Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

All children deserve to grow up in a safe, stable, and nurturing environment. But each day, children are abused, neglected or abandoned, and many removed from their homes. Imagine what it would be like to lose your parents - not because of something you did - but because they could not or would not take care of you.

Friends of Children trains ordinary people to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in court and the child welfare system, ensuring that their needs are not overlooked by those overburdened systems. All of the children served by CASA are referred by the local Juvenile Court.

Adolescent Advocacy Mentoring Project (AAMP)

Hundred's of foster children in Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire Countys will “age-out”of the child welfare system over the next three years. Without stable family connections and few services to support them, these foster youth, ages 14-18, often must literally fend for themselves.

For many, their lack of adult support, job education and inadequate training results in an unstable lifestyle leading to homelessness or becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Friends of Children has initiated The Adolescent Advocacy Mentoring Project, or AAMP, to advocate for this at-risk and often forgotten population.

Mentoring may be the critical bridge in helping these young adults make a successful transition from foster care to self-sufficiency, from being a dependent child to an independent adult.

Foster Dignity

Friends of Children initiated the Foster Dignity Project to offer a tangible message of respect and dignity to foster children in transition. Thanks to this project, more than 2000 children in western Massachusetts have been able to move into new situations with their belongings safely stored in a backpack or duffel all their own instead of using a trash bag.

For these children who have lost so much, this practical belonging may serve to bolster their sense of privacy and confidence, as well as provide them with warm socks, gloves, school supplies and other personal items donated by community organizations. Their ownership of a backpack— a generational essential — lessens a foster child’s sense of isolation when they make the transition to a new home and school in a new town. The message to these kids is clear: they do matter. The Foster Dignity Project, an ongoing effort at Friends of Children, continues under the leadership of community volunteers.

Child Advocacy Program

This program provides direct assistance and guidance to parents in their role of advocate for their children. Professional child advocacy is provided via telephone contact, as well as in-home and office contact. Parents are given information, intervention and intensive support to get critical services for children who need them.

Community Education

Friends of Children’s mission includes making certain that citizens are aware of issues impacting vulnerable children and youth in our region. We have done this by developing and hosting major conferences for service providers, advocates and parents. Topics reviewed were Permanency Needs of Children as well as Adolescents and Risky Behaviors. Watch for our newest project, entitled "Anonymous No Longer," a collboraton with StoryCorps featuring the voices of foster kids growing up in the state's care.