Seattle is where Casey Family Programs got its start, opening our doors in 1966. With our staff of 22 today, the Seattle field office provides services to youth in foster and kinship care throughout the diverse Puget Sound region.

In a typical year we serve about 75 children and teens in foster families and 120 who live with relatives other than their birth parents. Directly and in collaboration with other agencies, we help more than 400 teenagers each year move into the community after foster care. About 65 percent of the families we serve are people of color.

Supporting extended families
Kinship caregivers are often the best solution when children can’t stay with their birth parents. To help jumpstart a formal collaboration of kinship caregivers, community providers, and child welfare professionals, we are bringing all parties together to:

• Identify overlap and gaps in resources.
• Hear what kinship caregivers consider their greatest needs.
• Learn from models that are working well around the country.

Integrating child welfare and juvenile justice
For youth in foster care who run afoul of the law, too many resources and opportunities are wasted today with two systems that don’t talk to each other. We are working to develop an integrated system that allows information sharing, fewer redundant services, improved case planning, joint policy development, and cross-systems training.

Our partners in these efforts are King County Superior Court, Region 4 Children’s Administration, the Child Welfare League of America, and other child-serving systems in King County.