With 40 years experience providing direct services and serving as a national advocate for change, Casey Family Programs is the largest foundation focused solely on improving the lives of children and youth in foster care. Casey Family Programs’ mission is to provide and improve—and ultimately to prevent the need for—foster care. The Seattle-based foundation was established in 1966 by U.P.S. founder Jim Casey and currently has an endowment of $2.5 billion.
In addition to its Seattle headquarters, the foundation has operations in ten states and the District of Columbia. President and CEO William C. Bell leads the foundation.
The work of Casey Family Programs
The foundation draws on its 40 years of experience and expert research and analysis to improve the lives of children and youth in foster care in two important ways: by providing direct services and support to foster families; and promoting improvements in child welfare practice and policy.
The goals of the foundation
Casey Family Programs helps children and youth in foster care succeed through five main areas of improvement:
- Permanent Families and Connections – We create security for children and youth by finding them safe, stable, loving homes; encouraging lasting connections to their family, friends, and community; keeping siblings together when possible; and encouraging placement with a family member like an aunt or grandparent.
- Successful Transitions to Adulthood – We help provide youth in foster care the life skills, health services and education they need to succeed as they “age out” of the system when they become legal adults. For example, we fund job training grants and college scholarships for young people transitioning out of foster care.
- Prevention and Family Support – We work to prevent the need for foster care by improving the stability and financial security of families through trainings that empower parents to better manage their money, navigate government services, and advocate for their families and their communities.
- Eliminating Disproportionality and Disparities in Results – Children of color are over-represented in the child welfare system and too often have poorer experiences when they are in the system and when they leave it – even when they come from the same situations and circumstances. We insist on equity in opportunities and outcomes for children by addressing the institutional racism that makes children of color more likely to be placed into foster care and less likely to receive services they need to succeed.
- Improving Indian Child Welfare – American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are eager to develop and improve their own culturally appropriate child welfare systems. We partner with tribes to offer our experience, research, financial resources and technical assistance so help them achieve their goals.