Capital Area CASA Association  Important Links      
 

 

   
   
       
  Stay informed on issues relevant to CASA's advocacy work.
 

RESOURCES

Adoption
  Child Abuse
  Child Development
  Children's Health/ Medical Issues
  Child Welfare and Well-Being
  Cultural Awareness
  Disabilities
  Domestic Violence
  Education
    Foster Care
    Foster Teens
    Law/Advocacy
    Mental Health Issues
    Substance Abuse
    Other Issues
     
     
   
 
    Adoption
  Louisiana Adoption Resource Exchange - Louisiana's children available for adoption
   
     
 

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     Child Abuse
 

 American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law - The advocacy links goal of the ABA   Children’s Law Division is to improve the lives of children through advances in law, justice, knowledge, practice, and public policy. This site includes child welfare tips and a lot of great child.

     
    American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) - APSAC would like to ensure that everyone affected by child maltreatment receives a professional response by providing scholarly and clinical materials. This site includes information on state chapters, legislation, and additional resources.
     
    Child Abuse Prevention Network - This site is for professionals in the field of child abuse and neglect. Child maltreatment, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse and neglect are their key areas of concern. They provide unique and powerful tools for all workers to support the identification, investigation, treatment, adjudication, and prevention of child abuse and neglect.
     
    Child Trends Research: The Multiple Dimensions of Child Abuse and Neglect - New Insights into an Old Problem
     
    Future of Children -This site features special issues of the journal on "Protecting Children from Abuse and Neglect" and on "Children, Families and Foster Care."
     
    Kempe Center - This site was designed to provide a clinically based resource for training, consultation, program development and evaluation, and research regarding all forms of child abuse and neglect. The center is committed to multidisciplinary approaches to improving the recognition, treatment, and prevention of all forms of abuse and neglect.
     
    Missing and Exploited Children’s Training Programs - The Missing and Exploited Children’s Training Programs serve law enforcement, social workers, prosecutors, judges, probation officers, and elected officials. Courses are offered on many topics, including child abuse and exploitation investigative techniques; child abuse and exploitation team investigative process; child sexual exploitation; and responding to missing and abducted children.
     
    National Center for Missing and Exploited Children - The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website offers success stories, educational resources, and current events. The “About Us” section has a list of topics varying from child pornography to services for law enforcement.
     
    National Children’s Advocacy Center - This agency provides prevention, intervention, and treatment services to physically and sexually abused children and their families within a child-focused team approach.
     
    National Sex Offender Registry - Child Awareness Services opened this website of accessible links to individual states’ searchable databases of registered sex offenders in the United States and other select countries.
     
    Parents Anonymous - This national child abuse prevention organization seeks to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children who may be at risk for child abuse.
     
    Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) - PCA is a nationally recognized organization for the prevention of child abuse through media, training, and technical assistance. The site has several links/resources, along with child abuse facts and special events.
   

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    Child Development
    Board on Children, Youth and Families - BOCYF provides studies on a variety of policy-relevant issues relating to the health and development of children, youth and families.
     
    I Am Your Child - The “I Am Your Child” campaign has involved the nation’s leading experts in early childhood and neurodevelopment in an ongoing effort to educate families, professionals and policymakers about the crucial role of early childhood in creating healthy children. This site has a wealth of information about early childhood and brain development.
   

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    Children's Health/ Medical Issues
    American Academy of Pediatrics - The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers materials for professionals working in the field of child abuse, including policy statements, a program on the visual diagnosis of child physical abuse, and resources for prevention, recognition, and treatment.
     
    Online Medical Dictionary - This resource allows you to search for information on any medical term through a wide search and can also link you to a multilingual dictionary and a drug database.
     
    Trauma Information Pages - Dr. David Baldwin’s Trauma Pages focus primarily on emotional trauma and traumatic stress, including PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), whether following individual traumatic experience(s) or a large-scale disaster. Site includes information on trauma resources, bookstore, articles, and links.
   

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    Child Welfare and Well-Being
    The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abuse (ATSA) - ATSA focuses on the preventing sexual abuse by furthering research and professional education in the field of sex offender evaluation and treatment.
     
    A Child's Journey through the Child Welfare System
     
    Child and Youth Well-Being - the Child Trends DataBank is a continuously updated online resource providing information on more than 80 indicators of child and youth well-being. Also posted on the site is a data brief titled, "Violence in the Lives of Children."
     
    Child Trauma Academy—CIVITAS Child Trauma Programs - Central to the Child Trauma Academy is its mission to improve the systems that educate, nurture, protect, and enrich children. Current research projects, training activities, publica­tions, and progress reports are included in this site.
     
    Child Welfare - This gateway site provides information and links to state-based data sources on adoption, foster care, child protective service reports and more.
     
    Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) - CWLA is an association of public and private nonprofit agencies that assist abused and neglected children and families through a wide range of services. The site offers information on their pro­grams, publications, and upcoming conferences and trainings.
     
    Children and Family Research Center - The center conducts and supports research that contributes to keeping children safe, ensuring permanent homes for children and supporting child and family well-being.
     
    KIDS COUNT - A national and state-by-state project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It tracks the status of children in the U.S., measuring educational, social, economic and physical well-being of children.
     
    Trends on the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth - Presents 80 indicators of well-being, offering an accessible overview of data describing the condition of children in the United States.
     
    Child and Family Statistics - The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics provides access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families with information about population and family characteristics, economic security, education, health, behavior and social environment.
     
    Connect for Kids - Connect for Kids is a virtual encyclopedia of information for adults who want to make communities a better place for kids. Most topics include information on substance abuse, schools, and media issues.
     
    National Association of Social Workers (NASW) - NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.
   

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    Cultural Awareness
     
    The Center for the Study of White American Culture - This website supports cultural exploration and self-discovery among white Americans. It encourages a dialogue among all racial and cultural groups concerning the role of white American culture in the larger American society. The Center operates on the premise that knowledge of one's own racial background and culture is essential when learning how to relate to people of other racial and cultural groups. A premise of this site is that the task of building genuine and authentic relationships across racial and cultural lines is crucial to the future well-being of America.
     
    Cultural Competence Website - This site contains information, resources, and links to other sites, provided by the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice.
     
    Footsteps: Celebrating African American History and Achievement - This online magazine celebrates the heritage of African Americans and explores their contributions to our culture.
     
    Human Rights Campaign -The largest national lesbian and gay political organization, the HRC envisions an America where lesbian and gay people are ensured of their basic equal rights. They lobby the federal government on gay, lesbian, and AIDS issues; educate the public; participate in election campaigns; organize volunteers; and provide expertise and training at the state and local level. This site has upcoming legislation and informational material.
     
    National Black Development Institute - NBCDI’s website includes information on membership, public policy, resources, and a calendar of upcoming events.
     
    National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - NGLTF is a national progressive organization working for the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Their site contains updated information on GLBT law and current issues.
     
    Resources for Working with LGBTQ Youth-  National CASA's annotated bibliography of resources to serve the advocacy needs of those working with lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning youth and their families. 
   

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    Disabilities
     The Arc - This organization is devoted to advocacy for all people with disabilities, originally focused on mental retardation. The site includes topics such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, managed care, fetal alcohol syndrome, and the human genome project.
     
    The Arc of Baton Rouge- The Arc Baton Rouge provides advocacy, services and support to people with mental retardation and other disabilities as well as their families.
     
    Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD) - CHADD works to improve the lives of people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder through education, advocacy, and support. Their site offers great information on ADD and disability issues in the legislature.
     
    Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) - This site provides information on fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal alcohol effects, and alcohol-related birth defects, as well as information on prevention methods and teaching students with these problems.
     
    Learning Disability Resource Guide - An interactive learning disability resource guide for parents, teachers, and students, this site provides a wealth of recent articles and legislation.
     
   

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    Domestic Violence
    The Family Violence Prevention Fund works to prevent violence within the home, and in the community, to help those whose lives are devastated by violence because everyone has the right to live free of violence.
     
    The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence-The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV) is a statewide network of battered women's programs, supportive organizations, and individuals who share the goal of ending violence against women and children in Louisiana. LCADV empowers its members through advocacy, education, resource development, and technical assistance.
     
    The Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) - MINCAVA operates an electronic clearinghouse that provides scholarly papers on battered spouses and their children, a searchable database on the link between child maltreatment and woman battering, and links to additional resources.
     
   

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    Education
    American Indian College Funding - The American Indian College Fund offers scholarships for American Indian college students to give hope to, and create better lives for, generations of Native American students and their families and communities.
     
    Bridge to Understanding - This is the most complete resource on the web for information about programs, facilities, and schools helping young people who are not meeting expectations due to emotional, behavioral, or addiction problems.
     
    KidSource Online - This information service for parents and educators who focus on health, education, and recreation includes useful books, articles on learning disabilities, and links.
     
   

Office of Special Education: Ideas that Work - These materials provide information that will help guardians or parents become active and informed participants in IEP discussions and other decision making meetings that support students with disabilities and their families. Also covers IDEA and NCLB.

     
   

Zero to Three- Zero to Three's mission is to support the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families.

   

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    Foster Care
    Demographics of Children in Foster Care
     
    Foster Care National Statistics
     
    Kinship (Relative) Care
     
    No Place for a Child - Watch clips and learn about this documentary, which  follows five children over seven years in the child welfare system.
     
   

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    Foster Teens-

The links included in this section provide information for adults working with foster teens but also link to important resources and web communities designed specifically FOR foster teens.

     
    California Youth Connection - An organization guided and led by foster youth, CYC promotes the participation of foster youth in policy development legislative change
     
    Forum for Youth Investment - The Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the information, technical assistance, training, network support and partnership opportunities needed to be ready for college, work and life.
 
  Foster Club - A national network for youth in foster care, this site includes resources for youth to provide encouragement and resources. Includes sections on life books and message boards as well.
 
  Legal Rights of Teens in Out-of-Home Care - This booklet answers some of the questions youth might have about out-of-home care, courtroom appearances, group home, foster home, and emancipation.
 
  Scholarships for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care - Orphan Foundation of America helps  thousands of foster teens across America prepare for the real world.
 
  Teen Growth - TeenGrowth is a unique and interactive Web site specifically tailored toward the health interests and general well-being of the teenage population. TeenGrowth offers a secure environment to search for, request and receive valuable health care information on topics such as alcohol, drugs, emotions, health, family, friends, school, sex and sports.
 
  Teens Health - TeensHealth was created for teens looking for honest, accurate information and advice about health, relationships, and growing up. It is a safe, private place that's accessible 24 hours a day to get the doctor-approved info needed to understand changes teens may be experiencing.
 
  Youth Communication- Helps teenagers develop their skills in reading, writing, thinking, and reflection, so they can acquire the information they need to make thoughtful choices about their lives. Featuring true stories by teens.
     
    Youth Works - Learn about and search for youth mission trips
   

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    Law and Advocacy
  American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law - The advocacy links goal of the ABA Children’s Law Division is to improve the lives of children through advances in law, justice, knowledge, practice, and public policy. This site includes child welfare tips and a lot of great child.
   
 
     
  American Public Human Services Association - This organization is made up of individuals and agencies concerned with human services, working together to educate Congress, media, and the public on state issues of welfare, child welfare, health care reform and other issues involving families and the elderly.
 
    Best Interest Newsletter - This newsletter offers news and resources for professionals and volunteers who advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children. The site includes information on legal issues, medical topics, web resources, and legislation.
   
   
 
  Center for the Law and Social Policy - CLASP provides technical assistance and conducts research, policy analysis and advocacy on issues related to economic security for low-income families with children.
 
  Children's Defense Fund - This children's advocacy organization seeks to educate the nation about the mental, physical, spiritual, educational and economic needs of children, especially poor children, minority children, and children with disabilities.
 
     
    Children Now - Children Now utilizes the mass media to make children a top priority across the country. They work to improve the quality of news and entertainment media for children and about children’s issues.
 
 
   
    Children's Rights, Inc. - This national organization works to promote and protect the rights of abused and neglected children by pressuring failing foster care systems to reform their policies and operations, using policy analysis, public education and the power of the courts.
   
   
    National Association of Counsel for Children - NACC is a nonprofit professional membership organization dedicated to quality represen­tation and protection of children in the legal system. Their purpose is to assist attorneys and other professionals in their work with children in the legal system. At the same time, NACC carries out a policy agenda designed to improve the legal system for children. This site provides advocacy links and upcoming events.
   
   
   
   
    National Center for Youth Law - NCYL provides information, training, and consultation on youth law matters to legal services for attorneys and other professionals serving poor children and youth. Its areas of expertise include abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights, public benefits for children, children’s health, and the rights of children living in institutions.
   
   
     
    National Children's Alliance - NCA’s Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are community-based programs that bring together representatives from law enforcement, juvenile court counselors, mental health, and other service providing agencies to address the investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases.
   
   
     
    National Coalition for Child Protection Reform - This organization of professionals in the child welfare field advocates for systemic reform in the child welfare system. NCCPR  focuses specifically on changing child abuse, foster care, and family preservation policies to make them more responsive to the needs of vulnerable children.
 
    National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association - The website for the national child advocacy organization, this site includes information about the work of CASA programs as well as a library with links about several important topics impacting children including HIV, cultural awareness, and advocacy.
   
   
     
 

Office of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention - This site offers links to the latest facts and figures on juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and violence and includes many of their publications, grant options, and local resources.

 

Voices for America's Children - Voices for America’s Children is the only national organization devoted to building the capacity of state and local child advocacy organizations. Founded in 1984, this is a nationwide network of child advocacy organizations working at the increasingly critical level of America’s statehouses, county commissions, and city councils.

 
 
   

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  Mental Health Issues
    American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry would like to assist parents and families in understanding developmental, behavioral, emotional, and mental disorders affecting children and adolescents. The website includes journal information, facts, re­sources, and information on legislation.
   


The Barr-Harris Children’s Grief Center - The center offers help for children facing the pain of death, divorce, separation, or aban­donment, and provides a list of books/links for school professionals, parents, and advocates who deal with children’s grief.

Internet Mental Health - This site contains links for common disorders, organizations, search engines, and medical sites.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill - This organization provides resources to improve the lives of people with mental illnesses and their families. Legal issues, medical information, and many other fact sheets are included in the website.
 

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Substance Abuse

    Addiction Links Page (Directory) - This comprehensive site provides links to virtually every relevant topic on substance abuse, as well as links to fact sheets and statistics.
   
   
    Alcohol-Related Social & Health Problems
     
    Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse - Topics on this site include the economic and social costs of substance abuse and its impact on lives; what works in prevention, treatment, and law enforcement; individual and institu­tional responsibility for combating substance abuse and addiction; the tools helpers need to succeed; and the goal of removing the stigma of abuse and replacing shame and despair with hope.
   
   
    Center for Substance Abuse Treatment - This site includes new forms of treatment, general information, and publications, and offers a link to area professionals.
    Facts on Tap - This site provides information about preventing substance abuse in college students
   
    National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
    National Institute on Drug Abuse
   
   National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information - This site includes the latest research,  facts and figures, upcoming conferences, an online catalog of materials, and other links.
   
 

  Partnership for a Drug-Free America

 

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    Other Issues
    Juvenile Firesetting Intervention Resource Site - The goal of this site is to prevent youth fire tragedy through education, intervention, and mental health support, and to facilitate the exchange of information on the topic of youth firesetting.
   
   
  National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth

Stress Management From Mind Tools - This site helps you deal with job-related stress. Here, you will find self-help and support to overcome stress in a range of situations.

 
   
   
 

 

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Because of the sensitive nature of the issues Capital Area CASA Association is involved with, we ask that sites containing adult material not link to our site.

   
   
   

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Capital Area CASA Association   341 St. Joseph Street  Baton Rouge  LA 70802

 

Phone: 225.379.8598    Fax: 225.379.3362    Email: info@casabr.org