Mission: Child Advocates of Silicon Valley is an independent nonprofit formed in 1986. It strives to be there for every foster child in Silicon Valley, ages birth to 21 years old, who has experienced abuse, neglect and/or abandonment by ensuring these children have the nurturing support and resources needed to thrive. It serves children in foster care by ensuring every child has a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer, building enduring community partnerships to broaden and strengthen their impact and influencing local policies and decisions that affect the children they serve.
2025 update: This past year, Child Advocates created more opportunity for its CASA volunteers and their youths to engage in positive childhood experiences – a proven solution to helping regulate the toxic stress a child endures from having experienced trauma. It also enhanced its CASA recruitment efforts to attract CASAs who better align with the cultural and specialized needs of the children it serves.
Accomplishments in service to children this past year include the following:
• 37% of children ages 0–5 and 47% of youth ages 6+ showed improvement on measured outcomes
• 91% of children had all or some of their emotional health needs met
• 87% of children had all or some of their physical health needs met
• 78% of children had all or some of their learning needs met.
Why the Holiday Fund is needed: The Holiday Fund assists with Child Advocates’ continuing drive to match as many Santa Clara County foster children with CASA volunteers as possible. Donations lead to connections such as the one between Charleen, a CASA, and Ashley. After becoming a teen mom, Charleen was driven to finish nursing school and purchase her own home. After achieving that dream, Charleen knew she wanted to give back, and was paired with Ashely, who entered foster care at 16 while facing teen pregnancy. Charleen showed up with compassion, guidance and steady encouragement. Ashley says Charleen became a mother figure who helped her navigate parenting, school and her future. Even after Ashley aged out, their bond continued. Charleen believes CASAs help youth see their own strength. The Holiday Fund makes connections like theirs possible.
In 2026, Child Advocates looks forward to assigning more CASAs, like Charleen, who will continue to show up for the children and youth the nonprofit serves.
Child Advocates Silicon Valley
Location: 1800 Hamilton Ave., Suite 200, San Jose, CA
Founded: 1986
Annual budget: $3.9 million
Staff: 26 employees; 295 CASA volunteers; 360 children served
Information: childadvocatessv.org
