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Indianapolis-based nonprofit Kids Voice of Indiana has finalized the details of a multi-million-dollar contract to provide court advocacy services for Marion County youth.
The contract, which extends through 2023, allows $400,000 of wiggle room to the $5.4 million budget for the remainder of 2021. Budgets for 2022 onward will be presented to the city by Oct. 1, said Kids Voice President and CEO Lindsay Scott.
In the days since the agreement was finalized, Scott and her team have been working to build capacity and implement all-new, but not unfamiliar, programming. Between our staff, our board, the Child Advocates employees that have come over, this is a 100% team effort, she said. I cannot stress enough how excited I am about the team that is now in place.
Court-appointed special advocates, called CASAs, are volunteers who help children impacted by the welfare or justice systems navigate the judicial process, serving as their adult eyes and ears and mentors who can help them access needed services. Since the 1980s, Child Advocates of Indianapolis has been the nonprofit providing this support to Marion County children.
Last week, the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety, which manages the contract with Child Advocates, announced it would partner with Kids’ Voice of Indiana beginning May 1. However, Kids’ Voice does not provide CASA services, so the city has already authorized them to bring in Child Advocates as a subcontractor.