Child Advocates of Silicon Valley: LIFTING UP Foster Youth

Give the gift of hope this holiday season by supporting local foster youth

Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, an independent nonprofit formed in 1986, is dedicated to serving foster children from birth to 21 years old that have been placed in the Santa Clara County foster care system for having experienced abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment. Child Advocates provides them with the nurturing support and resources needed to thrive.

About 1,000 children are in the Santa Clara foster care system at any given time. Child Advocates strives to ensure every one of these children has a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer. These volunteers are community members appointed by a judge to be a mentor, advocate, and voice for a child/ youth in foster care. Zianna and Joelle exemplify the kind of support a foster youth can receive from a CASA.

Earlier this year, Zianna, a teen foster youth, and her CASA Volunteer, Joelle, began navigating the college application process. They applied for scholarships and financial aid. With Joelle’s support, Zianna is now attending UC Davis, is enrolled in several programs to support her transition into college, and has received scholarships and funding to cover housing, tuition, and books.

Child Advocates also works to build enduring community partnerships to broaden and strengthen its impact. In 2020, Child Advocates launched partnerships with eight local organizations, including the Children’s Discovery Museum and the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, which have agreed to offer free resources, programming, and/ or free admission for foster children and the volunteers.

Child Advocates depends on individual, corporate, community, foundation, and government partners to make their work possible, and there are many ways to help yearround. Donations also help recruit, train and support new volunteers.

Consider contributing online at childadvocatessv.org/donate/ or contact development@ childadvocatessv.org to learn about opportunities to become a sponsor at one of the three Child Advocate signature fundraising events.

The annual Holiday Toy Drive is also collecting gifts through December 5. Make a donation or purchase a gift from their Amazon Charity list at childadvocatessv.org/ holidaytoydrive/.

You can help LIFT UP foster youth this holiday season. Learn more at childadvocatessv.org. Sobrato Center of Nonprofits 509 Valley Way, Bldg. 2, Milpitas childadvocatessv.org