A Message from Our Leadership

Justice is not aspirational for us—it is foundational, embedded in how we lead, how we build partnerships, and how we pursue systems change. It is also deeply personal. We refuse to be performative and recognize that meaningful systems change demands accountability to those most impacted, openness to learning, and the courage to confront hard truths. Over the past several years, we have positioned ourselves as catalysts for change within a child welfare system that profoundly shapes the lives of children and families. Despite its mandate to protect children and support families, the system too often falls short, leaving children unsafe, families unsupported, and communities disproportionately harmed.

Massachusetts CASA updated its mission to advance better outcomes for families—not just children— impacted by the child welfare system, and to advocate for compassionate, equitable, and just policies and practices. We also established a very clear set of values we strive to uphold every day. When we fall short, we commit to acknowledging harm, taking responsibility, repairing wherever possible, and doing better. We see ourselves as justice seekers, working within a system shaped by some of the most abhorrent legacies in our country—legacies that still harm children, families, and communities. We center lived experience as expertise, with lived-experience leaders shaping decisions across the organization. We honor the dignity of every individual, lead with empathy, and confront systems that undermine human worth.

Our commitment is not theoretical—it is tangible and measurable. Examples of our commitment in action include:

• Led a first-of-its-kind statewide training on implicit bias and interrupting poverty for CASA staff and volunteers.
• Piloted an equity- and justice-centered pre-service training for new volunteers that examined the history of the child welfare system, societal neglect, and the root causes of racial disproportionality and disparities, while challenging participants to reflect on their motivations. Trainings were led by multiple lived-experience experts with foster care experience.
• Launched a first-ever, equity- and justice-driven statewide public awareness campaign across public radio and social media to address the conflation of poverty and neglect, and racial disproportionality in foster care. The campaign reached over 1.5 million people across New England, with targeted investment in BIPOC communities through Latino USA, Code Switch, and zip-code–specific social media outreach.
• Convened Advocates Unite!, an inaugural statewide summit bringing together CASA volunteers, staff, and community partners to explore equity- and justice-centered approaches to child and family welfare. The summit featured a parent panel sharing their expertise on reimagining the system to better support families, while providing space to address systemic inequities, confront racial disproportionality, and amplify voices with lived experience.
• Launched the Child and Family Welfare Justice Hub to center the voices of those most impacted—including current and former foster youth, parents who have had children involuntarily removed, and kinship caregivers. The Hub connects communities, creating a space where lived-experience experts can organize, heal, and lead. Its work includes equity- and justice-centered training, community-led dialogues, and work to influence policy and increase public awareness. By amplifying voices from neighborhoods to the State House, the Hub seeks to ignite collective action, model best practices, and advance policies and programs that strengthen families, enhance safety, and improve outcomes for children and youth.
• Joined the Steering Committee of a Children’s Trust–led statewide initiative advancing family wellbeing across the Commonwealth. The initiative unites state agencies, family-serving organizations, individuals with lived experience, and community leaders to promote a community approach to child and family well-being. It challenges traditional definitions of neglect, the frequent conflation of neglect with poverty, and the framing of neglect as an individual parental deficit rather than a societal responsibility.

This work is personal, grounded in our roots and shaped by our lived experience. For Julie, being born in El Salvador during the Civil War instilled a deep belief in grassroots movements and bold action. The Salvadoran people have spent decades fighting for social and economic justice through inclusive community organizing, offering a powerful model for building an alternative vision of society through coalition and struggle. Julie has continued to carry these principles throughout her life and career, shaped further by her personal experience in foster care in El Salvador and her eventual international and transracial adoption with her siblings. For Charles, his own time in foster care—and later advocating for his son within a system that often fails those it is meant to protect and care for—revealed firsthand the harm the system can inflict. He has witnessed generations of families caught in cycles of poverty, violence, and addiction—not for lack of love or commitment, but because systemic barriers and harm make these cycles extremely difficult to break. Together, our families, part of Black and Brown communities, inform and strengthen Massachusetts CASA’s mission and values, reinforcing our commitment to advancing equity and justice.

Our systems of care, including our child welfare system, are at a point of reckoning. For the children and communities we serve, it is about survival, dignity, and the opportunity to thrive. We are acting with clarity in our purpose, conviction in our values, and authority grounded in lived experience to advance justice, equity, and dignity — and we will not waver.

This message represents the views of Charles Lerner, Executive Director and Julie Louissaint, Deputy Director. They may or may not represent others associated with the CASA network.

In community,

Charles Lerner

Executive Director

Julie Louissain

Deputy Director