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

Inspired by Lived Expertise, Driving a Vision for Systemic Change

Boston, MA (Dec. 2, 2025) — Massachusetts CASA Association, the state office for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), is proud to announce the launch of the Child and Family Welfare Justice Hub, a bold initiative of Massachusetts CASA (MA CASA) that operates independently of local CASA programs. The Hub is reimagining child welfare across the Commonwealth, building a system that is compassionate, equitable, justice-centered, and guided by those who know it best, to improve outcomes for children and families. By launching The Hub, MA CASA is committing to creating a space where lived experience shapes solutions, informs policy, and guides practice, and where community wisdom shapes the future of child welfare.

Anyone interested in supporting this work, either through participation or financial contribution, can reach out to Julie Louissaint at julie@macasa.org.

In Massachusetts, nearly 9,200 children are in foster care, and thousands more interact with the child welfare system each year. The majority of these cases involve neglect, which is often rooted in resource scarcity—including housing insecurity and income instability—that places immense strain on parents. This strain can manifest as mental illness or substance use, which are often cited as grounds for removing children. Many parents do not receive the support needed to prevent removal, and once children are removed, families are not provided the resources to address the original strain and related challenges that led to removal.

The system also falls short in ensuring children’s care and safety. In Fiscal Year 2024, the Office of the Child Advocate reported 465 substantiated allegations of abuse or neglect in out-of-home placements, affecting 676 children. This is undoubtedly an underreporting of such incidents. Black and Latino/Hispanic children and LGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately represented, reflecting deeper inequities. These issues, among many, underscore the urgent need for systemic reform.

The Hub reflects a simple, but powerful, principle: transformational change can only occur when those closest to the impact help define the solutions. The Hub will serve as a connective tissue across impacted communities, fostering a community-driven model where lived experience experts—including current and former foster youth, birth parents who have experienced involuntary child removal, and kinship caregivers such as grandparents raising grandchildren—can come together to organize, heal, and lead.

The Hub’s work will include designing equity- and justice-centered training, facilitating community-led dialogues, and providing mentorship and leadership opportunities for individuals with lived experience. 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.

“We are unwavering in our belief that true systems change is only possible when it’s led by those closest to the impact. Representation is necessary to dismantle long-standing systemic failures and improve outcomes for children and families. It is also essential for repairing harm and fostering healing,” said Charles Lerner, MA CASA Executive Director and former foster youth. Julie Louissaint, MA CASA Deputy Director, a transracial international adoptee from El Salvador, added, “Children and families who have been directly impacted by the foster care system deserve to be seen, heard, and centered.”

About Massachusetts CASA

Massachusetts CASA champions better outcomes for children and families in the child welfare system by supporting and developing CASA programs, and by advancing policies and practices that are compassionate, equitable, and justice-centered—ensuring families have the resources they need and that children’s best interests and well-being are always amplified.

Massachusetts CASA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization as defined in the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Massachusetts CASA are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Learn more at www.macasa.org

We’re an organization led by dual experts (child welfare leaders who have also personally experienced the system firsthand and involuntarily). We will continue to center those in our lived experience community. We will continue to lead and engage in courageous conversations. We will continue to hold ourselves and others accountable for creating change that is necessary and moral. Advocates Unite! was a significant event and a line in the sand. As you can read in our post-Summit letter, it was not without consequences. However, we can endure them. The children and families we advocate on behalf of endure much much more.

Charles Lerner speaks on a powerful panel about his experiences living in poverty, being in foster care and how this shapes his work. The panel begins about 8 minutes in. Take a listen!

Massachusetts CASA is determined to be a leader in contributing to a more compassionate, equitable, and just child welfare system. A system that supports families in the way that they deserve and prevents children being removed unnecessarily. And if removal is unavoidable, a system that ensures that children and youth receive the care and attention that we demand for those within our own families and parents receive the support that they need to have their children returned as quickly as possible.

Here were just a few of our efforts in 2023 which were ALL led by experts with lived experience:

* We led a first of its kind state-wide training for CASA staff and volunteers on implicit bias and interrupting poverty.
* We piloted a pre-service equity and justice-centered training program for new volunteers. They learned the “real” history of the child welfare system, explored the concept of societal neglect, dove deeper into the root causes of racial disproportionality and disparities in the child welfare system, and were challenged to explore their motivations for volunteering.
* We launched a first-ever statewide PR campaign on public radio and social media that directly addressed the conflation of poverty and neglect and racial disproportionality in foster care. The campaign reached over 1.5 million people across New England and significant funds were allocated towards reaching BIPOC community members through advertising on shows such as Latino USA and Code Switch, as well as targeting specific zip codes on social media.
* We testified in front of the legislature and made a call for action to get bolder AND much more sensible about child welfare solutions. We challenged the legislators, and all child welfare stakeholders present, to shrink the system by better supporting families. We stressed the importance of keeping children OUT of the system which research clearly has found often harms children as much as it “protects” them.

These are just a few steps we took in 2023. We will relentlessly, humbly, and unapologetically continue to demand better of ourselves and others.

If you’d like to get involved, please hit me up @charles@macasa.org! You can also visit our website to sign up to volunteer, make that end of the year donation, or subscribe to our email list at https://macasa.org/.

Happy Holidays to All!

Recording this live podcast with my sister Molly was one of the most significant honors of my life. https://lnkd.in/ewQTx__k .

It was Molly’s first “public appearance”. It’s a very difficult podcast to hear because it’s raw, unfiltered, brutally honest, and highlights the worst of our child protection system. At the same time, I hope it also educates, uplifts, and honors voices too often silenced. I’m beyond proud of my sister. I’m appreciative of Angela Tucker who is a remarkable host. She’s extraordinarily compassionate and created a space that led to a very unique outcome. Thank you to Treehouse Foundation and Judy Cockerton for their vision and creating a platform for others to be heard.

I’ve been part of the child welfare system for 48 years. I’m moving away from telling my story and moving towards ensuring that others have the opportunity to tell theirs. I’m moving away from explaining the realities of the system and moving torwards shifting those realities. As I say in the podcast, we are removing limbs from children and families in the child welfare system. When you remove limbs from a tree in the wrong way, you kill the tree. We’re destroying families, disproportionately BIPOC and/or those living in poverty. Join me in disrupting what has always been, repairing the harm, and getting it right. hashtag#getitright.