Help Iowa Children
IOWA STATISTICS
According to Iowa's State Data Center, there were just over 5,000 children ages 0-17 in a paid foster care placement in Iowa in 2023. This does not include all children who were adjudicated in need of assistance.
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Millions of dollars are spent on Iowa's foster care system every year, not counting shelters, social workers, adoptions, family counseling, and other related services. Yet, we still have a crisis in Iowa when it comes to helping displaced children in foster care receive adequate advocacy, oversight and protection.
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In the last completed fiscal year, the CASA and FCRB programs saved the state $1.8 million - an extra $400,000 from the previous year!
Ways You Can Help
Become a CASA (court-appointed special advocate) or FCRB (foster care review board) volunteer to change a child's story!
There are a variety of ways to help support Friends of Iowa CASA and those they partner with. Find out more on ways you can make a difference.
Highlight your business and support children in your community! Sponsor a Light of Hope or Leaves of Change event!
Articles of Interest
Iowa kids in foster care need more volunteers to help advocate for them​
We must ensure all children, future adults and community leaders have access to resources to break familial cycles so they may live healthy, safe, productive lives.
Thousands of Children Need Families
There is a significant shortage of foster families in Iowa, with 35% more children requiring placement than there are available homes
​What Can Happen When Kids Age Out of Foster Care
Two teens aged out of New Mexico’s child welfare system last year. This photo essay shows how different their lives have become.
A foster parent reflects on loving and letting go of the children in his care
In his new memoir, Safe: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family, Mark Daley writes about the foster care system at large, as well as the joy and pain he and his spouse experienced as foster parents.