The Court Appointed Special Advocates, CASA, is a non-profit organization that provides shelter to homeless families with their children. The organization provides medical services as well as community services to the people in need. Some of the community services may include transportation of people to workshops, seminars, vocational training, workplaces, or even places of worship. It tends to be difficult for CASA to provide all these services efficiently to the communities because many agencies and systems do not work together. They need to work hand in hand for successful human services that will be beneficial to both human services professionals and clients. However, this has proven to be very intricate since many human service providers compete for clients, reputation, and scarce resources available (Libby & Austin, 2002).
CASA may form networks by working together with other agencies and systems. The networks may either be formal or informal. For formal networks, CASA can work together with medical providers in the County to improve the medical services that it offers to the homeless families. These medical providers may either be governmental or non-governmental. For example, CASA might agree to form networks with State Dental Boards to advance the dental services that they offer their clients. Also, CASA may develop informal networks by using the influence it has on the society. For instance, CASA can mobilize a group of people in the community to help in activities such as grounds maintenance, house cleaning, fundraising or even day-to-day activities.
In conclusion, for CASA to provide the best possible services to their clients, it needs to incorporate both formal and informal networks. Various agencies and systems should also embrace working together for the better of the society. According to Libby and Austin (2002), benefits that come from working together include empowerment of agencies and clients, sharing resources, and addressing similar goals together.
References
Libby, M. K., & Austin, M. J. (2002). Building a coalition of non-profit agencies to collaborate with a county health and human services agency: The Napa County Behavioral Health Committee of the Napa Coalition of Non-Profits. Management Notes, 26(4), 81-99.
