A FileMaker Customer Story
Out of the Darkness, Into the Light!
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Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties
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 Child Advocates is an organization of court-appointed volunteer advocates who speak for children in need. When Child Advocates needed a solution to match volunteer advocates with children, track each child's case as it progressed and easily create reports, they turned to FileMaker Pro for help. |
Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties
Alone -- with nowhere to turn.
A nightmare -- certainly. But for thousands of abused children, it's
reality. They're lost in an impenetrable bureaucratic maze -- a world
where they lose their identities and become mere case numbers.
But Child Advocates is making a difference -- and they're helping
children find their way out of that maze with the help of FileMaker Pro
-- the award-winning database software from FileMaker Inc.
Child Advocates is an organization of court-appointed special advocates
for children in need. Volunteers are carefully screened and specially
trained. 'The advocates speak up for a child in court.' says director
Bill Corwin of Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties,
California. 'Advocates see the child on a weekly basis. We provide
consistency and stability; and working with one child at a time -- we
bring a face to a file.'
FileMaker Pro plays a crucial role in the organization's work. 'The big
challenge is how to match the right child with the right volunteer,'
notes Computer Support Susanne Waher. 'but it was more than that, we
needed a database that could help us manage all the details of a case as
well as the volunteers who work with the children. Now, with very little
effort we can find children who have been on the list the longest, match
a needy child with a willing volunteer and produce all the reports and
paperwork required with a click of a button.'
The database also keeps Advocate Supervisors up to date on the progress
of each child's case. 'When I'm on the phone with a volunteer I'm using
CASA Manager to remind me of the child's situation, key issues,
professionals involved, upcoming hearings,' says Debbie Weinstein of CASA
of Contra Costa County, California. 'Its an incredible timesaver to have
all of that information at my fingertips.'
It's a prime example of how FileMaker keeps children from getting lost in
the shuffle. 'I developed it without having any special database
background,' recalls Susanne, 'and that speaks to FileMaker's strength.
FileMaker is easy to use and powerful enough to do the job.'
Nationwide, over 42 thousand volunteer advocates are working with CASA in
all 50 states. And in 140 CASA agencies nationwide the CASA Manager
FileMaker database application is making a difference - turning invisible
case numbers into real children with faces, who would otherwise be lost
in a court system that's over taxed, over worked and understaffed.
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For more information please contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker, Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com.
Jane Garland
Communications Director
Child Advocates of Santa Clara
408-436-6450
janeagarland@aol.com