Leadership to change at Hawai‘i
Foster Parent Association

Sarah T. Casken, founding executive director and leader of the Hawaii Foster Parent Association since 1992, will leave the organization this summer and attend the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law this fall. HFPA, the state’s sole organization devoted to advocacy for Hawai‘i foster and adoptive families, has begun a search for a successor. HFPA supports more than 2,300 foster and adoptive families in the state as well as foster care service providers.

Based on a recent needs assessment, HFPA will focus on foster and adoptive care education, advocacy and community building, devoting its resources to building on its knowledge-management activities such as its annual foster care conference, website providing resource and referral information and trainings for foster parents and service providers. It will also develop strategies for more effective advocacy and public policy activities to address the increasing number of challenges facing foster families, transitioning foster youth and caregivers.

“No one quite realized how central to the foster care community Sarah Casken was until she announced her retirement,” said Daniel Ziegler, HFPA board president. “She will be sorely missed … (she) helped position HFPA to enter a new phase that will see the organization build on the foundation she created here.”

Casken was HFPA’s volunteer director in 1992, became the organization’s first paid staffer in 1996 and developed the organization’s training, resource and support activities. She is herself a foster and adoptive parent for five children.

The mission of the Hawaii Foster Parent Association is to nurture, educate and support foster and adoptive families, while providing responsible advocacy for improvements in the foster care system.