A Proud Heritage

In 1948, Jim Casey, founder of United Parcel Service (UPS), and his siblings established the Annie E. Casey Foundation in honor of their mother. The Foundation was established to help disadvantaged children, especially those who had been separated from their parents. The first grant went to support a camp for disadvantaged children in Seattle, Washington, the home of the Casey family.

In 1965, after Jim Casey gave up his administrative responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer of UPS, he concentrated his effort on refining the focus of the Foundation. In the course of his personal research, he concluded that many troubled adults had grown up unhappily in foster care, and had often been bounced from one foster home to another. After discussing his observations and ideas with experts in the child welfare field, Jim Casey decided to launch Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based independent organization providing long-term foster care primarily in the western United States. In 1976, Casey Family Services was established on the eastern seaboard, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as the direct service arm of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Today, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has grown to become one of the nation's most respected charitable organizations. With grants now totaling more than $120 million, the Foundation promotes systems and policy reform and supports innovative programs in child welfare, health and education nationwide. Casey Family Services has grown to serve more than 4,000 children through wide-ranging programs in foster care, post-adoption services, teen parenting programs, and family advocacy, preservation, and reunification, as well as support for children in families affected by HIV/AIDS.

A Vision for Tomorrow

Maintaining the ideals of Jim Casey-quality, commitment, and the pursuit of excellence-and preserving his passion for helping children, one child at a time, Casey Family Services has evolved from a single-site, single-focused agency into a multi-site, multi-service child welfare agency. With administrative offices in New Haven, Connecticut, Casey Family Services currently employs more than 300 staff to serve children and families in seven states. Its Board of Managers includes former and current executives of UPS, several of whom were personal friends of Jim Casey. The agency has expanded from a solely foster care focus to one that offers an array of programs and services designed to create and support a continuum of care.

In addition, Casey Family Services is deeply committed to sharing lessons learned from our study of programs serving families, children and communities. We will broadly disseminate information about our programs and program models in order to contribute to improving child welfare practice and policy at the local, state and national level. As we collect and analyze data, Casey Family Services will continue to promote a vision of a better tomorrow for children and families.