CASA Philadelphia trains and supports community volunteers to serve as court appointed special advocates for abused and neglected children who have been removed from their homes, placed in the foster care system, and are under the supervision of the Department of Human Services (DHS).   In 2013, CASA Philadelphia launched a pilot Educational Decision-Maker (EDM) Program at the request of the Philadelphia Judiciary. Court appointed EDMs are the law in Pennsylvania but the state does not provide funding.  An EDM is a legal decision-maker for a child’s educational rights, addressing a child’s educational needs rather than his/her general welfare needs. EDMs work primarily with children living in congregate care settings (group homes) without an adult authorized to make educational decisions on the child’s behalf. With Impact100 funding, CASA Philadelphia will expand its EDM program and create a training module to be used across Pennsylvania to train EDMs.