What is CASA?

Each year over 500,000 children in the United States are thrust into court through no fault of their own.

Some are victims of violence, psychological torment or sexual abuse. Others have been neglected or even abandoned by their own parents. Most of them are frightened and confused.

Often these children also become victims of this country's overburdened child welfare system -- a complex legal network of lawyers, social workers and judges who frequently are too overburdened to give thorough, detailed attention to each child who comes before them.

The consequences can be severe.
A nine-year-old boy is discovered in a Kentucky foster home so malnourished he weighs only 17 pounds. A child dies in a state-licensed "temporary care" shelter, where seven children had been sharing one bedroom for more than a year. An 18-year old boy moves out of his seventh New York foster home, unable to read, write or care for himself as an adult.

Annual foster care costs total $6 billion

These are just three of thousands of children who will never know what it is like to have a permanent home -- with their formative years "lost" in temporary care while the court decides their fate. The annual foster care bill to the taxpayers is over $6 billion, but the cost in human potential is even greater. Studies show there is a very good chance many of the children will end up juvenile delinquents or adult criminals.

Enter the CASA concept. The Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program was created in 1977 to make sure that the abuse and neglect that these children originally suffered at home doesn't continue as abuse and neglect at the hands of the system.

A CASA worker is a trained community volunteer who is appointed by a juvenile or family court judge to speak for the best interest of children who are brought before the court. The majority of a CASA volunteer's assignments are home placement cases where an abused and neglected child has been removed for protection from the care of his or her parents.

Can anyone volunteer to be a CASA?
CASA volunteers are ordinary citizens. No special or legal background is required. Volunteers are screened closely for objectivity, competence and commitment.

What training does a CASA volunteer receive?

CASA volunteers undergo a thorough training course conducted by the local CASA program. Training requirements vary from program to program, but an average course is approximately 24 hours. Volunteers learn about courtroom procedure from the principals in the system -- from judges, lawyers, social workers, court personnel, and others. CASA volunteers also learn effective advocacy techniques for children, and are educated about specific topics ranging from seminars on child sexual abuse to discussions on early childhood development and adolescent behavior.

Volunteer has three roles
As a child advocate, the CASA volunteer has three main responsibilities:
1) to serve as a fact-finder for the judge by thoroughly researching the background of each assigned case;

2) to speak for the child in the courtroom, representing the child's best interests;

3) to continue to act as a "watchdog" for the child during the life of the case, ensuring that it is brought to a swift and appropriate conclusion.

CASA based on child's rights
The CASA concept is based on the commitment that every child has the right to a safe, permanent home. In court jurisdictions that have adopted the program, the juvenile or family court judge turns to a specially trained pool of CASA volunteers each time a case involving a child is received.

The judge appoints a volunteer to the child's case. The volunteer then becomes an official part of the judicial proceedings, working alongside attorneys and social workers as an appointed officer of the court. Unlike attorneys and social workers, however, the CASA volunteer speaks exclusively for the child's best interests.

By handling only one or two cases at a time (compared to a social agency caseworker's average load of 60-90), the CASA volunteer has the time to explore thoroughly the history of each assigned
case. The volunteer talks with the child, parents and family members, neighbors, school officials, doctors and others involved in the child's background who might have facts about the case. The volunteer then reviews all records and documents pertaining to the child. He or she then submits a formal report to the court recommending placement: should the child stay with his or her parents, be placed in foster care, or be freed for permanent adoption?

If the court leaves the child in temporary care, the CASA volunteer provides continuity by staying on the case until it is permanently resolved.

CASA helps children nationwide
Since its creation in 1977, CASA has had a dramatic impact on the nation's court system. There are now 843 CASA programs across the country, including Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. New programs start up at a rate of two per month. Research shows these programs utilize more than 47,000 volunteers, who help an estimated 25 percent of the nation's abused and neglected children in dependency proceedings. In 1998, they worked with approximately 183,000 children. Local CASA programs vary in size and scope from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Programs often differ from one jurisdiction to another, with varying operating methods and sources of funding. In all states the CASA volunteer is a monitor, providing research and background, and following through on each case to see that the court's recommendations are carried out. In some states, the CASA volunteer is a full party to court proceedings to the extent that he or she may call witnesses and solicit testimony through the services of an attorney.

CASA is known at the local level by a variety of other names. In San Diego, CA the Program is called Voices for Children; in Cincinnati, OH, it's ProKids. One of the Largest CASA programs in the nation is the Florida Guardian Ad Litem program, managed by state government.

Voices in Support of CASA

"As Chairman of the National Commission on Children, I have observed judges in juvenile courts with a mere 10 to 15 minutes to decide whether a child should remain in a distressed family or placed in foster care. With growing caseloads, it's increasingly difficult for the courts and social workers to make the system work for families and children. This is why CASA volunteers are so essential. They provide valuable information and insight about individual children. CASA deserves our deep admiration and support."
---- U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV
Chairman, The National Commission on Children

"We have got to take America back to the point where it puts her children first; in the family, in the workplace, in everything we do. CASA volunteers, of all people in America, are doing that. And we now have to take this mighty network and carry it further into every community throughout America."
--- Janet Reno, United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC

"We cannot underestimate the role of CASA programs in our communities. The growing recognition of the role of CASA as an integral part of the constituency for children, not only in the Courts. but in the community which allocates resources and services, should be celebrated. Both the voices of children and the voices of the volunteers, staff and program directors of CASA in their own right have led to CASA becoming a key player in the network of champions overcoming internal resistance to system change in the courts, the agencies and in the community."
--- Judge Richard FitzGerald, Jefferson Family Court, Louisville, KY
Chair, Permanency Planning Project for Children, 1993 - 1994

National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges
The National CASA Association, based in Seattle, WA, was established in 1982 to provide a national focus for individual CASA programs, promote the CASA concept, provide technical assistance to new CASA/GAL programs, and support with volunteer recruitment, fundraising and public awareness outreach.