In every state in the United States (but not in every court) there are programs in which trained, volunteer, court-appointed special advocates (CASAs) serve to protect a child before the court. There are more than 50,000 advocates serving in some 1,000 state, county, or local program offices nationwide. CASA programs across the country are known by several different names, including Guardian ad Litem (GAL), Child Advocates, and Voices for Children. Since the inception of CASAs, volunteers have helped over 1,000,000 abused and neglected children by providing judges with objective, unbiased recommendations to support the best interests of each child.
The movement began in 1977 when a Seattle Superior Court Judge named David Soukup was concerned about trying to make decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children without sufficient information. He conceived the idea of appointing community volunteers to speak up for the best interests of these children in court. Fifty citizens responded to his request for volunteers, and the CASA movement was born. So successful was the Seattle program that soon other judges across the country began using citizen advocates. In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA programs with the passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act.
The National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association now provides leadership, training, technical assistance, and grants to CASA programs across the nation. It also stages an annual conference and promotes CASA programs through public awareness efforts. The National Association is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that offers consultation and resources to start new CASA programs and provides continuing assistance to established programs.
The role of local CASA programs is to recruit, train, and support volunteers in their work with abused and neglected children. The national organization provides and continuously improves a core volunteer training curriculum, conducts national campaigns to help recruit volunteers and raise awareness about child abuse, and provides pass-through funding to local and state CASA/GAL programs. Grant funding comes primarily from the Department of Justice but also from private corporations and foundations. State organizations provide additional support to local programs and try to develop new CASA programs within the state. The state organizations also work to promote increased awareness of CASA work and the needs of children who are abused and neglected in the state.
Local (usually county or city) CASA programs work to prevent abused, neglected, and abandoned children from becoming lost in the Juvenile Dependency system, and aim to find them safe, permanent homes as soon as possible. To accomplish these goals, each volunteer is matched with a child and is expected to fulfill the advocate role by (a) meeting with the child once per week for at least an hour; (b) gathering information from all interested parties, such as attorneys, social workers, teachers, caregivers, therapists, and so on; (c) being alert to any unmet needs of the child and advocating those needs be met; (d) writing a report to the juvenile or family court judge for each hearing concerning the child to give the judge the information the advocate has gathered, what the advocate believes to be in the child’s best interest, and what the child would like to have happen; (e) attending all court hearings regarding the child (usually once every 6 months, sometimes more frequently); and (f) monitoring the case by doing all of the above until the child is placed in a safe, permanent, nurturing home. Generally, volunteers receive at least 30 hours of expert training in skills relevant to accomplishing their tasks as well as ongoing mentoring.
As court-appointed advocates, CASA volunteers are unique in providing information often not available to the court. A CASA’s objective, unbiased recommendation to support the best interest of the child is an invaluable aid to judges, and judges do value the information these trusted advocates present.
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