Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a national association in the United States that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for
abused or neglected children. CASA are volunteers from the community who complete training that has been provided by the state or local CASA office.
They are appointed by a judge, and their role is to gather information and make recommendations in the best interest of the child, keeping the child's personal wishes in mind.
According to the National CASA Association, there are more than 93,000 volunteers nationwide, serving in 49 states and the District of Columbia. North Dakota is the only state without a CASA program.
Each year more than a quarter of a million children are assisted through CASA services.
History
In 1977, King County Superior Court Judge David Soukup was faced with making decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children with only the information provided by the state
Child Protective Services. Soukup formulated the idea that volunteers could be dedicated to a case and speak for children's
best interests
Best interests or best interests of the child is a child rights legal principle, principle, which derives from Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that "in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by p ...
. Fifty volunteers responded to his idea, which started a movement to provide better representation for abused and neglected children throughout the United States. By 2007, the National CASA Association had served 2 million children nationwide.
[CASA/GAL for Children]
. ''CASA/GAL for Children''. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
Current situation
Since its founding, CASA programming has grown to cover 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Each state's program is responsible for developing and funding a budget.
[State of the States: How State CASA Organizations Compare]
. May 5, 2008. National CASA Assiciation. Some state and local agencies receive government funding, while others do not. The National CASA agency relies on
pass thru grants from the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is an office of the United States Department of Justice and a component of the Office of Justice Programs. The OJJDP publishes the JRFC Databook on even numbered years for informati ...
as well as partnerships with non-profit organizations, philanthropic corporations, and community action groups.
CASA are generally appointed at the first hearing for the welfare of a child. In some states, a child will be assigned a lawyer as
guardian ad litem
A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, ca ...
(GAL) to represent the child in court. The GAL can double as a CASA, and in some situations, a child will be assigned both a CASA and a GAL.
There are over 400,000 children aged 0–21 in foster care in the US.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the principal financial supporter of the National CASA/GAL Association, issued a "High Risk Letter" dated March 29, 2023, signaling a temporary suspension of funding. This communication followed a comprehensive joint review conducted in October 2022 by the department's juvenile justice and finance offices. The funding suspension arising from this determination has led to staff furloughs at the organization's three national offices located in Seattle, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. Additionally, it has caused delays in the disbursement of pass-through grants to certain local CASA/GAL nonprofits and has contributed to escalating internal tensions within the organization.
Training
CASA are volunteers from the community who complete training that has been provided by the state or local CASA office. The training consists of a minimum of 30 hours classroom instruction, court observation, and continued training each year. CASA must also pass a criminal background check. Each state develops its own program, implementing the national training and program standards. There are no educational requirements that CASA volunteers must meet, other than completing the training.
Criticism
A 2019 study commissioned by Texas CASA looking at the outcomes of 31,754 children found that children assigned a CASA in Texas were less likely to reach any type of permanency as a final case outcome. The study controlled for selection bias in previous studies whereby CASAs were appointed to the toughest cases. The study notes that its results are limited to the Texas programs and do not generalize to other states, did not confirm whether a CASA actually worked on each included case where a judge appointed one, and that it focused exclusively on legal permanency but not wellbeing or long-term effects. One law review article has found "structural racism" in CASA programs whereby volunteers overwhelmingly come from white and middle class backgrounds but are sent to investigate families that are disproportionately nonwhite and poor.
See also
*
Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act
The Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988, title VII, subtitle N of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, , , is part of a United States Act of Congress which places record-keeping requirements on the producers of actual, sexually ex ...
References
{{reflist
Legal organizations based in the United States
Foster care in the United States
Child welfare in the United States
Children's rights organizations in the United States