We believe that all children have the right to a home with loving people to care for them. But each year in the United States, children are abused, neglected or abandoned by their families. They are removed from their homes and placed in foster care or institutions. Eventually, they end up in court. Their only "crime" is that they have been victims. It is up to the judge to decide their future.

Should they remain in foster care? Be reunited with parents? Or be adopted? In these cases, many children also become victims a second time, lost in an overburdened child welfare system that cannot pay close attention to each child whose life is in its hands.

That's where CASA comes in. CASA volunteers are Court Appointed Special Advocates for children - trained community volunteers appointed by a judge as Officers of the court to speak up for children in juvenile court, and to help to humanize the often frightening and confusing child welfare and legal systems for these children.

To learn more you can watch "Heroes" a short video developed by National CASA.

What We Do

124,000 of California's children are in foster care because they have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. In many cases these children become victims a second time -- in an overburdened child welfare system that cannot pay close attention to each child whose life is in its hands.

The volunteer gets to know the child and then lets the judge and others in the child welfare system know the child's perspective and the child's needs.

A Case Statement Supporting the Use of Volunteers as Court Appointed Special Advocates/Guardians ad Litem

The volunteer nature of our work is the very foundation on which the CASA program is built and is certainly one of the greatest strengths of our national network. Volunteers are in fact the heart of what we do for children.

In 1990 with the inclusion of the CASA Program in the Victims of Child Abuse Act, Congress affirmed the use of volunteers in our otherwise closed juvenile court systems and made provisions for the growth of our volunteer movement nationwide.

Why volunteers? By the very nature of their “volunteerism” they empower themselves through their commitment of time and energy. Volunteers generally work on only one or two cases at a time and their focus gives them the ability to see and do more on behalf of the child. They stay with the case from beginning to end and serve the program an average of 30 months.

Volunteers are also independent of bureaucratic constraints that often keep those employed by our local institutions playing by rules that are outdated or often make less than common sense. Certainly CASA/GAL volunteers do not work in a vacuum. It takes the strong support and guidance of local program staff to facilitate their work. Careful screening, training, supervision, and retention are essential to assure high quality volunteer advocacy. Although paid staff play an integral role in the coordination and management of the program, the traditional role of staff does not include routinely working cases. One primary reason is cost-effectiveness. It is certainly more cost-effective to have one staff person coordinating 30 volunteers serving 75 children as opposed to one staff person carrying 25 cases with 60 children Still, cost-effectiveness is only a small component of our commitment to the use of volunteers.

Volunteers bring a much needed outside perspective to our court and child welfare systems. Their lack of past experience in the system not only brings a fresh perspective to what we do, it opens our doors to the community and helps raise public awareness of the plight of our community’s abused and neglected children.

To a child, having a volunteer working for them can make all the difference. Hundreds of children across the country have been moved when understanding the notion, “you don’t get paid to do this?” It shows to them the level of concern and commitment being made by the volunteer. No, it’s not part of their “job.” Volunteers are ordinary citizens, doing extraordinary work for children, and along the way bringing such passion, dedication, and effort to their work.

In 1988, CSR, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published the results of a study entitled, National Evaluation of Guardians ad Litem in Child Abuse or Neglect Judicial Proceedings. After analyzing five types of GAL models the study found that:

“CASA volunteers are excellent investigators and mediators, remain involved in the case and fight for what they think is right for the child.” The study concluded, “We give the CASA models our highest recommendation.”

In our over twenty-five year history, well-trained and supervised CASA/GAL volunteers have repeatedly demonstrated their competence in providing high quality advocacy for children. Volunteers are the very foundation on which our movement is built and remain the most effective and efficient mechanism to serve the greatest number of abused and children well.