social work

COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES (CASA)

National CASA

In 1977, a Seattle Superior Court Judge named David Soukup was concerned

about trying to make decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children

without enough information. He conceived the idea of appointing community

volunteers to speak up in court about what was in the best interest of the

child. He made a request for volunteers; 50 citizens responded, and that was

the start of the CASA movement. News of the success of Judge Soukop’s

experiment spread like wildfire and CASA programs sprang up all over the

United States.

Currently, there are over 1,000 CASA programs throughout the United States

and CASA volunteers have helped more than 2 million children find safe,

permanent homes in which they can thrive. CASA programs across the country

are known by several different names, including Guardian ad Litem, Child

Advocates and Voices for Children. Since the inception of CASA advocacy,

volunteers have helped well over 1,000,000 children find safe and permanent

homes.

CASA in NJ

The first CASA programs in NJ were established in 1986 and 1987 with Essex

County and Morris County respectively. CASA of NJ was created in 2000 to

address the need to expand CASA programs throughout the state. In addition

to expanding the CASA model into all counties, CASA of NJ provides support

to community-based CASA programs in NJ, primarily through funding,

training, public education, and technical assistance. Additionally, it provides a

forum for local CASA programs to share resources, improve their programs,

and unify CASA’s voice on behalf of children in foster care statewide.

What is CASA?

A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained citizen who is

appointed by a judge to represent the best interests of a child in court. Children helped by CASA volunteer include those who have been

removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect .

A CASA volunteer provides a judge with a carefully researched

background of the child to help the court make a sound decision about that child’s future. Each case is as unique as the child involved. T he

CASA volunteer can recommend, if it is in the child’s best interest, for the child to remain in foster care, be returned to his or her

parent/guardian, or be freed for adoption. The CASA volunteer follows through on the case until it is permanently resol ved.

A volunteer may also make recommendations to the court concerning

the court order. If the order is not being followed pertaining to service

provisions for the child, the volunteer may bring that to the attention

of the court in order for the child to receive those services.

To prepare a recommendation, the CASA volunteer talks with the child,

parents, family members, social workers, school officials, health

providers and others who are knowledgeable about the child’s history.

The CASA volunteer also reviews all records pertaining to the child –

school, medical, case worker reports, and other documents .

CASA are not social workers in this sense. Social workers generally

are employed by state governments. They sometimes work on as many

as 30 to 60 cases at a time and are responsible for the entire family.

The CASA volunteer has one or two cases and concentrates primarily

on the children. The CASA volunteer does not replace the social worker

on a case; he or she is an independent appointee of the court .

The CASA volunteer does not provide legal representation in the

courtroom. That is the role of an attorney. A CASA volunteer does not

represent the child’s wishes in court. Rather, they speak for the child’s

best interests.

CASA volunteers come from all walks of life, with a variety of

professional, educational and ethnic backgrounds. Nationally, there

are more than 47,000 CASA volunteer. Aside from CASA volunteer

work, 52% are employed in regular full-time jobs. The majority tend

to be professionals - 82% of the volunteers nationwide are women,

18% are men.

CASA volunteers offer children advocacy and work to gain their trust.

They visit the child on average, once a month. In these visits they

listen to the child’s opinion of where they would like to live

permanently and what their hopes are for the future, while remaining

objective observers. They may help encourage a child to cooperate

with treatment, to expand their interests into positive activities, foster

sibling visits, and be there to listen to a lonely child .

A CASA does not have a close relationship with the child the way a Big

Brother or Big Sister would. As an advocate, you see the child

approximately once a month. The CASA role is to facilitate services

for the child, not to have the child or the family become dependent

upon them.

CASAs meet birth parents in neutral places—such as: diners, fast food

restaurants, the place they may go for therapy or visits with their

child, or outside the courtroom. The safety of the volunteer is very

important to us. If the child is going to be reunited with the parent(s),

the CASA often goes to visit where they live shortly before this takes

place, as part of their independent assessment of the situation .

Family court judges implement the CASA program in their courtrooms

and appoint the volunteers. CASA has been endorsed by the American

Bar Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court

Judges and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

of the U.S. Department of Justice.