What is CASA
The Alameda County CASA Program is an organization that provides one-on-one court advocacy to abused, neglected, or abandoned children who are dependents of the juvenile court. The children are part of the system through no fault of their own; many have been removed from their families due to the abuse they have suffered.
Alameda County CASA serves abused, neglected, or abandoned children by recruiting, training, and supervising adult volunteers who are appointed by a juvenile court judge to speak for the best interests of the child. They also aid the judge in finding the child a safe, permanent home.
Throughout our history, CASA volunteers have helped to meet the emotional and physical safety needs of thousands of abused and neglected children. Volunteers advocate on behalf of the children’s educational, mental health, medical/dental, and family/sibling visitation needs, and work to increase the likelihood that the children are placed in homes and with families in which they will thrive. In a sometimes-bewildering sea of child welfare workers, attorneys, therapists and caregivers, the CASA volunteer is a consistent and caring adult and advocate for the child. The one-on-one relationship that forms between the volunteer and dependent child is often the only stable relationship the child has while in foster care.
History of CASA
The origins of the CASA movement can be traced to the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, when increasing numbers of minors were becoming “lost” in the judicial system. With increasing frequency, children and young adults were victims of “foster drift” between organizations and service agencies. Their lack of government-mandated representation in court generally meant that those youths without representation were reliant on overburdened social workers to pursue their best interests when they were called into court.
This systemic shortcoming led King County Judge David Soukup to create the first CASA program in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle program eventually spawned a national movement, though the movement grew in stages, as communities grew increasingly aware of their needs for juvenile advocacy and learned of the CASA movement. As more and more communities came to implement CASA programs, state and national agencies also came into being. At the national level, the CASA program’s strength is in the development of materials and policies, and the provision of funding; at the state level, the agency is primarily devoted to providing technical assistance to local agencies and newly developed CASAs.
History
Established in 1987, the Alameda County Court Appointed Special Advocates’ (ACCASA) mission is to promote and support quality volunteer advocates to speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the dependency court system.
Alameda County CASA is a member of the National CASA Association, and is one of more than 900 CASA programs nationwide. The Alameda County Health Care Service Agency, the CASA Executive Director, and the Presiding Juvenile Court Judge jointly oversee CASA. The Friends of Alameda County CASA, Inc. (FOACC) is the 501 (c) 3 organization made up of local community members who support CASA by raising public awareness and funds to support CASAs work.