Overview
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.
To read about other ways you get involved go to Join Our Efforts .
Who Are CASAs?
CASA volunteers are people like you. They are teachers, college students, business people, retirees, stay-at-home moms, etc. They are ordinary people doing extraordinary work. They are people who want to ensure that foster children have their needs met and make certain that the voices of abused and neglected children are heard. You don’t need any special educational background, only the desire to help abused, neglected and abandoned foster children.
What do CASAs Do?
CASA volunteers get to know the child and speak to everyone involved in the child’s life including their family members, teachers, attorneys, social workers, therapists, psychiatrists, and others. To effectively advocate, CASA volunteers research the facts of the case, create a plan for advocacy, facilitate a collaborative relationship between all parties on the case, make written recommendations to the court and monitor progress towards established goals. The information they gather and their recommendations help the court make informed decisions.
CASA’s Impact
Judges truly value the observations and recommendations of CASA volunteers, knowing that they have the child’s best interests at heart. Unlike social workers, therapists, and attorneys who juggle large caseloads and rarely have time to focus on a single child, CASA volunteers work with only one child at a time and often become one of the most important people in that child's life.
CASA volunteers can be the difference between success and failure in a child’s life. By simply listening, encouraging, guiding and speaking up for a child, CASA volunteers help these vulnerable children and teens to reach their full potential. Sometimes it is just allowing a child to feel cared about for the first time, and sometimes it is helping to find a loving, permanent home for a child. Clearly, the combination of consistent mentoring and advocacy for a child’s needs results in a much greater chance that these kids will achieve a bright, successful future.
- CASA volunteers help shorten the time a child spends in foster care.*
- Children with a CASA volunteer are less likely to re-enter the child welfare system once their case is closed.*
- CASA volunteers help children and their families receive the services they need.*
- CASA has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice as a model juvenile delinquency prevention program.
*Source: Study conducted by National CASA and U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs, 2006
Download the Volunteer Application Form
U.S. Department of Justice Findings
13.3% of all foster children remain in care more than three years, as opposed to 5.5% of children with a CASA volunteer.
Of the general foster care population, 16% end up reentering the system, while the figure for kids served by CASA is below 10%.
If the children we served last year end up spending an average of one month less in foster care than they would have otherwise, that would mean a savings of $582 million.