WHAT WE DO
Our Model and How it Works...
CASA/GAL volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for children’s best interests. They stay with each case until it is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home. We serve children from birth through the age defined by state statute as the limit to youth remaining in care.
Volunteers work with legal and child welfare professionals, educators and service providers to ensure that judges have all the information they need to make the most well-informed decisions for each child.
Our best-interest advocacy is driven by the guiding principle that children grow and develop
best with their family of origin, if that can be safely achieved. Most of the children we work
with are in foster care, but some are with their family of origin. And, most children who
leave foster care do so to return to their family.
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Children with a CASA spend less time in care and are less likely to re-enter the system due to abuse or neglect.
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“CASA volunteers play a unique role on behalf of some of our most vulnerable children. Their commitment, vigilance and persistence offer hope where there has been little.”
– Marian Wright Edelman,
Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund