 Texas CASA is part of a national volunteer movement that began over 25 years ago, when a judge in Seattle decided he needed to know more about the children whose lives were in his hands. The solution he started was using community volunteers as a "voice in court" for abused and neglected children. These Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) provided him with the detailed information he needed to safeguard the children's best interests and ensure that they were placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. The program was so successful that it was copied around the nation. In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA with passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act.
Today, the CASA movement has evolved into one of the largest volunteer organizations in the country. There are more than 900 CASA programs in operation - at least one in every state - and more than 52,000 trained volunteer advocates nationwide. In fiscal year 2005 in Texas, 4,636 CASA volunteers advocated for the best interests of 18,949 children in 194 counties.
The first CASA program in Texas began in Dallas in 1979. Texas CASA, which was formed in 1989, serves the 63 local CASA programs currently operating statewide by providing: funding; training; technical assistance; coordination for program expansion and development; and tools and strategies for raising public awareness of child abuse and the need for volunteer advocates.
CASA of Johnson County was founded February 20, 2003 when Judge John Neill saw the need for a CASA organization in our community. Volunteers took their first cases in July 2003. Since then, CASA has been assigned to over 100 cases and served more than 180 abused and neglected children in Johnson County. We currently have 56 trained volunteers and two office staff providing a powerful voice for 315 abused and neglected children in Johnson County.
"As a judge, I had to make crucial decisions. I had to decide whether to take a child from the only home he's ever known, or leave him somewhere with the possibility of being abused. I needed someone who could tell me what was best for that child from the child's viewpoint. That's what CASA of Johnson County does," said founder, Judge Neill. "CASA volunteers have truly become champions for these children."
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 court, and to help to humanize the often frightening and confusing child welfare and legal systems for these children.
Visit becomeacasa.org to learn how you can get started and pass the CASA story along!
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