User:400lbs

California Court Appointed Special Advocate Association -- CalCASA

CalCASA was founded in 1986 by a convening of CASA program directors who wanted to ensure that the CASA mission was advanced in California. CalCASA's mission is to ensure that California’s abused and neglected children have a voice by ensuring that the juvenile court, the volunteers, and the local CASA programs have the leadership, training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy necessary to do their job.

A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained community volunteer who is appointed by a judge, commissioner, referee, or other bench officer to provide one-on-one advocacy for a child who is under the jurisdiction of the courts owing to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. These volunteers spend time with children, ensure that court-ordered services are provided, attend court hearings for children to whom they are assigned, and provide child-focused recommendations to the court based on the best interests of the children they serve.

CASA programs were first implemented in 1977 in Washington State; the following year the first CASA program in California began providing services to children. In 1988, legislation amended California's Welfare and Institutions Code (§ 100 et seq.) to require the Judicial Council to establish guidelines encouraging the development of local CASA programs. As a result, the Judicial Council adopted rule 5.655 (previously rule 1424) of the California Rules of Court, which contains mandatory requirements for CASA programs. The Judicial Council works closely with the California CASA Association to ensure that programs are in compliance with both rule 5.655 and National CASA standards.

As of 2007, there were 40 local CASA programs providing services in 43 of California's 58 counties, as well as one Tribal CASA program. In 2006, California local CASA programs served approximately 7,800 children. About 5,100 CASA volunteers donated an estimated 529,800 hours to advocate for 7,700 of those children and program staff alone served the other 100 children.

CASA programs in California are: Alameda, Amador, Butte/Glenn, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno/Madera, Humboldt, Imperial, Karuk Tribe of California, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Monterey/San Benito, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Ventura, and Yolo.

California CASA Home
CalCASA Blog
CalCASA YouTube Channel
National CASA Association Home