A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a community volunteer who is appointed by a Judge to represent the best interests of a child involved in a Dependency, Abuse, or neglect case.

A CASA provides the Judge with a carefully researched report of their appointed child/children to help the court make sound decisions about the child’s/children’s future. Each case is as unique as the child or children involved. The CASA will make recommendations on placement and services that are in the best interest of the child/children to the Judge. The CASA will continue the case until the child/children are placed in a safe and permanent home.

To prepare a recommendation, the CASA talks with the child, parents, family members, social workers, school officials, health providers, and others who are knowledgeable about the child’s history. CASA also utilizes their court order of appointment to collect records from various sources to review prior to making recommendations.

CASA Volunteers come from all walks of life, with a variety of professional, educational and ethnic backgrounds. Volunteers are ordinary citizens, that are twenty-one years of age or older. No special or legal background is required. However, volunteers are screened closely for objectivity, competence, and commitment.

CASA Volunteers undergo a thorough, one-time, 30- hour training. Volunteers learn about courtroom procedure from the principals in the system: judges, lawyers, service providers, caseworkers, court personnel and others. Volunteers learn effective advocacy techniques and are educated about specific topics ranging from child sexual abuse to early childhood development and adolescent behavior. Cultural awareness and sensitivity are part of the training curriculum. The culmination of the initial training is the swearing-in ceremony with the Judge where the CASA Volunteers become sworn officers of the Court.

Following the initial training, Volunteers are required to complete 12 hours of Continued Education a year to remain active with cases. The Continued Education is pro-rated from the time a volunteer is sworn in. From the sworn in date Volunteers will be assigned one case and will continue with that case until it is completed.

Children who are victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect for whom cases have been filed in the Juvenile Court, are assigned a CASA Volunteer.

Children with a CASA Volunteer are half as likely to spend time in long-term foster care, defined as more than three years in care. Cases involving Volunteers are more likely to be permanently closed. Fewer than 10% of children with a CASA Volunteer reenter the foster care system. Volunteers spend most of their time with a child. They generally handle just one or two cases at a time so that they can give each child the sustained, personal attention he or she deserves. To a child, that means a consistent and caring adult in his or her life.

Yes. Juvenile and family court judges implement the CASA program in their courtrooms and appoint the Volunteers. CASA has been endorsed by the American Bar Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators. CASA is a major project of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority and Kiwanis.

The National CASA Association is a non-profit organization that represents and serves local CASA Programs. It provides training, technical assistance, research, legislative awareness, news, and public awareness services to members. The National CASA Association is in Seattle, Washington, and is funded through a combination of private grants, federal funds, memberships and contributions.

Our organization takes our privacy policy seriously and takes steps to protect and ensure the safety of our supporters. We do not sell or otherwise disclose information about our volunteers or supporters outside of our immediate organization. This policy has no exceptions. We do not sell or exchange your information with any other organizations, public, private or nonprofit. For more detailed information visit our Privacy Policy page.

To provide an abused and neglected child with a CASA volunteer for an entire year costs $1,000. This goes to training volunteers, conducting background checks, and providing support for volunteers. Comparatively, a child in foster care costs the Commonwealth of Kentucky $1,000 a month.

We have a responsibility to our community and our donors and work hard to ensure long-term sustainability of the organization. We make our IRS Form 990 available for review, as required by law.