In 1977, a Seattle Superior Court Judge named David Soukup was concerned about making drastic decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children in foster care with insufficient information. He conceived the idea of citizens volunteers to become advocates for foster children. He made a request for volunteers; 50 citizens responded and became the start of the CASA movement. News of the success of Judge Soukup’s experiment spread and CASA programs sprang up all over the United State. Today CASA is a network of more than 951 programs in 49 states recruiting, training, and supporting volunteers to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in the courtroom and other settings.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports that children with a CASA Advocate are substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care and families with a CASA Advocate receive more services and cases where CASA is involved are more likely to be permanently closed, leading the OIG to conclude that "CASA is effective in identifying the needs of children and parents."
