NCJ Number
197632
Journal
Children's Legal Rights Journal Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 2002 Pages: 2-9
Date Published
2002
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article discusses research findings on the impact of court appointed special advocates (CASAs).
Abstract
CASAs are trained community volunteers that represent children in court proceedings. In the year 2000, 898 CASA programs with approximately 58,600 volunteers represented 229,000 children. The volunteers make a commitment for the duration of a child’s involvement with the child welfare system. Because they are assigned only one case at a time, they are able to give more time and attention to a case than attorney Guardian Ad Litems (GALs), who commonly have large caseloads. They also act as an impartial influence in judicial proceedings because they advocate only for the child and do not side with either the State or the parent. There are four CASA models used across the country: (1) the GAL model, in which the CASA volunteer is appointed as the child’s GAL; (2) the Friend of the Court model, where the volunteer makes recommendations to the court; (3) the Team model, where a CASA volunteer and an attorney perform the functions of the GAL; and (4) the Monitor model, where the volunteer monitors court orders for compliance. The results of 11 empirical studies using quantitative methodology are described. Despite the trend of child welfare systems failing children, study results show that CASA programs hold promise for helping children that have been abused or neglected. CASAs can serve to monitor the system and perhaps improve case outcomes as well as foster care processes. One study demonstrated that children with court-assigned volunteers were more likely to experience case resolution than children without assigned volunteers. Three studies indicated that children served by CASA volunteers were more likely to be adopted. While some studies show the positive impact of CASAs, there are also studies that show no difference in these outcomes for children with CASAs. However, this result is often interpreted as a positive finding for CASA programs because of the cost differential between CASA volunteers and attorneys. With respect to foster care and court processes, the research more strongly suggests that CASAs significantly influence these activities. 93 footnotes