 |
A frustrated judge had an idea...
In 1976, a Superior Court judge in Seattle heard a case that made him desperate. A three-year-old girl appeared to have been abused, but her mother maintained she had fallen out of a swing and that the mother's boyfriend was not around. "Do I take this child out of the only home she's ever known, or do I pick up the paper in three weeks to read that the boyfriend killed the child?" asked the judge. He needed more information.
|
Soon, judges across the country began utilizing citizen advocates, who formed the National CASA Association as a private, non-profit organization.
In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA with the passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act.
New York City CASA was formed in 1979. The staff and volunteers worked out of a single room in Manhattan Family Court.
Over the years, CASA has expanded to serve all five boroughs of New York City. Before expanding into the other boroughs, CASA met with each borough's Supervising Judge and other community leaders in order to develop a needs assessment and obtain their cooperation and support.
New York CASA has grown dramatically in these 28-plus years, but not as dramatically as the demand. While the number of children in foster care in New York City has decreased in recent years, the number of difficult cases for which judges request CASA assistance has not declined.
We are one of more than 900 CASA programs across the country, with almost 74,000 women and men serving as volunteers in these programs. Last year, CASA volunteers helped more than 288,000 children in communities across the country.
Since the founding of the first CASA, its volunteer advocates have helped more than one million chldren find safe, permanent homes and a second chance for a positive future.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
  |
|
CASA NYC 50 Broadway, 31st Floor New York, NY 10004-1694 Phone: 212-334-4010 Fax: 212-334-4018