CASA History

The Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program originated in Seattle, Washington in 1977 by request of Judge David Soukup, the presiding judge of King County Superior Court.

Judge Soukup saw a rise in the number of child abuse and neglect cases appearing before his court and felt that he was not getting the information he needed to determine the best placement for each child’s circumstances. The Guardian Ad Litem, though charged with advocating for the best interest of the child, often had neither the time nor the training to provide adequate information to the court. Social workers were equally overburdened.

At Judge Soukup’s request, the Seattle court began recruiting and training volunteers to serve as advocates for children in abuse and neglect cases. In 1978 a nationwide study was conducted for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to evaluate volunteer programs in juvenile courts. The Seattle program was termed one of the most successful and innovative.

When the Seattle program was found to be so successful, other courts began to organize CASA programs. Currently there are 946 programs in all 49 states and the District of Columbia. In 2006, 220,129 abused and neglected children had a CASA or GAL volunteer advancing their best interests. CASA programs across the country recruited, trained, supervised, and suported a total of 57,938 volunteers to carry out this important work.

In 1988 the Virginia Beach Juvenile Court Judges requested that a CASA program be developed in Virginia Beach to advocate for safe, permanent homes for the abused and neglected children of this city. The first class of CASA volunteers completed training and started accepting cases in May 1989. At that time there were only 3 other programs in the state. In 1990, the General Assembly enacted legislation providing for statewide implementation of the CASA program. Today there are 28 CASA programs in Virginia, with several jurisdictions looking into starting programs in the near future.

Start-up funds for Virginia Beach CASA were obtained from the E.C. Wareheim Foundation. Ongoing funding is secured through grants, charitable donations and from the organization's Annual Fundraiser. Virginia Beach CASA incorporated in May 1994 and is recognized as a 501 C (3) Non-Profit Organization.

CASA HISTORY