Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a national volunteer movement, began in 1976. Its founder, Seattle Superior Court Judge David Soukup, decided he couldn’t endure any more sleepless nights worrying about the impact his decisions had on abused and neglected children.
At that time, children in foster care didn’t receive the same representation in court as parents did. Judge Soukup set out to right this wrong. He thought well-trained volunteers could ensure children’s voices were heard and provide judges with the necessary insight to make the best possible decisions.
By 1977, Judge Soukup formed the first CASA program to recruit, train, and supervise every-day people who volunteered to build meaningful relationships and advocate for abused and neglected children in juvenile dependency court. Those first 50 volunteers became Court Appointed Special Advocates, and gave birth to a movement. Today, close to 1,000 CASA programs serve children in 49 of our 50 states.