COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA): Impact on Social Development



Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA): Impact on Social Development

Introduction

Each year, millions of children in the United States are abused, neglected, or left behind by their families. More than half a million children end up in the foster care system. Unfortunately, numerous of these children manage not have the advantage of a citizen's voice in the courtroom, talking for their best interests. Without a voice, these children can fall through the chinks of our communal service and judicial systems. These children, abused and neglected by those they believe the most, can be victimized a second time by the schemes that have been ostensibly set up to defend them. The Court Appointed Special Advocate Program was conceived to make a affirmative distinction in the inhabits of these children through a nationwide mesh of dedicated volunteers.

Seattle Superior Court Judge David Soukup was not snug producing conclusions for abused and neglected children without correct information. In 1977, he evolved the concept of having community volunteers to advocate for children in court. His primary demand for volunteers completed with 50 pacing up to take on that required role. (www.casanet.org)

 

Discussion

Concerned with the staggering number of children in foster care, the United States Congress in 1974 enacted Public Law 93-274, the “Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act,” which supplied economic aid to states for the avoidance and remedy of child abuse and neglect. The legislation encompassed a obligation for that assistance: mandatory designation of a guardian publicity litem (GAL) to comprise the abused or neglected child's best concerns in every case which produced in a judicial proceeding. (Harris 2000)

The legislation did not identify that the guardian publicity litem had to be an advocate, but generally it was an advocate who was nominated to load up this role. In 1976, Judge David W. Soukup, then Presiding Judge of King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington, sought for alternate modes to double-check that the child's best concerns would be consistently comprised to the court. He discovered that couple of court-appointed lawyers had the time or the teaching to carry on the comprehensive enquiry that would extract the data the court needed.

Judge Soukup determined to utilize taught community volunteers who would be inquired to make a long-run firm promise to a child for who they would assist as guardians publicity litem. Judge Soukup's notion became a ...