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Advocating for Safe, Permanent Homes
for Abused and Neglected Children
11,000 children are in Georgia's foster care system. Juvenile court judges decide if children are removed from their home and sent to foster care, sent back home or sent to live with relatives. Judges decide how long children stay in foster care and if parental rights will be terminated. In 1977, a Seattle Superior Court Judge named David Soukup was concerned about making decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children without enough information. He raised funding to recruit and train community volunteers to obtain information and speak on behalf of children in court. In 1977, a CASA pilot program was formed based on Judge Soukup’s idea. In 1982, the National CASA Association was established to direct CASA’s emerging national presence.
Today, there are more than 68,000 advocates serving in 954 state and local program offices nationwide. Since the inception of CASA advocacy, volunteers have helped more than 2 million children find safe, permanent homes in which they can thrive.
CASA for Children trains and supports these community volunteers in Cherokee County. It is our goal to provide a voice for every child in our community that is placed in temporary foster care. We believe that every child deserves the chance to grow up in a safe and permanent home.
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Monday, February 08, 2010
