OJJDP FY 07 Court Appointed Special Advocates Program

Court Appointed Special Advocates' (CASA) are volunteers appointed by the courts who advocate for abused and neglected children. CASA volunteers are recruited, trained and supervised through local CASA programs and some state CASA programs. In addition to helping children find their way to safe, permanent homes, volunteers ensure that children, and often their parents, receive needed services such as therapy, healthcare and education. National CASA provides technical assistance, training and awareness/outreach to local and state CASA programs and offers a system to ensure that programs maintain the highest level of quality service to the communities they serve. NCASAA's grant program focuses on providing important financial resources to local and state CASA programs, while its Training and Technical Assistance program focuses on training local and state CASA programs in cultural competency and volunteer training, recruitment and retention with the goal of building strong, successful and effective programs.
Funding will support National CASA's goal to address the problem of unrepresented children in the child welfare system by increasing the number of CASA volunteers nationwide, increasing the number of children who are assigned a CASA volunteer and improving the quality of volunteer advocacy. In addition, funding will help increase the racial diversity of NCASAA's volunteer network to better reflect the children served. NCA/NCF