Why every child in need deserves an advocate

A child with a CASA volunteer is more likely to find a safe, permanent home.
  • More likely to be adopted
  • Half as likely to re-enter foster care
  • Substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care
  • More likely to have a plan for permanency, especially children of color

Children with a CASA volunteer get more help while in the system.
  • Because of your personal attention, more services are ordered for the children

Children with a CASA volunteer spend less time in foster care.
“It is quite remarkable that children without CASA involvement are spending an average of over eight months longer in care, compared to children having CASA involvement.” -Cynthia A. Calkins, M.S., and Murray Millar, Ph.D., “The Effectiveness of Court Appointed Special Advocates to Assist in Permanency Planning,” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal.

Children with a CASA volunteer are better represented in courts.
  • CASA volunteers Reduce the time needed by lawyers
  • CASA volunteers are more likely than paid lawyers to file written reports
  • For each of 9 duties, judges rated CASA volunteers more highly than attorneys
  • Highly effective in having their recommendations adopted by the court

Children with CASA volunteers do better in school.
  • More likely to pass all courses
  • Less likely to have poor conduct in school
  • Less likely to be expelled

Children with a CASA Volunteer score better on nine protective factors than children without a CASA.
  1.  Neighborhood resources
  2.  Interested adults
  3. Sense of acceptance
  4.  Controls against deviant behavior 
  5. Models of conventional behavior
  6. Positive attitude towards the future 
  7. Valuing achievement
  8. Ability to work with others 
  9. Ability to work out conflicts


*Source of information: National CASA

    
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"CASA is critical to child abuse prevention and intervention in Central Oregon"
 -Keavy Cook, Senior Program Officer, The Ford Family Foundation
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"Our community is strengthened when children are supported through the childwelfare process. Judges rely heavily on input from the child’s CASA in order to ascertain and protect the child’s best interests." 
- Lori Hellis, Family Law Attorney