CASA-Advocates For Kids

The mission of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is to provide trained volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children in Lewis and Clark, Broadwater and Meagher Counties, subject to District Court jurisdiction. CASA - Advocates for Kids provides any and all activities necessary to promote the health, safety and welfare of children in dependent neglect cases.

Description:
CASA-Advocates for Kids provides trained volunteers who serve as advocates for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Children with CASA volunteers benefit in many ways. They are more likely to be placed in safe, permanent homes; more likely to receive better services; and less likely to encounter numerous placement changes. The National CASA Association estimates that children with a CASA volunteer are substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care, defined as more than 3 years in care: 13.3% of CASA cases versus 27% of all children in foster care.

CASA helps "permanently close" cases involving abused and neglected children. In other words, children served by CASA volunteers are less likely to reenter the child welfare system. Only 9% of CASA children compared to 16% of all others will end up back in the system after a case is closed.

History:
Since Helena's CASA-Advocates for Kids (Court Appointed Special Advocates) began in October, 1998, this organization has set an amazing record: CASA - Advocates for Kids has been able to meet all the demands made by the First Judicial District Court - a volunteer for every child in need. The organization is guided by a Board of Directors, which sets policy for the program.

Guardian ad litem programs orginally began in 1977, when concerned over making decisions about abused and neglected children's lives without sufficient information, a Seattle judge conceived the idea of using trained community volunteers to speak for the best interests of these children in court...

So successful was this Seattle program that soon judges across the country began utilizing citizen advocates. In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA with passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Today more than 900 CASA programs are in operation across the country, with over 50,000 women and men serving as CASA volunteers. CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocate.

Contact people:

Liz Costello, (phone), (email) Pam Young, Office Manager, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (406) 457-0797

Address:

133 Reeder's Alley Helena, MT 59601 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.helenacasa.org

Directions:

Take Park Street southward so that the Blackfoot Brewery is on your right hand side. Reeder's Alley will be on your right hand side, with a clearly marked entrance sign.

Last updated on August 4, 2009