Welcome to Court Appointed Special Advocates of Grayson County
Still Without a Voice
The Need for CASA
Although Federal law requires it, thousands of children still have no one to represent their best interests in court.
Sara was first put into foster care after her mother left her alone in their apartment for two days. She was four years old. The child lived in foster placement about a year until her mother decided she wanted her back. Eight months later, she left Sara with a neighbor "for a couple of hours."
For the next six years, Sara lived in four different foster homes, attended six schools, repeated two grades, ran away twice and went through four social workers. At age 13, she was picked up hitchhiking and put into a group home. She had been in the child welfare system nine years - two thirds of her young life.
In 1974, leaders in Washington, D.C. began hearing stories like Sara's and decided to do something to help. In January of that year, Congress passed The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act - a landmark legislation designed to protect children.
Among its requirements, the law created a new system for adjudicating abuse cases. The law said that all abused children must have a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) to represent their best interests in court. Its purpose was to keep children from falling through the cracks of the foster care system.
Sara's story, however, didn't take place 20 years ago. It is, instead, based on cases pending on the 1990 docket of U.S. courts. Sara is one of thousands of abused and neglected children in the child welfare system today who, although federal law requires it, have never had anyone speak for their best interests.
Something isn't working.
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 affects every abused child in the U.S. courts and, ultimately, every CASA volunteer. It states:
"In order for a state to qualify for assistance (i.e. federal money for child welfare program(s))...such state shall provide that in every case involving an abused or neglected child which results in a judicial proceeding, a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) shall be appointed to represent the child."
That means nearly all of the estimated 300,000 children now in foster care across America should each have an advocate to watch out for his or her interests as long as he or she is in the court system.
The federal law stipulates that the GAL can be either an attorney or a CASA volunteer. As a direct result of P.L. 93-247, hundreds of juvenile and family courts now use CASA volunteers to help meet the requirements of this law.
