The CASA volunteer must determine if it is in a child's best interest to stay with his or her parents or guardians, be placed in foster care, be placed with other relatives, or be freed for permanent adoption. To prepare a recommendation, the CASA volunteer talks with the child, parents, family members, social workers, school officials, health providers and others who are knowledgeable about the child's history. The CASA volunteer does not provide legal representation. That is the role of the attorney. However, the CASA volunteer does provide crucial background information that assists attorneys in presenting their cases.
CASA volunteers come from all walks of life, with a variety of educational and ethnic backgrounds.
There are more than 52,000 CASA volunteers nationally. The number varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but an average caseload is one to two. There are now 900 CASA programs in every state across the country including Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Research suggests that children who have been assigned CASA volunteers tend to spend less time in court and less time within the foster care system than those who do not have CASA representation. Judges have observed that CASA children also have better chances of finding permanent homes than non-CASA children.