New programs are established at an average of two per month. Remember, CASA programs may carry a different name in individual communities. Currently six out of every 1,000 children in the United States under the age of 18 are in foster care. According to the U.S. Advisory Board, at least 2,000 children a year, or five children every day, die at the hands of their parents or caretakers. More children die at the hands of their parents than from falls, choking on food, suffocation, drowning or residential fires.
More children die from abuse and neglect in the home than from gunfire in the streets.
Near fatal abuse an neglect leaves 18,000 children permanently disabled each year, and 142,000 are seriously injured from severe abuse that did not kill them.