[1] In 1977, King County Superior Court Judge David Soukup was faced with making decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children with only the information provided by the state Child Protective Services.
[4] Fifty volunteers responded to his idea, which started a movement to provide better representation for abused and neglected children throughout the United States.
The National CASA agency relies on pass thru grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as well as partnerships with non-profit organizations, philanthropic corporations, and community action groups.
[6] The U.S. Department of Justice, the principal financial supporter of the National CASA/GAL Association, issued a "High Risk Letter" dated March 29, 2023, signaling a temporary suspension of funding.
The study notes that its results are limited to the Texas programs and do not generalize to other states, did not confirm whether a CASA actually worked on each included case where a judge appointed one, and that it focused exclusively on legal permanency but not wellbeing or long-term effects.
[14] One law review article has found "structural racism" in CASA programs whereby volunteers overwhelmingly come from white and middle class backgrounds but are sent to investigate families that are disproportionately nonwhite and poor.