CASA, First Judicial District is a non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting community volunteers who speak up for the best interests of abused and neglected foster children in court. These well-trained, passionate and committed volunteers are appointed by our Children's Court judge to collect detailed information on a child or sibling group and act as objective eyes, ears, and voices for the children, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that the child lands in a safe and loving home – whether that home is with the biological parents, other family members, or in an adoptive family.
We work in concert with the children’s court judge, lawyers, social workers, parents, teachers, and the children themselves to gather information on the child’s situation and the progress of court-ordered therapies in order to make the best recommendation possible for the long-term health, safety, and well-being of the child.
The CASA, First Judicial District was incorporated in 1995 to serve the northern New Mexico counties of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Los Alamos. We are active members of the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association and the New Mexico CASA Network. Our small staff supports more than 70 volunteers and annually serve over 120 abused and neglected children in our region. Our ongoing goal is to have a trained CASA available for every child that needs one -- a goal we reached in 2010!
Nationally, CASA was formed in 1977 when a Seattle judge, concerned over making decisions about abused and neglected childrens' lives without sufficient information, 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 1000 CASA program offices are in operation, with over 70,000 trained women and men serving as CASA volunteers for 225,000 children.