Fact Sheet

Mission
The mission of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association, together with its state and local members, is to support and promote court-appointed volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children so they can thrive in safe, permanent homes.

Service
CASA volunteers are trained to act as first-hand experts on the individual needs of abused and neglected children, giving them the best possible chance at a hopeful future.

Leadership
Michael Piraino has served as chief executive officer of the National CASA Association since 1994, overseeing such projects as a nationwide grants program providing millions of dollars in funding for volunteer advocacy programs, a new 30-hour comprehensive volunteer training curriculum, a national quality assurance program, a major multi-site outcome evaluation project and national public relations efforts.

Piraino has law degrees from Cornell Law School and Oxford University. While practicing law, he represented children as a guardian ad litem and served as a consultant to international social service and child advocacy organizations in Europe and Southeast Asia. Piraino has also worked as a juvenile probation officer and was an associate research scientist for the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University.

Among Michael Piraino's professional achievements, he has authored and co-authored several publications including "Discrimination in Employment" in the Cornell Law Review, A Guide for Children's Advocates and the Children's Databook. He has also been a frequent speaker and presenter at symposia on children, including the United Nations NGO Experts' Meeting on Adoption and Foster Care, the Rockefeller Archives Institute Symposium on Children at Risk and the Amnesty International Forum on Children.

As a result of his service to children, Piraino received the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' President's Award in 1998 and the New York Decade of the Child Award in 1992.

History
CASA's inception dates back to 1977, when a Seattle judge concerned over making decisions about abused and neglected children's lives without sufficient information conceived a way to ensure their placement in a safe and loving environment. His idea to train community volunteers to speak for the best interests of children in court was so successful that, soon, judges across the country began utilizing citizen advocates.

In 1990, the US Congress encouraged CASA programs' expansion with the passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Today, more than 1,018 CASA program offices operate in 49 states, with more than 68,000 men and women serving as CASA volunteers.

Approximately 83% of CASA programs have been active for more than a decade.