Every day in this country, 1,900 children become victims of abuse or neglect, and four of them will die. Every day. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children is a network of 933 community-based programs that recruit, train, and support citizen volunteers to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in courtrooms and communities. Volunteer advocates—empowered directly by the courts—offer judges the critical information they need to ensure that each child’s rights and needs are being attended to while in foster care.

Volunteers stay with children until they are placed in loving permanent homes. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer is the only constant adult presence in their lives.

Douglass Community Services CASA trains and supports volunteers who speak independently for the best interest of abused and neglected children in the 10th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Marion, Monroe, and Ralls Counties in Missouri. Our volunteers promote each child's right to a safe, permanent, and nurturing home.

Train and support volunteers so every abused and neglected child in the 10th circuit has a caring, consistent adult to advocate in their best interests.

For every child to have a safe, permanent home and the opportunity to thrive.

We collaborate with each other, our community, our volunteers and stakeholders to effectively and creatively carry out our mission.

We pursue excellence in everything we do and strive to provide the best advocacy for children who have experienced abuse and neglect. We evaluate our program and strive for continuous improvement; putting our heart and mind in the work to get the best results.

We believe every human has inherent value and dignity. We value and respect both our similarities and individual differences. We seek to foster a trusting and open environment.

We are committed to being responsive, respectful, honest and fair. We honor our commitments and are accountable to our stakeholders for our actions. We strive to maintain an environment based on mutual respect and understanding.

As we work to serve the children entrusted to our program, we operate from a common purpose, act with integrity, being reliable and responsible to our community partners.

In 1977, Seattle Superior Court Judge, David Soukup, was concerned about making decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children without enough information. He had the idea of appointing community volunteers to speak up for the best interests of these children in court. He made a request for volunteers—Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA®). Fifty citizens responded, and that was the start of the CASA movement. Since the inception of CASA advocacy, volunteers have helped missions of children to find safe, permanent homes.

If you are wanting to find out more information on becoming a CASA or have questions, please let us know.