Who we are
The Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. began in 1995 as a program of the Harrison County Child Abuse Task Force, Inc. In February 2002 the Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. was established as a private non-profit organization. The Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. is governed by a Board of Directors made up of local community members and funded by grants, donations and special events.
Mission Statement
Harrison County CASA Program recruits, screens and provides trained Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers to provide quality advocacy for abused and neglected children in the Harrison County court system with the goal of timely placement in safe permanent homes.
The History of CASA
Harrison County CASA is part of a national volunteer movement that began in 1977, when a Seattle judge conceived the idea of using trained community volunteers to speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children in court. These Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) provided him with the detailed information he needed to safeguard the children’s best interests and ensure that they were placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. The program was so successful that it was replicated around the nation.
The National CASA Association was founded in 1982 and provides technical assistance and national leadership to local programs across the country. The CASA concept is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the American Bar Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children and Families.
Our volunteers are an amazing force for good, but we need more of them. Our vision is that every child who needs a volunteer will have one. With your help, we can reach that goal.
Today, there is a network of over 900 CASA programs and more than 59,000 trained volunteer advocates nationwide providing advocacy for 243,000 children – an impressive number yet just half of the children in the child welfare system at any given time. In 2007, in West Virginia, 288 CASA volunteers contributed 14,724 hours advocating for the best interests of 1,529 children.
Our Values
- We will provide independent, objective, factual information to the circuit court through quality court reports.
- We will be an active participant in the child’s case management team.
- We will be persistent and keep our commitment to the children
- We will perform our work with proficiency and professionalism.
- We will continue to improve ourselves through education and experience in order to improve the lives of the children we serve.
Our Goals
- To serve and improve outcomes for more children,
- To continuously improve volunteer effectiveness,
- To continuously increase program quality, and
- To share our insights to improve child welfare laws and policies.
What does it mean to be a certified CASA program?
The 948 local and state member CASA program offices adhere to formal standards set by National CASA and are required to pass a quality assurance review, which is administered every four years. This self-assessment is a course of action taken by local programs in order to evaluate and improve their operations.
Staff teams work together to answer 360 questions and gather 44 supporting documents for submission to National CASA. Professionals outside the CASA network determine overall compliance by conducting an independent review of the standards self-assessment instrument and supporting documentation. Programs must address any compliance concerns within six months in order to maintain CASA membership.
Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. is a certified CASA program.