Endorsements

“The Citizen Review Board greatly values CASA input in our review process and relies on the CASA to perform an independent assessment of the case and to communicate this unique perspective during our case reviews. Due to the increased number of children coming into care, largely because of the methamphetamine epidemic we have in Oregon, our volunteer programs are in critical need.

Although the CASA program is growing and currently has 32 volunteers, there are still many acute cases for which CASA volunteers are needed.

Without funding and adequate staff support, the CASA program cannot flourish.”
—Suzanne Callahan, Citizen Review Board Field Manager

“CASAs know how to speak both the legal language of court and the love language of children. Current Oregon law mandates the courts to appoint a CASA for every child in foster care, yet this mandate is woefully underfunded.”
—Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass

“I, Michael Newman, Presiding Judge in civil child abuse and neglect cases in Josephine County, Oregon, enthusiastically support CASA of Josephine County’s request for funding to expand its CASA program.

I have come to rely upon the recommendations of CASAs to help me make good decisions concerning dependent children. Sanne Specht, our program manager, is doing a wonderful job of revitalizing and expanding our CASA program. I have been pleased to appoint CASAs to many more dependency cases than we have previously had CASAs available for. However, our need for CASAs is still much greater than the number of available, trained volunteers.

We live in a rural, depressed county with a distressingly high number of abused and neglected children. These children need to have CASAs advocating for them in dependency cases in order to obtain the best possible results. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Sanne to improve outcomes for our dependent children.”
—Michael Newman, Josephine County Circuit Court Judge

The US Department of Justice has supported CASA advocacy since 1985 through its Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
—US Department of Justice

“Our foster children are very vulnerable, and they are in a really bad situation that’s no fault of their own. And they need someone to help them. We are always asking for a CASA to be assigned to a case. It can’t always happen, because there aren’t enough CASAs, but we always ask for it. It is a huge need.”
—Denise Maas, CASA and Citizen Review Board member

“Often a CASA can do practical legwork in a case that would be very difficult for a child’s attorney to accomplish. The CASA can provide information that helps the parents and caseworker resolve issues, or bring to their attention issues that they might not have known about.”
—Rebecca Peterson, Attorney, Josephine County