What is a CASA?
CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASAs are highly trained community volunteers who are appointed by the court to cases of child abuse and neglect. As a party to the case, they act as the eyes and ears of the court. CASAs meet with the children on their case and independently gather information from others who are involved in the child's life. The CASA then reports back to the court about the status of the case and the well-being of the child, and makes recommendations to the court for the best interests of the child.
Tell me more about the history of CASA.
In 1977, Judge Soukup conceived the idea of using trained community volunteers to speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children in court. So successful was this program in Seattle, that soon judges across the country began utilizing citizen advocates. In 1990, the US Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA programs with the passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Grant County CASA was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1999 and in 2000 became Grant-Harney County CASA.
Mission
The mission of Grant-Harney County CASA is to train and support volunteers who will provide all abused and neglected children in Grant and Harney Counties a voice in juvenile court, and to educate the community regarding its responsibility for abused and neglected children.
Who are the children Grant-Harney County CASA serves?
They are your next-door neighbors, and part of your congregation, and the children who go to school with your children or grandchildren. In short, they are familiar members of our communities. And, their well-being, happiness, and appropriate growth and development have significant impacts on the well-being of our communities.
From July 2016 to June 2017 we served 32 children in the juvenile dependency system with a volunteer CASA and our program monitored the cases of many more. We currently have the capacity to serve less than a third of eligible children in our region. Please visit the volunteer and donate pages of our website to learn more about how you can help us serve more children in need of an advocate in court.
Staff and Board of Directors
Executive Director
Melissa Mesa
Harney County Program Coordinator
Lisa Weigum
Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator, Community Counseling Solutions
President, Board of Directors
Harmony Piazza
Staff Accountant, Solutions CPAs
Treasurer/Secretary, Board of Directors
Rhiannon Bauman
Healthy Families Home Visitor, Families First
Board Member
LaDene Hurd
Retired
Board Member
Bret Uptmor
Superintendent, Grant School District #3
Board Member
Steve Jones
Student Services Director, Harney School District #3
Board Member
Join the Team
Thank you for your interest in joining Grant-Harney County CASA's team. We are not currently hiring, but please consider other ways to be involved with our work.
We are always accepting new CASA volunteers and are happy to discuss board or committee positions. Please contact us for more information about ways to become involved with the organization.