Court Appointed Special Advocates Orange County

CASA provides a powerful voice and a meaningful connection for children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

CASA provides a powerful voice for youth in the child welfare system through a unique one-on-one relationship with trained and supervised court appointed volunteer advocates. We work to ensure that these youth are safe, have a permanent home and an opportunity to thrive. CASA is a powerful model for investing in the current well-being and future success of youth in foster care.  As Orange County's exclusive provider of volunteer-driven advocacy for children in the dependency system in our county, CASA provides an invaluable service to youth in foster care and the juvenile court.  Volunteers serve as a trusted mentor and role model for children and make crucial recommendations to the court to ensure that all of a child's needs are addressed while they are in foster care - educationally, medically, therapeutically and where they are living.  As a result of the work of CASA volunteers, many children begin to overcome an abusive past, graduate from high school, and start down a path toward a positive, self-sufficient future.

Over the past 39 years, CASA OC has trained more than 4,330 volunteers who have given over 1,928,376 hours helping 10,851 youth in foster care in Orange County.

In our 2024 fiscal year, over 850 volunteers provided mentoring and advocacy to 988 of Orange County’s most at-risk youth in foster care, with the following results: 96% of our graduation-age youth either graduated high school, or they received a certificate of completion. Youth with an advocate also have significantly fewer placements and are less likely to re-enter the child welfare system than those without an advocate. CASA OC has our staff Advocate Supervisors fill out an outcomes survey on a semi-annual basis. Our most recent outcomes survey showed a great deal of improvement in the lives of the youth that we serve. The youth report significantly higher levels of hope, which links to academic success, positive social relationships, and more.
CASA OC’s goals are to increase our number of male and Spanish speaking advocates and to increase our rate of retention for advocates.

As CASA is 82% privately funded through donations, additional support from the community is always needed to help us recruit, train and support more dedicated volunteers to be paired with the 200+ youth on our waiting list. CASA also needs more male and Spanish speaking advocates.

CASA serves abused and neglected children throughout all of Orange County, California.

CASA is a unique organization that gives ordinary individuals in our community the opportunity to make a truly life-changing difference for a child.  The CASA youth will tell you that there is something special about having a CASA volunteer - a consistent and caring person who is there simply because they care and who is focused solely on that one child's needs.  I invite you to join our team and help us make a difference for more of these kids - whether it is through becoming a volunteer or making a donation.  Thank you for your support!