CASA PROVIDES A VOICE FOR POWERLESS CHILDREN INVOLVED IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS; ADVOCATES FOR THEIR BEST INTERESTS; AND STRIVES TO IMPROVE THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES AND QUALITY OF LIFE.
We serve in DeKalb, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, and Whitley counties. Northeastern Indiana CASA is proudly supported by United Way of DeKalb, Noble, Steuben, Whitley, and United Way of Elkhart and LaGrange Counties! Please support your United Ways!
Our model and how it works
CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for children’s best interests. They stay with each case until it is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home. We serve children from birth through the age defined by state statute as the limit to youth remaining in care.
Volunteers work with legal and child welfare professionals, educators and service providers to ensure that judges have all the information they need to make the most well-informed decisions for each child.
Our best-interest advocacy is driven by the guiding principle that children grow and develop best with their family of origin, if that can be safely achieved. Most of the children we work with are in foster care, but some are with their family of origin. And, most children who leave foster care do so to return to their family.
Northeastern Indiana CASA is a local nonprofit that recruits, trains, and supports community volunteers to serve as advocates for children who have experienced abuse or neglect throughout the five counties we serve. We believe every child deserves a voice.
When a child is removed from their home due to abuse or neglect, they enter a confusing world of court proceedings and competing interests— they have a lawyer, but that lawyer may have hundreds of other cases to deal with. The child’s social worker, likewise, has a full caseload and may only see the child once a month. The judge gets to know the case, but sees the child infrequently, and in a courtroom setting.
That’s where CASA volunteers come in.
A CASA volunteer gets to know the child and the child’s situation. The volunteer sees the child every month, and regularly talks to the child’s teachers, parents, other family members, social workers, lawyer, and often therapists, in order to get a clear picture of what is going on—and then the volunteer advocates for that child’s best interests.
Children with a CASA volunteer have access to more services, and they are more likely to thrive. CASA volunteers make a real and lasting difference in the lives of the most vulnerable children in our community.