The Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) was developed as a volunteer program by the Family Court in 1978 in answer to the need for advocacy for those children who had been abused and/or neglected, and who, through no fault of their own, found themselves involved with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and the Family Court.
Since its inception, CASA has grown from a solely volunteer-based program to a fully staffed program that includes full-time staff attorney guardians ad litem and social workers who work in conjunction with the volunteers to provide effective advocacy for the best interest of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children. CASA tries to ensure that these children do not “fall through the cracks” of the system that is put in place to help them.