History

In 1976, Superior Court Judge David Soukup of Seattle, WA, saw a recurring problem in his courtroom:

"In criminal and civil cases, even though there were always many different points of view, you walked out of the courthouse at the end of the day and you said, 'I've done my best; I can live with this decision,' he explains.

 

"But when you're involved with a child and you're trying to decide what to do to facilitate that child's growth into a mature and happy adult, you don't feel like you have sufficient information to allow you to make the right decision. You can't walk away and leave them at the courthouse at 4 o'clock. You wonder, 'Do I really know everything I should? Have I really been told all of the different things? Is this really right?'"

 

To ensure he was getting all the facts and the long-term welfare of each child was being represented, the Seattle judge came up with an idea that would change America's judicial procedure and the lives of over a million children. He obtained funding to recruit and train community volunteers to step into courtrooms on behalf of the children: Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers.

 

This unique concept was implemented in Seattle as a pilot program in January 1977. During that first year, the program provided 110 trained CASA volunteers for 498 children in 376 dependency cases.

 

In December of 1992, David Soukup, founder of CASA, was recognized with an award from the Caring Institute of Washington, D.C.  Also, in 1992, Congress initiated funding of a grants program to expand CASA representation of abused and neglected children.

Today there are over 1,000 state and local programs across the country and the U.S. Virgin Islands with over 68,000 volunteers providing a voice to over 240,000 abused and neglected children every year.

Locally, the Voices for Kids CASA Program was founded by a judge who saw the same need as Judge Soukop.  Judge William Moore gathered the support of several citizens and approached the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors for their financial support.  The Board unanimously agreed to underwrite the program, and in July 2004 the 5th Judicial District CASA Program began service to Isle of Wight County and accepted its first case.

Much growth has taken place since then.  In 2008, the program changed its name to Voices for Kids CASA Program of Southeast Virginia to reflect its mission.  Also, at the request of the 5th District Juvenile and Domestic Court Judges, the program expanded and began serving the City of Franklin and Southampton County.  On July 1, 2009, the Voices for Kids CASA crossed one more milestone by changing its status from an entity of Isle of Wight County to a nonprofit organization.