About

CASA began over forty-five years ago in Seattle Washington and now there are nearly 1000 CASA programs nationally. Northeast Georgia CASA is one of 44 CASA programs currently operating in Georgia.

Our agency began to serve children in juvenile court dependency cases in the Mountain Judicial Circuit covering Habersham, Rabun and Stephens counties in June 2004. Initially the program was under the umbrella of another nonprofit agency in our area, F.A.I.T.H. (Fight Abuse in the Home).

In July 2004 our program became an independent 501c3 organization. In July 2009 our program expanded our service area to include Elbert, Franklin, Hart, Madison and Oglethorpe counties, the five counties encompassing the Northern Judicial Circuit.

Our CASA volunteers speak up for children, newborn through age 18, who are in the foster care system. Most of the children we serve are under age 5. All have experienced neglect or abuse. Our CASA volunteers insure these children have their needs met while in foster care and provide important information to the Judge about the children.

Each volunteer advocates for the child(ren) they represent to be placed in a safe, permanent home (hopefully through reunification) as soon as possible. Since we began our first training class, our volunteers have served more than 1,000 children in foster care.

In 2024 with community growth in all eight counties, the coming addition of Banks County into the Mountain Circuit, and the already widespread geographic area, it became clear that furthering the mission and reaching the goal of providing CASA advocacy for every child experiencing foster care in the area requires a new tactic.

On September 5th of 2024, Northeast Georgia CASA's Board of Directors voted unanimously to change our program’s service area from both judicial circuits to just the Mountain Judicial Circuit. This, combined with an equitable distribution of program assets, paves the way for establishment of a CASA program exclusively for the Northern Judicial Circuit. This new CASA program is currently being formed and will be called CASA of the Northern Judicial Circuit, or Advocates Alliance for Children.