Concerned over making decisions about abused and neglected children's lives without sufficient information, Seattle Washington Superior Court Judge David Soukup recruited volunteers from the community and trained them to speak up for abused and neglected children in his court. During that first year in 1977, the program provided 110 trained CASA volunteers for 498 children in 376 cases. This established the first Court Appointed Special Advocate program.

Judge Soukup’s Seattle program was so successful that soon, judges across the country began utilizing citizen advocates. In 1991, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA with the passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. In 1996, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was amended to include Court Appointed Special Advocates as guardians ad litem, or voices for children in court.

In 1982, the National CASA Association, Inc., was established to serve as an umbrella organization for the growing number of programs in the country. National CASA provides information, technical assistance, research and training to more than 900 CASA programs across the country. More than 76,000 women and men serve as volunteers in these programs, sometimes known by other names, such as Guardian Ad Litem and Voices for Children. Last year, CASA volunteers helped more than 280,000 abused children in communities across the country, including Washington, D.C and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 1991, The New York State CASA Association was founded under the Task Force on Permanency Planning and incorporated in 1995 as an independent organization. The State Association is known as “CASA: Advocates for Children of NYS” and provides technical support and assistance to the growing number of CASA programs throughout New York State.

CASA of Albany County was formed in May 1990 at the request of Anthony V. Cardona, Presiding Justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Third Department. At that time, Judge Cardona was Presiding Justice of Albany County Family Court as well as a member of the New York State Task Force on Permanency Planning. A CASA Advisory Committee was formed under the umbrella of the Board of Directors of The Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (now known as Mediation Matters), which continues to host the program. A dedicated steering committee brought the services of CASA to Rensselaer County in 2004, forming Capital District CASA, which now serves both Albany and Rensselaer Counties.

Since the founding of the first CASA program, its volunteer advocates have helped more than one million children find safe, permanent homes and a chance for a positive future.

Today, CASA is one of the fastest growing community service projects in the country. On the national level, CASA is supported by the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; the American Bar Association; and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice.