About CASA

Since our inception in 2000, CASA of Jefferson and Gilpin Counties has served more than 900 abused and neglected children.

In 2009 alone, the courts assigned our volunteers to 193 child abuse and neglect cases, serving more than 347 children in the two counties combined.

Of the children we serve:

52% are girls.
48% are boys.
41% are 5 years old or younger.
33% are 6 to 11 years old.
26% are 12 years and older.
67% are white.
23% are Hispanic.

One of nearly 1,000 CASA organizations across the country, CASA of Jefferson and Gilpin Counties is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on donations. While we do assist the courts, we are not a government organization.

The concept to recruit and train community volunteers to step into courtrooms on behalf of abused and neglected children originally was started by a judge in Seattle, Washington, in 1977. The idea quickly spread. By 1982, National CASA had formed, and in 1990 the U.S. Congress authorized its expansion by passing the Victims of Child Abuse Act so that a “court-appointed special advocate shall be made available to every victim of child abuse or neglect in the United States that needs such an advocate.”