Texas CASA, Inc.
Every Child Has a Chance - It's You!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Texas CASA Programs
Texas CASA provides training, funding, and technical assistance to existing and prospective programs and assists in the start-up of new CASA programs each year. Texas CASA provides public and governmental awareness about community issues concerning abused and neglected children. The goal of Texas CASA is to provide an advocate for every abused and neglected child in Texas and to find each child a safe, permanent, loving home in a timely manner. Texas CASA also implements an annual training conference for over 400 child advocates, CASA staff, board members, volunteers, attorneys, judges and other interested persons.
Where we work
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our Vision: Texas CASA envisions a safe and positive future for all Texas children.
When a child enters the child welfare system because his or her home is no longer safe due to abuse or neglect, a judge may appoint a committed volunteer to advocate for the best interest of the child in court and other settings. That volunteer is called a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA.
At a local level, the 72 CASA programs in Texas, covering 214 counties, do the hands-on work of recruiting, training and supervising volunteers to speak up in court and represent the best interests of children. As the statewide organization, Texas CASA provides financial support and services to help ensure the state's CASA programs operate effectively and can seek out the best possible volunteers who will work tirelessly and diligently to help children find their forever home.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Texas CASA offers leadership and support to local CASA programs in a variety of ways:
Operational Support. Local CASA programs must be strong, effectively governed, and responsive to change in order to provide the necessary training, supervision and support to volunteers who carry out this critical work.
Quality Assurance. Texas CASA reviews all local CASA programs to improve operations and ensure that state and national standards are followed, including volunteer recruitment.
Training. We provide regional, statewide and online training on core and advanced advocacy skills, volunteer pre-service, Executive Director leadership, media relations, cross cultural understanding and identity, board member development, collaboration, and more.
Public Policy Advocacy. CASA volunteers are committed to improving the lives of abused and neglected children before governmental bodies, agencies, and other policy making entities. Our policy goals for the next legislative session include to:
• Provide financial stability to the local programs by securing public funding
• Strengthen oversight of psychotropic medications given to foster children
• Ensure home placement decisions are more deliberate
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
CASA volunteers are recruited and trained by 72 local programs in Texas, then appointed to a case (which can involve one or more children in a family) by the court to represent the best interests of the child. Besides the parent, the volunteer is one of only few adults with the legal right to take a truly holistic approach to the child's well-being via access to medical and academic records, coupled with the requirement of CASA to have regular discussions with each adult in that child's life, such as including social workers, doctors, teachers, parents, relatives, etc. A CASA volunteer is the touchstone in a sea of changing caseworkers, homes, treatment centers, and schools.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The CASA network in Texas proudly has more than 9,100 committed volunteers advocating for 27,950 children. We are a little more than half way to our goal of a CASA volunteer for every child who needs one. But there are still more than 20,000 children in the Texas child welfare system without a CASA volunteer to advocate for their best interests.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Texas CASA, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 06/13/2019
Honorable Greg Wilhelm
Attorney at Law, Former Judge
Term: 2016 - 2018
Susie Moseley
Former Local CASA Executive Director
Greg Wilhelm
Gregory E. Wilhelm, P.C.
Jenny Haynes
Retired Communications Executive
Renee Day
Baylor Healthcare System
David Setzer
North Central Texas Council of Governments
Debora Alsup
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Christopher Buck
Buck Law Firm, PLLC
Kevin Corbett
Ernst & Young
Jacque Flag
Jacque's Toys and Books
Jay W. Fox
Baylor Scott & White Health
Hedy Helsell
Ivan Jaime
Union Pacific Railroad Company
Melissa Jones
John Knight
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jim McReynolds
Chapparel Energy, Inc.
Holly Munin
Superior HealthPlan
Gene Needham
Edna Perez-Vega
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Frederick Williams
David Winn
Grant Thornton
Stephanie Cash
Hill Country CASA
Sonya Galvan
Child Advocates, Inc.
Kathleen LaValle
Dallas CASA
Patty Pisklak
CASA of West Texas
Natalie Thornton
CASA of the Pines
Laura Wolf
CASA of Travis County
Board leadership practices
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes