CASA of Lancaster and Lebanon Counties

To provide a qualified and compassionate court-appointed volunteer advocate to every child who is abused and neglected, to ensure the fundamental human right of having a safe, nurturing, and permanent home is met.

Actively recruit adult volunteers from the community to become Court Appointed Special Advocates. Screen them through an application, interview, and background check process to ensure they will be high quality advocates for foster youth.

Once selected, volunteers are provided with a comprehensive, 35+ hour training using the National CASA Association curriculum.
At the conclusion of their training, advocates are sworn in by the judiciary and at that point they are assigned a case with a single foster youth or sibling group. A CASA Volunteer Manager, part of CASA’s program staff, is also assigned who supports their advocacy, advises them and connects on the details of their case.

To investigate their case, CASAs review all records pertaining to the case and the child. Most importantly though, the CASA volunteer speaks with the child and others involved in the child’s life such as biological parents, resource parents, social workers, teachers, doctors and therapists.

CASA uses the nationally recognized, standardized curriculum for training advocates, and complies with all national regulations for recruitment and training. Additionally, CASA employs a Program Director with 10 years of experience with foster youth, and four Volunteer Managers with degrees in social work, psychology and public administration and a combined 16 years of experience working with youth and nonprofits.
To support high-quality recruitment, CASA has a Director of Training in Outreach with experience supporting over 40 cases as a Volunteer Manager and a master’s degree in social work.

CASA’s Executive Director, Jessica Laspino is the inaugural staff member of the organization, with four years of direct volunteer management experience and a total of fifteen years working for local CASA programs. In addition, she holds certifications in training design, case management, and nonprofit leadership.

This team supports over 150 volunteers who are currently supporting 239 foster youth in Lancaster County, 47% of the total foster population in the county.

We are considered strong partners of the local judiciary as well as the local child welfare agency and are well respected in the community.

In the 11 years since CASA of Lancaster County’s inception, we have supported over 600 foster youth achieve placement in a safe, loving and permanent home. We have trained hundreds of CASA’s who have collectively donated decades of their lives to supporting the mentorship, health and well being of foster youth in Lancaster County.

As a result of their advocacy, children with a CASA are placed into a permanent home 8 months sooner, are more likely to receive necessary services, and are less likely to be moved around between multiple homes. All of this creates an environment with greater stability and support while diminishing the amount of time a child has to languish in the foster system.

To continue improving our high-quality volunteer recruitment, training and support we are implementing a number of program improvements, including a renewed focus on professional development for our volunteer managers and directors, training around diversity, equity and inclusion to support the recruitment and retention of a volunteer base that better matches our foster youth and a comprehensive program evaluation to support protocol and process improvements within our organization.