Mission Statement
The mission of the Knox County CASA Program is to advocate for the best interests of neglected, abused, and exploited children and to provide these children with a strong, informed, and independent voice in the court process. With the goal of ensuring for each child a safe, permanent, nurturing home, the Knox County CASA Program recruits, screens, trains, and supervises community volunteers to serve as court appointed advocates for these children.
About Us
The Knox County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program has been a fixture in Knox County since the early 90’s. The late Honorable Edward Theobald, former prosecutor and long serving Juvenile Court Judge in Knox Superior Court I. Started the program in Knox County. In December of 2018 a new chapter in CASA was opened when it became a court based program under the leadership of the Honorable Judge Gara Lee. It is the program’s primary purpose to provide trained community volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children involved in the court system primarily as the result of alleged abuse or neglect. We give children an advocate to help them through this traumatic and confusing time. The CASA volunteer spends time with the child on a monthly basis getting to know the child while also gathering information from the child’s family, teachers, doctors, caregivers, and others involved in the child’s life. We provide a 30-hour training, focused on developing a strong platform of knowledge, skills, and understanding to help you be a successful child advocate. Join our fight to make sure children don’t get lost in the child welfare system. Be a champion for them, someone who makes sure their needs are taken care of.