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Who We Are...

For a decade, Columbia and Sauk County judges have assigned volunteers associated with the Columbia-Sauk Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children. To support their advocacy work, CASA volunteers maintain constant contact with the children they serve, make weekly home visits and correspond with any person who has taken an interest in the lives of these children — including family members, teachers, counselors, socials workers, coaches, and friends — to make sure the children are safe.

In a very real way, CASA volunteers provide an additional set of eyes and ears for the courts and help them make decisions regarding what is best for abused and neglected children. The CASA volunteer's sole objective is to make sure that all CASA kids have the opportunity that all children deserve — the opportunity to grow up in a safe, permanent home.

In 1997, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Advisory Committee for Columbia and Sauk Counties was formed. This committee consisted of a group of concerned citizens who sought to improve services that were being provided to abused and neglected children and their families in Columbia and Sauk Counties. With unanimous support from county judges, the Columbia-Sauk CASA Advisory committee received grants from National CASA Association and the Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s Improvement Fund in order to complete a needs-assessment.

The results of this needs-assessment validated that there were deficiencies in the state system responsible for protecting and providing services to abused and/or neglected children. Specifically, these children were not getting the therapeutic or educational care they required, nor were they being placed in safe, loving, and permanent homes, as quickly as they should have been. In short, our local child welfare system was failing to uphold the most fundamental right recognized under international law, under federal and state law: a child’s right to safety, to physical and emotional security.

In 1999, the group incorporated Children and Family Services of South Central Wisconsin (CFS) as a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of implementing a CASA Program in Columbia and Sauk Counties.

There have been many changes for CASA over the years but our mission has remained the same. We act in the best interest of children in need of protection and services by providing well trained volunteers to act as advocates for them.