Fairfax Court Appointed Special Advocates, Inc (CASA) is a nonprofit agency committed to advocating for abused or neglected children involved in the court process due to concerns for their safety and well-being.
This year, its annual friendly 5K race and 3K run/walk will be virtual. This means that participants can run the race of their choice anytime during the whole month of April, at their own pace. Participants are invited to sign up below to run, walk, or donate to make a difference in the life of a vulnerable child.
Click here to join as a runner, walker, or donor.
Click here for additional race information.
When you run, walk, or make a donation to our annual Run for the Children, you support the volunteers who are lifting the voices of the abused and neglected children in Fairfax County. Help celebrate the heroic dedication of Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers and the heroic resilience of the at-risk children they serve.
The importance of Fairfax CASA to the community
The Fairfax Court Appointed Special Advocates program was founded in 1989 by a group of community-minded Fairfax County citizens responding to a request for a CASA program from the Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court. Since that time, Fairfax CASA has operated as a 501(c)(3) public charity accepting support from individuals, corporations, and public funds to ensure that children who are victims of abuse and neglect are placed in safe and permanent homes as quickly as possible.
This purpose is accomplished by recruiting, training, and supervising community volunteers to serve as special advocates for children whose families have been cited for abuse and neglect by the Court. It is the driving goal of Fairfax CASA to ensure that the best interests of all children referred by a judge are represented before the Court. According to its website, since its founding Fairfax CASA has recruited and trained nearly 1,800 CASA volunteers to provide this critical service to more than 6,700 children who have been referred by the Court.
The CASA volunteer gains knowledge about the children they serve by spending time with them, interviewing everyone in their lives: family members, guardians or foster parents, teachers, coaches, social workers, physicians, therapists, and anyone else who can help the CASA acquire a clear picture of the child’s needs. The CASA then prepares a comprehensive report for the court which provides the judge with unbiased information based upon the first-hand knowledge obtained, along with a recommendation based upon those findings. The report also details whether or how well court-required directives are being followed. It is said that the CASA, whose sole interest is the safety, security, and well-being of the children, acts as the eyes and ears of the court.
