Out of a dire need to have more information about the children appearing before him, in 1977, Juvenile Court Judge John Soukup created CASA in Seattle, Washington. Our Program was one of the first four organizations. Founded in 1981 as Court Appointed Special Representatives (CASR) of Contra Costa County through the leadership of Judge Richard Patsey, we became Court Appointed Special Advocates of Contra Costa County in 2001. We are an independent, 501.c3 non-profit organization, however, we operate under the authority of and according to guidelines established by the Judicial Council, as outlined in the California State Welfare and Institutions Code and in Rule #1424 of the California Rules of Court. We are a member of both the National and State CASA Associations.

We have a 7 to 15 member Board made up of a diverse group of people from throughout the county: We currently have 14 Board members.

We operate with only 5.8 full-time equivalent paid employees, who work with and supervise over 30 volunteer office and program staff and more than 135 volunteer advocates each year. We are able to keep our overhead costs down in order to put more of our resources into services for our volunteers who advocate for children.

We serve over 10% of the 1,700 children who come through the system every year - children from every city and every region of our county. They are the most needy and often the toughest cases. In 2001 we served an average of 100 children per year. Over the last 2 years, we have served over 180 children each year. In 2007-2008, we plan to serve 200 children.  

For 27 years, through their service and commitment, volunteers trained by CASA of Contra Costa County have helped to restore hope in the lives of children who have been abused, neglected, and abandoned. Our volunteers demonstrate over and over again that one person can make a difference.