Opening Section
The first section, or opening section, is where the case identifying information is recorded.
Identifying information consists of the court hearing date, the CASAs name, the county where the case is being adjudicated, the date the report will be submitted, and the JD number (a number used by the court to identify individual cases). Underneath this information should be entered the names, ages, number of placements and contacts for each child involved in the case. The number of placements should reflect all placements since the child was removed from the home (i.e. shelter care, licensed foster care and relative placements). The number of contacts are the number of times the CASA has had contact with the child since the last CASA court report or hearing.
See following example:
| Court Hearing Date: |
11/10/05
|
CASA Volunteer: |
Harold H. Hendrick |
County:Pima
|
Date Submitted:10/25/05 |
JD Number: 99999 |
| Child Name: |
Age:
|
Total # of Placements: |
# of Contacts Since Last Report: |
James Ducats
Karen Ducats
Carl Ducats |
7 years
4 years
10 months |
3
3
1 |
12
10
6 |
Brief History
The second section contains a brief history. The history of the case should include why the child or children came into the court's care. It also should contain information about the CASA.
The history must also mention the various placements that the child has had since being removed from the home. The CASA appointment date and the number of hours spent working on the case since the last report should also be included.
This section is to contain a brief history. All of the details of the child's removal are not necessary; they are to be addressed in later sections of the report or should have been addressed in previous court reports. It is not necessary to duplicate all of the information previously given to the court. CASA reports should track what has been happening in the child's life since the last report. Each report can build on what was addressed in past reports, but should contain mostly new information about what has occurred. By doing this, the judge and legal parties can follow what has been happening to the child from an independent point of view.
See following example:
| Brief History |
| James, Karen, and Carl Ducats were taken into custody on May 7, 2005. A neighbor, Ms. Helen Greer, telephoned authorities when James came to her door one evening asking for food so he could feed his brother and sister. The CPS investigation found that their father was to be supervising the children, but they had been left alone for two days. Neither the mother nor the father could be located. James and Karen were placed into a shelter on 5/7/05 while Carl was placed in an emergency foster home. James and Karen were placed in a foster home on 5/13/05 and Carl was allowed to remain at the emergency foster home. On 6/10/05 James and Karen were removed from their foster home and placed in a group home. On 8/14/05 James and Karen were placed in a second foster home, but will soon be returned to the group home. This CASA volunteer was appointed to the case on 9/10/05 and has spent 37 hours on the case since being assigned. |
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