The History Behind National CASA Association
Standards and Quality Assurance

The National CASA Association (NCASAA) believes a commitment to quality is a commitment to the children we serve. Our Standards Committee’s highest priority is developing a national quality assurance system to encourage, direct and assist our programs in achieving their greatest potential and delivering high quality advocacy on behalf of the children they serve. The NCASAA recognizes the diversity of our CASA/GAL network and the need for flexibility in quality assurance.

Soon after the formation of the NCASAA in 1982, the need for program standards became evident. In 1990, after considerable discussion and input, the Association adopted general standards and recommended management practices for CASA/GAL programs.

In 1993 the NCASAA Board of Directors appointed a Standards Committee to review, revise and update the existing standards and recommended management practices. National CASA Association Standards for CASA Local Programs, combined the previously documented standards, recommended management practices, and code of ethics into one comprehensive document. Since March 1997, standards for local CASA/GAL programs have been in place and in l998, the NCASAA Board of Directors approved standards for state CASA/GAL organizations.

In 1995 the NCASAA strategic plan included the development of a quality assurance system among member programs by the year 2000. The goal of this quality assurance system was that it be implemented in incremental phases. The first phase utilized a program self-assessment. In 1999, NCASAA developed and distributed a self-assessment tool for local programs to utilize voluntarily in determining compliance with NCASAA standards.

In the spring of 2000, Marty Braniff, then NCASAA President, charged the Standards Committee with developing a recommendation for a quality assurance system for local CASA/GAL programs. Later that year, a letter from Braniff and NCASAA CEO Michael Piraino, indicated, “The crucial need is for a system that supports the CASA mission, ensures excellent service to our children, helps our programs identify both their strengths and their needs, and supports the growth and development of our programs across a wide variety of communities.”

The 20 member Standards Committee embarked on a year-long process of education and decision making which produced a proposed quality assurance system as recommended to the NCASAA Board of Directors. In March 2001, the NCASAA Board of Directors accepted the Standards Committee’s recommendation for a quality assurance system.

Qualities and components of the NCASAA Quality Assurance (QA) system include:

• Recognition of the diverse structures of our network.
• Development of a multi-layered system.
• Upon implementation, participation in the QA system as a condition of NCASAA program membership.
• Program stages include: provisional membership, full program membership, a mandatory self-assessment component and a voluntary component for outside review.
• State CASA/GAL organizations playing a role in the self-assessment process.
• NCASAA and state CASA/GAL organizations providing technical assistance in the QA process and assisting local CASA programs in meeting the standards.

Since the adoption of this framework, the Standards Committee and Implementation and Self-Assessment Subcommittees continue to address implementation issues in relation to the development of the QA system. In early 2002, the Implementation Subcommittee developed a plan for the rollout and review of the self-assessment component of the proposed QA system as well as a framework for outside review.

The Self-Assessment Review Subcommittee had a significant charge: to review the NCASAA Standards Self-Assessment Tool, question by question, and suggest revisions. A draft of the Self-Assessment Tool was recently piloted by five CASA/GAL programs representing diverse operational structures across the country. It is anticipated that the self-assessment process will be implemented in the network in late 2003. Local CASA programs will be notified of the self-assessment requirements several months before the tool is to be completed.

Your Input

As always, we welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions about the work of the Standards Committee and the quality assurance system. Please direct your input to Sally Wilson Erny, NCASAA Program Specialist, by writing to staff@nationalcasa.org  or by telephone at 800-628-3233 x247