Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the administrative structural impediments on the ability of the juvenile court judges to use the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program for making placement and custody decisions for abused and neglected children. Methodology. A content analysis was performed on a stratified sample of 248 juvenile dependency case files. The cases were stratified to ensure that a representative number of CASA records were included The sample came from the population of juvenile dependency children (California Welfare and Institutions Code 1998, section 300) under the jurisdiction of the San Bernardino County juvenile court. A causal comparative or "ex post facto" research design was used to identify the significant factors that may also serve as predictors of the variances between CASA children and non-CASA children in terms of age, placement decisions, length of time in the dependency system, and severity of abuse. A questionnaire and follow-up interviews with judges and other decision-makers were used to triangulate the findings from the children's case files. Findings. There are four major findings: (1) there is a strong association between being severely abused and eventually ending up in the CASA program; (2) White females are the most at-risk group for severe abuse; (3) children who are in the dependency court system longer that two years have significantly reduced chances of leaving the dependency court system before their eighteenth birthday; and (4) children in the CASA program are significantly older than non-CASA dependency children. Conclusions and recommendations. To better utilize the resources that CASA programs make available to juvenile court judges, three recommendations were presented: (1) all courts in California use a standard collection process to ensure that all relevant data are collected throughout the state; (2) the CASA program become a formal part of the disposition and hearing process; and (3) the courts set up and maintain accurate databases to track and report case loads, trends in abuse and placements, and successes or struggles in providing the necessary services.