Colorado § 19-1-202 - Creation of CASA programs.

§ 19-1-202. Creation of CASA programs.

(1) CASA programs may be established in each judicial district or any two or more judicial districts and shall operate pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the chief judge of the judicial district and the CASA program. The memorandum of understanding must identify the roles and responsibilities of any CASA volunteer appointed in the judicial district or districts and must indicate whether any CASA volunteer may be made a party to the action. The memorandum of understanding may be amended or modified at any time to add or delete roles and responsibilities pursuant to this part 2.

(2) A CASA program established pursuant to the provisions of this part 2 must:

(a) Be a community organization that screens, trains, and supervises CASA volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children in actions brought pursuant to this title and titles 14 and 15, C.R.S., or for a child in a truancy proceeding pursuant to the "School Attendance Law of 1963", part 1 of article 33 of title 22, C.R.S.;

(b) Be a member in good standing of the Colorado CASA association and the national CASA association and adhere to the guidelines established by those associations;

(c) Appoint a program director who shall have the responsibilities set forth in section 19-1-203;

(d) Have adequate supervisory and support staff who shall be easily accessible, hold regular case conferences with CASA volunteers to review case progress, and conduct annual performance reviews for all CASA volunteers;

(e) Provide staff and CASA volunteers with written program policies, practices, and procedures;

(f) Provide the training required pursuant to section 19-1-204; and

(g) Attempt to maintain a CASA volunteer-to-supervisor ratio of thirty-to-one.

Source: L. 96: Entire part added, p. 1090, § 4, effective May 23. L. 2008: (1) amended, p. 30, § 1, effective March 13. L. 2015: (1), IP(2), and (2)(a) amended, (SB 15-004), ch. 254, p. 925, § 1, effective August 5.