Court Appointed Special Advocates is a Santa Cruz County non-profit that recruits, trains and professionally supervises volunteers who work one-on-one with children in the foster care, juvenile probation, and/or truancy court systems. Each year volunteer Advocates serve over 200 children, working with schools, therapists, social workers and the courts. Judges rely on Advocates' recommendations in deciding how to best meet the children's needs until they are in safe, permanent homes. More than half of CASA's annual budget comes from fundraising and community donations. Since its inception in 1992, CASA of Santa Cruz County has trained over 1300 volunteer Advocates and served almost 2000 children.