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O.C.G.A. § 15-11-106 — Participation of a CASA | Georgia Code
O.C.G.A. § 15-11-106 (2018) Copy Cite Official Site Syfertize CourtListener Scholar Amendments

TITLE 15 COURTS

Section 11. Juvenile Code, 15-11-1 through 15-11-747.

ARTICLE 3 DEPENDENCY PROCEEDINGS

15-11-106. Participation of a CASA.

    1. Before executing duties as a CASA, and upon completion of all the requirements of an affiliate court appointed special advocate program, a CASA shall be sworn in by a judge of the juvenile court in the court or circuit in which he or she wishes to serve. A CASA shall not be assigned a case prior to being sworn in by a juvenile court judge as set forth in this paragraph.
    2. If a juvenile court judge determines that a child involved in a dependency proceeding needs a CASA, the judge shall have the authority to appoint a CASA, and in such circumstance shall sign an order appointing a CASA at the earliest possible stage of the proceedings. Such order shall impose on a CASA all the duties, rights, and responsibilities set forth in this Code section and Code Sections 15-11-104 and 15-11-105.
  2. The role of a CASA in juvenile court dependency proceedings shall be to advocate for the best interests of the child.
  3. In addition to the reasons stated in subsection (h) of Code Section 15-11-104, the court may discharge a CASA upon finding that the CASA has acted in a manner contrary to the mission and purpose of the affiliate court appointed special advocate program.

(Code 1981, §15-11-106, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under pre-2014 Code Section 15-11-9.1, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor's notes at the beginning of the chapter.

Impeachment testimony from CASA representative properly excluded.

- In an action wherein two parents were found to have deprived an adopted child due to one parent's sexual abuse of the child and the other parent's failure to protect the child from such abuse, the juvenile court properly refused to allow a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) to impeach a prior foster child whom the parents had previously cared for as former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-9.1 established confidentiality of the CASA's information. Further, allowing such testimony was inconsistent with the CASA program and the parents had multiple witnesses to impeach the foster child. In the Interest of B.H., 295 Ga. App. 297, 671 S.E.2d 303 (2008) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-9.1)

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