HARRISBURG (June 8, 2001) - The Allegheny County Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA) was presented with one of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation�s Louis J. Goffman awards for its pro bono work with abused and neglected children at a Pennsylvania Bar Association luncheon held June 8 in Harrisburg.

Named for a late Pennsylvania Bar Association president, the Louis J. Goffman Award is presented annually to an individual and group or organization for outstanding pro bono work during the past year. All lawyers and law-related groups/organizations are eligible for the award. The award is presented by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the PBA.

�The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation is pleased to recognize those individuals in the legal profession who work to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate,� Arthur L. Piccone, president of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation said. �The CASA program is to be commended for its commitment to protecting abused and neglected children through its outstanding work in providing pro bono legal services.�

The Allegheny County CASA program, established in 1993, is one of 900 CASA programs nationwide and one of 10 CASA programs in Pennsylvania that recruit, train and supervise community volunteers who advocate for abused and neglected children in juvenile court. The volunteers, many of whom are members of the legal profession, conduct comprehensive investigations, write reports for the courts and testify at least four times per year on behalf of their child clients. The children represented by the volunteers often have experienced psychological disorders due to their environments, physical injuries from caretakers, and chronic educational, emotional or medical neglect during their formative years.

In 2000, Allegheny County CASA had 100 active volunteers who assisted 300 children by order of the court. The volunteers provided 14,400 hours of pro bono service to these children, with each volunteer averaging 12 hours per month and 144 hours per year on the cases.