Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a national association in the United States that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children in order to provide children with a safe and healthy environment in permanent homes. In many jurisdictions, CASA are known as Guardians ad litem. In other jurisdictions, the CASA is a volunteer who need not be an attorney, whose role is to gather information and make recommendations to the judge, while the GAL is an attorney whose role is to represent the child's interests.