Alex Miller’s Leadership Is Rebuilding Minnesota’s CASA Program

Alex Miller’s dedication and steady Leadership Is Helping Rebuild Minnesota’s CASA Program and making life better for at-risk children.

In recent years, Minnesota’s Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and CASA program has been through a period of serious strain and change. Volunteers were lost, caseloads climbed, and the system’s ability to provide a consistent voice for abused and neglected children was put at risk. In the middle of that turmoil, the work of Alex Miller, serving as Chief Information Officer and Interim Program Administrator for the State Guardian ad Litem Program, has been an important stabilizing force.

Alex’s leadership has been especially visible in three core areas.

First, he has taken seriously the nuts-and-bolts work of rebuilding infrastructure. A statewide GAL system depends on secure, reliable information tools: case management, data access, and communication between staff, volunteers, courts, and stakeholders. By focusing on modernizing systems, tightening cybersecurity, and improving how data is managed and shared, Alex has helped move the program away from crisis mode and into a more organized, accountable posture. When volunteers and staff can trust the tools they use every day, they can spend more time on children and less time fighting broken processes.

Second, Alex has treated the Board not as a rubber stamp but as a partner in repair. Effective statewide leadership requires honest reporting, clear metrics, and a willingness to acknowledge what is not working. Under his guidance, the State Guardian ad Litem Board has been better able to understand both the depth of the damage done to the CASA program and the practical steps needed to rebuild it: recruiting new community volunteers, restoring training and support, and rebuilding trust with judges, attorneys, and community partners. This kind of transparent, data-informed leadership is essential when you need policymakers and the public to understand the function and value of a complex system.

Third, his approach has centered the core mission: children’s safety and well-being. It is easy, in a bureaucratic system, to let internal politics and turf battles overshadow the point of the work. Alex’s leadership helped re‑align the focus on what matters most: making sure more children have a qualified, supported advocate in their lives, and that those advocates have the information they need to be effective. As the CASA program slowly rebuilds, each new volunteer brought in, each case better managed, and each child better seen is a direct result of this renewed focus.

These improvements benefit volunteers and employee GALs.   Under Alex’s leadership, turnover has stabilized and dropped from crisis levels.

Minnesota’s CASA and GAL system is not “fixed” yet, and there is work to be done. But the trajectory and narrative have changed. Under Alex Miller’s leadership, the State Guardian ad Litem Board has begun to move from damage control to rebuilding, from confusion to clearer governance, and from a shrinking volunteer corps to renewed emphasis on community advocacy.

For children who have already lost so much, that shift matters. It means more eyes on their safety, more voices in their corner, and a better chance that the system designed to protect them actually will.

 

 

 

KIDS AT RISK ACTION / KARA / INVISIBLE CHILDREN

 

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