What is a CASA?
A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained and committed volunteer who ensures that each child’s individual needs remain a priority in an overburdened child welfare system. CASAs are appointed by a Judge to advocate for the best interests of children who are removed from a home due to abuse and/or neglect.
Our volunteer advocates come from every walk of life and share a commitment to improving children’s lives, a willingness to learn, and an open mind towards life experiences different from their own. No special education, experience, or background is needed.
Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers get to know the child and gather information from everyone involved in their daily life, including family members, foster parents, teachers, daycare providers, doctors, lawyers, social workers, and other relevant people.
What restrictions are in place for certain CASA applicants?
In addition to meeting the prerequisites outlined above, applicants are required to complete an application, attend a pre-training interview, and participate in CASA training.
Applicants may not be a current foster parent or be in the process of adopting a child from Child Protective Services.
If you are an attorney, you may not concurrently be appointed to any cases involving Child Protective Services in the Eastern Panhandle.
How much time is involved?
Most CASAs spend an average of 10 hours a month handling various aspects of the case – visits, phone calls, case review, meetings and court hearings.
Do I get to pick my own cases? Do I have to take an abuse case?
All CASAs get to choose between three cases suggested by their Volunteer Supervisor. If a CASA is uncomfortable with the details following review of case files, the Volunteer Supervisor will provide additional cases for a CASA to select from.
What’s the process of getting involved?
A Court Advocate application must be completed with CASAEP, followed by a background check and interview with the Volunteer Supervisor and/or Director of Training.
How long does a case last?
Length of case varies according to complexity and number of children involved. On average, CASAs are encouraged to commit to one year of service on each case.
And we do. Children who have a court-appointed volunteer receive more of the services that are critical to their well-being than children who don’t. They are more likely to succeed in school.
Does a volunteer advocate work with the child’s biological family?
When it is safe to do so and in the child’s best interest, CASA’s primary goal is to reunify children with their families. This means it is essential for volunteer advocates to get to know and work with a child’s biological parents and extended family to ensure the child(ren)’s continued feelings of connectedness and wellbeing. This may also require facilitating placement with relatives or to research and connect with distant relatives in ongoing cases as a way to engage or re-engage them in the lives of the child(ren).
How does a CASA investigate a case?
To prepare a recommendation, the CASA volunteer gets to know and builds a trusting relationship with a child or family of children by seeing them in person at least once a month. They talk to parents, teachers, doctors, therapists, caregivers and other important adults in the child’s life who are knowledgeable about the child’s history and progress. The CASA volunteer has a court order that allows them to review all records pertaining to the child – school, medical, caseworker reports and other documents. This is not an investigation of the abuse or neglect that started the case. Investigators with CPS will have already concluded that investigation.
How does CASA support their volunteer advocates?
Volunteers are always paired with a staff Volunteer Supervisor who supports and guides them every step of the way. This includes preparing for and attending case-related hearings and meetings and guiding the volunteer to pertinent resources specific to each case. When a supervisor is not available for a meeting or hearing, another CASA staff member will attend to support the volunteer.
How does CASA differ from CPS workers?
CASA is a separate nonprofit organization that exists outside of the Child Protective Services state system. Volunteer advocates are appointed by the court to focus specifically on the best interest of the child(ren) with an unbiased community perspective. Volunteer advocates thoroughly examine a child’s case, have knowledge of community resources, and can offer outside-the-box recommendations independent of state policy limitations and restrictions. Volunteers advocate for one child or family of children at a time, while a CPS caseworker has a full caseload of children they are working with.
Do CASAs stay in contact with children after the case closes?
Once a case is over and children have safely reached permanency, the need for CASA ends, and CASA requires that volunteers end their contact with the children and family after a case closes. If a volunteer advocate remains in a child’s life, they can become a reminder or anchor to a time of instability and confusion for children or create a dynamic of dependency with the advocate. It is important to have a healthy transition out of their lives once a case is closed. In certain occasions, a teen who ages out of care at age 18 may choose to keep their CASA volunteer in their lives as a supportive adult connection, but no longer in the role of advocate.
MORE LIKELY TO SUCCEED IN SCHOOL
MORE LIKELY TO FIND A SAFE, PERMANENT HOME
HALF AS LIKELY TO RE-ENTER THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a national volunteer movement. Its founder, Seattle Superior Court Judge David Soukup, decided he couldn’t endure any more sleepless nights worrying about the lifelong impact his decisions had on abused and neglected children.
He thought well-trained volunteers could ensure that children’s voices were heard and provide judges with the necessary insight to make the best possible decisions.
By 1977, Judge Soukup formed the first CASA program to recruit, train, and supervise everyday people who volunteered to build meaningful relationships and advocate for abused and neglected children in juvenile dependency court. Today, close to 1,000 CASA programs work within state networks and in affiliation with the National CASA Association to serve our nation’s most vulnerable children.
The CASA-EP program was started in 2003 through the hard work and dedication of Joan Piemme and Val Smith.