Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

CASA Mission Statement

“CASA provides quality advocacy for children through a unique one-on-one relationship between a trained and supervised court-appointed volunteer and an abused, abandoned or neglected child.”

• Category Overview
  
  A CASA volunteer is a mentor and advocate for an abused and neglected child in the foster care system. As a mentor, you spend quality time with the child to cultivate a relationship of care and support. Often a CASA will be the only stable person in a foster child’s life as he/she moves from house to house and goes through several social workers, so you will be in a unique position to guide and influence the child positively. As an advocate, you are the court’s eyes and ears in the child’s life, ensuring that the child’s needs are being met and the court-approved plans for the child are being implemented. Through frequent interactions and conversations, you will be able to assess the child’s physical and emotional well-being and practical and educational needs. You will review the child’s case files and records. Based on your assessments, you will submit written reports and recommendations to the court on what placement and services appear to be best for the child. You will also have the power to have the child's needs/wishes met, such as extra tutoring for the child, a doctor’s visit, or music lessons. The role requires spending at least 10-15 hours (2-4 visits) each month with the child. On your visits, which are unsupervised, you are advised to find fun, free or low-cost, educational activities to do that will foster your friendship and benefit the child (e.g., going to the park, beach, getting ice cream at McDonald’s, going for a walk, free museum days). You can schedule several short visits or a few longer visits — whatever works best with your schedule. Protecting the child’s confidentiality is of paramount importance, so you generally cannot introduce the child to anyone you know or take them into settings where the child’s privacy could be compromised. You will have to write a short monthly report about your visits and do additional paperwork. You will also go to court typically twice a year when the child’s case is being heard to offer information and recommendations in the best interest of the child. In Orange County, there are on average 3,000 children in the system. Social workers oversee 30-50 cases each. Only the most severe cases of abuse and neglect are assigned court-appointed advocates, and there are about 120 children on the waiting list (as of 2007).
  
  
• Requirements/Qualifications
   
  • Enjoy working with children and people of various backgrounds and cultures
  • Be able to gather, accurately record and present fact-based information related to the child’s life in written reports
  • Pass a security check consisting of the following:
  • FBI Live Scan fingerprint check
  • DMV record check
  • Child Abuse Registry check
  • Provide three letters of reference
  • Provide transportation and proof of adequate liability coverage
  • Provide yearly updates and copies of current DMV driving record, driver’s license and insurance coverage
  • Be at least 21 years old
  • Be willing to make a two-year commitment to provide stability and consistency for the children
    
• Process
  
  The first step is to attend an information session. Then you are required to take 30 hours of training; these training sessions are offered every other month. If you cannot complete the training in one month (classes are usually Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturdays), you can make up classes in later sessions.
  
  Regarding costs, you must pay for the Live Scan fingerprinting (unless you demonstrate financial hardship), which can cost from $50 to $80 dollars, and for the DMV report.
  
  
• Commitment Level
  
  You must complete the 30 hours of training and be willing to make a minimum two-year commitment to mentor a child. However, there are some advocacy options that require a shorter commitment (contact the CASA OC office for more information on these):
  
  • Emancipation Advocate: Matched with a 16-18-year-old teen who is about to be emancipated from the foster system; focuses on life skills and independent living. Additional training required. (1-2 year commitment)
  • Monitor Advocate: Meet once a month with child. Emphasis on advocacy only. Additional training may be required. (1-year commitment)
  • Educational Advocate/Responsible Adult: No meeting requirements. Matched with a child with extensive educational needs; emphasis on educational needs only, such as getting tutoring, psychiatric diagnoses, etc. Additional training may be required. (Time commitment varies)
  • Infant/Toddler Advocate: Matched with a child age 0 to 5. Emphasis on monitoring to ensure health and mental health needs are being met with quality, timely services. Emphasis on placing child in safe, permanent home. Additional training required. (Time commitment varies)
  • CASAs on Call: Emphasis on stabilization and meeting pending assignment of a permanent advocate. Requires additional training. (Time commitment varies, usually short term)
    
    
• Challenges, Barriers and Misperceptions
  
  
  • What makes it hard to serve in this way?
    It may be hard for people to make this time commitment (training plus 15 hours per month with the child for two years). Also, while children often enjoy having CASAs, there is no guarantee that this will be the case and the relationship may be difficult or require a lot of nurturing and patience. It is best to go into it without any expectations; rather, simply bring a desire to help and give.
  • What are some things that people don't generally know that could make it easier to serve?
    While a two-year commitment is expected, often cases will end before the two-year mark (if the child is reunified with family, adopted or enters an otherwise stable situation where CASA accountability is no longer needed). You can be assigned to a new child if you are available. Also, if unexpected life changes arise for the volunteer, exceptions can be made. Additionally, if a lot of time is spent with a child initially and the relationship is strong, the amount of time and way you spend time with the child later on can be flexible (i.e., more phone conversations, fewer but longer meetings, etc.).
  • What are some wrong ideas/thoughts that people have about this type of ministry?
    While there would hopefully be opportunities to share the Gospel and bring the light of Christ into the child’s life, it is important not to neglect the advocacy aspect of this role (as opposed to Olive Crest mentoring, for example, where mentoring is the only responsibility). Also, CASA is not a Christian-based organization and different CASA employees will have different perspectives on how forthright you can be in sharing the Gospel, so it’s important to be discerning and sensitive. Ideally your life and example will provoke questions about faith and you can “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have … with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet. 3:15)
    
• Next Steps
  
  Likeminded organizations: Olive Crest also has mentorship opportunities and is a Christian-based organization. Their training process is shorter and the mentorship requires a shorter time commitment, but there is no advocacy opportunity.
  
  Contact: For more information and/or to speak with a CASA representative, visit a local information session. To see the dates of information sessions in Orange County, visit http://casaoc.org/calendar.php. For orientation and training dates in Los Angeles County, visit http://www.casala.org/courtappointedvolunteers.php. Or, contact the volunteer representative at your local CASA office:
  
  CASA of Orange County
  Lynda Sloan Director of Community Relations
  Web: www.casaoc.org
  Phone: (714) 619-5155
  E-mail: volunteers@casaoc.org
  
  CASA of Los Angeles
  Web: www.casala.org
  Phone: (323) 526-6666
  Marisa Schor
  E-mail: mschor@lasuperiorcourt.org
  
• Resources
  
  National CASA Web site: http://www.nationalcasa.org/
  Foster care resources: http://www.casaoc.org/PDF/fostercareresources.pdf
  National child abuse statistics and resources: http://www.childwelfare.gov/
  CASA Heroes (testimonials from volunteers): http://www.casaoc.org/heroes.php