WHAT IS A CASA VOLUNTEER?
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When a child enters the foster care system because his or her home is no longer safe, a judge may appoint a committed volunteer to help them. That volunteer is called a Court Appointed Special Advocate®, or CASA volunteer. CASA volunteers are screened and highly trained to represent and advocate for a child’s best interests in the child protection system. CASA volunteers are each assigned to help one child or set of siblings at a time, so they can focus on giving that child or sibling group the individualized advocacy and attention they need. CASA volunteers save taxpayers money by ensuring children don't remain in the system for prolonged periods of time.
Watch this video from CASA of Travis County to learn more: |
Becoming a CASA Volunteer
The Five Steps to Becoming a CASA Volunteer:
1. Attend a one-hour Informational Session (optional)
2. Submit the application.
3. Have an informal interview—we'll call you to get it scheduled
4. Complete 40 hours of pre-service training—lots more information about this during the Informational Session.
5. Smile when you're sworn in by a judge as a CASA volunteer!
From helping siblings find permanent placement together, to finding a child a stable home with a relative, to uncovering information that helps reunite a loving family, CASA volunteers make incredible differences in the lives of children who have experienced neglect or abuse.
As a CASA volunteer, you will talk with the child and their family members, teachers and other stakeholders to find out where the child will be happiest and safest: with the parent(s), a relative, a foster family, or an adoptive family. You will speak for the child in court by submitting a fact-based recommendation for placement to the judge. During the life of the case, you act as the one constant in the child’s life as they experience changes in foster placements, schools, and caseworkers.
Although no special experience is required to be a CASA volunteer, there are some essential qualities that our CASA volunteers embody such as:
- Our CASA volunteers are objective. Many times CASA volunteers hear opinions from every angle of the case. They hear opinions from caseworkers, foster parents, group homes, teachers, family members, the parents, and the child, but as CASA volunteers, they have to construct their own recommendations based on the facts and what they observe and gather from the child.
- Our CASA volunteers are very passionate. They have taken on this very important and challenging work because they want to change the stories of children who have experienced abuse and neglect.
- Our CASA volunteers are phenomenal listeners. CASA volunteers must understand that our children have experienced much trauma and often build walls to keep people out. But a child with a CASA volunteer tends to trust their CASA and share more because they know they will be heard.
- Our CASA volunteers are consistent. So many adults enter and exit the lives of children in foster care – case managers, attorneys, family members, foster parents, etc. A CASA volunteer needs to be the one consistent adult in the child’s life during their time in foster care. Only time and consistency will cultivate trust with children who have experienced trauma. This is why we ask for a 12-month commitment from our volunteers and monthly child visits.
Time Commitment
You will spend approximately 10 hours each month working on your case. The beginning of a case is the intensive, fact-finding stage, which may require more time. The majority of cases require presenting recommendations to the judge several times over the course of a year. As a volunteer advocate, you will be assigned to an Advocacy Coordinator, a CASA staff member, who will support your efforts and attend court hearings with you.
Click here to register for our 2023 Volunteer Informational Sessions!
