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Volunteering
Court Appointed Special Advocates
Are
you a mature, responsible adult? Can you talk to people who are having problems? Do you have time to commit? Do you care about
children?
If your answers are "yes," then you may qualify to be a CASA volunteer. CASA volunteers come from all
walks of life. They have a variety of professional, educational, and ethnic backgrounds. No special background is required.
Volunteers are selected on the basis of their objectivity, competence, and commitment. Once accepted, CASA volunteers are
trained. It takes about 10 to 15 hours a month to be a CASA volunteer. It's hard work, but very gratifying.
CASA volunteers offer children
trust, advocacy, and continuity during complex legal proceedings, but CASA volunteers do not become friends with the child
or the other parties involved.
CASA volunteers are ordinary
citizens. They work alongside attorneys and social workers as appointed officers of the court. When a CASA volunteer is appointed
to a child's case, he or she is responsible for taking the time to find out as much as possible about the child. CASA volunteers
search for information by reviewing records, interviewing parents, and talking to teachers, neighbors, and most importantly,
the child. The volunteers then appear in court to recommend to the judge what's best for the child's future.
CASA provides trained volunteer
advocates who serve as the voice of abused and neglected children in juvenile court.
CASA believes that all children
have a right to a home with loving people who care for them. Each year in the United States, thousands of children
are abused, neglected or abandoned by their families.
It is up to a judge to decide
these children's futures: Should they remain with parents, be placed in foster care or with relatives, or should they be adopted?
In these cases, many children
become victims a second time--lost in an overburdened child welfare system. Social agency caseworkers may have over forty
cases at one time. Large caseloads make it impossible to give each child's case thorough attention. Often, a child remains
in foster care for months or even years.
This is where CASA comes
in.
CASA volunteers are Court-Appointed
Special Advocates for children. These trained community volunteers are appointed by the judgeto speak up for abused
and neglected children in court.
The CASA volunteers' small
caseload allows them to provide detailed information on a child's case and ensures that the child's best interest is represented
in court.
Role of National CASA:
National CASA offers critical
leadership and support to provide quality advocacy and lead the continued growth of the CASA network. Some of our specific
activities:
Training & Curriculum: National CASA creates
new, research-based training opportunities, such as our new e-learning series on educational advocacy, and continuously
improves our core volunteer training curriculum.
Technical Assistance: We offer extensive technical
assistance to help programs serve more children more effectively.
Volunteer
Recruitment and Public Awareness: We coordinate national campaigns to help recruit CASA volunteers and raise awareness about
child abuse. In recent years, the CASA cause has been featured in various media, reaching more than 155 million individuals.
Much of this awareness is the result of National CASA being selected as a CBS Care network
charity.
Resource Development and Grants: National CASA
provides pass-through funding to local and state CASA/GAL programs. Grant funding comes primarily from the Department of Justice
but also from private corporations and foundations.
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