CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for Children works with the region’s most vulnerable members—local children who have been removed from their families and homes to ensure their safety.
CASA recruits, trains and supports community volunteers who are assigned to a child in foster care, for support and advocates for them in the court system. These children have experienced significant trauma both leading up to and surrounding the removal from their homes and their CASA volunteer is often the one consistent supportive adult in their lives.
The children’s cases are brought before a Family Court Judge who must make critical, life-altering decisions about the child’s futures. Judges need clear, up-to-date information to make decisions in the children’s best interests, and CASA plays a significant role in providing that information.
Because of an increase in the number of children placed in foster care, CASA has a significant need for new volunteers. The process to become a CASA volunteer is not for everyone. It includes interviews, background checks, and thirty-three hours of training culminating in a swearing-in ceremony presided over by the Family Court Judge. Once assigned to a child’s case, our volunteers receive ongoing, hands-on support by our staff Advocate Supervisors.
Children in foster care need a consistent caring adult in their lives. A National Institutes of Health report noted the “importance that caring adult relationships can play in promoting positive youth development and resiliency.”
Because a CASA Advocate stays with their child until permanency is achieved, their volunteer is often that one consistent adult in their life—and the impact of that can be life-changing.
To learn how you can become a CASA volunteer, please visit our website: casamb.org/volunteer.
