What does a CASA volunteer do?
A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a volunteer who is appointed by a judge to advocate for an abused or neglected child in dependency court*.
*Dependency court (sometimes called 'the dependency system' or 'the system'): Dependency court is part of the superior court, and it hears cases about children who have been abused and neglected. In cases where the abuse or neglect is severe enough, the children will be taken out of their parents' homes and placed into foster care.
The CASA volunteer investigates the child's world by talking to the child, as well as to her teachers, parents, relatives, caregivers... anyone who has an impact on the child's life, and then makes recommendations to the court as to what is in the child's best interests. Those recommendations can range from whether the child should return to his parents or stay in foster care, to suggesting counseling services, special education classes, or substance abuse help for the child. The CASA volunteer's only objective is to recommend a course of action that will keep the child safe, and will address the child's unique, unmet needs.
While a child is in foster care, they face a constant rotation of judges, social workers, foster parents, and attorneys, all of whom are often only temporarily involved in the child's life, and for whom that child's case is one out of many. The CASA volunteer, however, commits himself to stay with the case for the duration (very rarely does it happen that the CASA volunteer will change mid-case), and it's a best practice that one CASA volunteer shouldn't take more than three cases at any given time. This means that each child is the CASA volunteer's priority.
