To Be a Child's Voice

The world of a foster child can be difficult, full of instability and uncertainty—different homes, different schools, and different families. The comfort and security of having one person remain a constant amidst all these changes is invaluable. CASA volunteers are those constants.

A CASA or Court Appointed Special Advocate’s mission is to provide advocacy and support to children in the foster system and dependency court. Lisa Michels, NVCSS CASA Regional Training Coordinator shares, “We would love to have every kiddo have a CASA, but we do not have enough volunteers. In our area, we usually have around 1,400 kids that are in care, and we have about 140 CASAs.” So, unfortunately, not every child gets one. Volunteers come from all walks of life—teachers, ranchers, attorneys, retirees, and stay-at-home parents. Each person brings their individual life experiences and their own connections to the foster child they’re paired with. The most important quality is simply the ability to be with that child. Tina Wolfe is the CASA Supervisor for Butte County and encourages volunteers by advising, “You’re not being tasked with solving all of the problems for this child. You are alongside them in their foster care experience—learning about them and being with them. You’re getting to know who they are so you can provide information to the court that they don’t get from anyone else.”

In the juvenile dependency court system, everyone has an attorney assigned to them, but those attorneys could have 200 to 400 other cases. There is also a social worker assigned to the case, but again, they have a caseload of 20-40 families. The idea behind the creation of CASA back in the 1970s was that it would foster a one-on-one connection between the volunteer and the youth. In this way, volunteers learn about the child's wants and needs and are then able to advocate for them in court. Lisa says the most important aspect of the CASA system is that they don’t have an agenda with the kids and are there to really look at the child as a whole. They aim to discover their needs, determine if they are being met, advocate for them, and then report back to the judge as an officer of the court. These volunteers will be that child’s person throughout their time in the foster system, following them until they’ve been reunified with their family or placed in a permanent home. They may help organize appointments with therapists, social workers, and case managers. CASAs aid in coordinating meetings to get the child into sports they’re interested in or enroll in an art class they’d like to try. The special bond created from this pairing enables the volunteer to get a different perspective on what’s going on in the child’s life. They meet with them out in the community, sometimes at school, or the library, or even taking them out on normal everyday errands like the grocery store and car wash. One CASA child used to share, “That’s my bench there,” pointing to a seat in front of Shubert’s Ice Cream, because that was where he and his CASA volunteer would meet and spend their time together.

Volunteers must be at least 21 years old, pass a background check, attend orientation, and participate in continuing education throughout the year. The initial training includes discussions on what it’s like to be a CASA, mandated reporting duties, different types of child placements, and recommendations on how to be a good partner to their child. Training also includes the opportunity to attend court in order to experience firsthand how CASAs advocate for their child to the judge. Tina emphasizes, “CASA volunteers don’t do it alone. As CASA supervisors, we are with every volunteer throughout the whole process. If they need us for any reason, we’re there.” This year, they will hold a late summer training session beginning August 23rd with an application deadline of August 9th and will offer another training session in October. These training sessions are virtual and include Butte, Glenn, Tehama, and Shasta counties. The community can support CASA in other ways if they’re not able to serve as a volunteer. This summer, they’ll hold the CASA Soirée on August 26th at White Ranch in Chico in an effort to raise funds for their regional program. Additional details on fundraisers and volunteer opportunities can be found on their webpage at www.nvcss.org/casa.

Being a CASA volunteer can change a child’s story. Many continue to hear back from their child even into adulthood to celebrate and share in their achievements. Lisa has said, “We plant seeds, and they all germinate at different times.” That change in the child’s story may be apparent early in their time with CASA or may not manifest itself until the child is an adult, but the impact these volunteers have on the youth is undeniable.