A CASA volunteer is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children. Children need a loving environment where they feel safe and protected. A CASA volunteer is permitted by the courts to help make the children's dreams a reality. CASA is an interest of mine, and I will start training this fall. I am excited to become someone who can help bring a positive change to the lives of vulnerable children.
In this position, you get to know the child(ren) assigned to you. You talk with the child and others in the child's life. This can include the parents and other relatives, foster parents, teachers, social workers, medical professionals, and attorneys. There can also be others in the child's life that can help to collect additional information. This information is beneficial for social workers, judges, and others to assess the child's needs and the best permanent home for them.
There are six prominent roles of a CASA volunteer. The first role is to meet with the child regularly. The second is to gather information from all interested parties. The third is to watch for any unmet needs of the child and be the child's advocate. The fourth is writing a court report for each hearing that concerns the child and giving it to the judge. This report contains what the advocate believes to be in the child's best interest and has what the child would like to happen. The fifth is to attend all court hearings that pertain to the child. This is approximately every six months, but they may be done more often when needed. The sixth and final role is to monitor the case until the child is placed into a safe, nurturing, and permanent home.
CASA welcomes volunteers from many different walks of life. CASA is just looking for someone that cares about children and has common sense. The volunteer does not have to be a professional, lawyer, or social worker because they will be carefully trained and well supported by staff who will help you through your work cases.
There are a few things that are required in becoming a CASA volunteer. A required background check as well as a 30-hour training before they can become a volunteer. The CASA volunteer also agrees to stay on a case until it is close, which can be, on average, a year and a half.
State-mandated restrictions for CASA volunteers include giving money or expensive gifts to the child or family of the non-minor or child. CASA volunteers are prohibited from taking a child to their home, providing legal advice or counseling/therapy. A volunteer cannot be related to anyone involved with or employed by any party that might present a conflict of interest. The CASA volunteer should not engage in any activities that are prohibited by the juvenile court system.
There are many resources for advocates. This program offers many professional staff members who specialize in different areas to work with the volunteers personally for support. There are agency partners and other general community resources. CASA offers ongoing training opportunities for its volunteers to help them serve the children better.
This seems more like a descriptive paper about a service or policy than a reaction essay. Reaction essays are opportunities for you to reflect on things, share your feelings about policies or services, or generally share your thinking about something related to social welfare. In this well-written paper you have given a descriptive overview of the CASA program. It’s practically a second policy paper. That’s fine. Nothing wrong with doing it that way. Full credit for the assignment and all that. And with the CASA program, there isn't much controversy, is there?
You have to go back to 2004 and the Caliber study based on COMET data to find issues. People like Richard Wexler were vocal critics of CASA at that time.
https://youthtoday.org/2004/07/an-evaluation-of-volunteers-courts-controversy/
A few years ago (2016) the City University of New York Law Review published an article critical of CASA authored by Amy Mulzer and Tara Urs (“However Kindly Intentioned: Structural racism and volunteers CASA Programs”). But, really, it’s hard to find such criticisms, and most people express enthusiastic support for the program.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1413&context=clr
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