Can I Volunteer as a CASA?
Volunteer CASAs (court appointed special advocates) encompass all walks of life; no specific experience is required. We strive to increase diversity, inclusiveness and equity because vulnerable children deserve a strong and insightful community of volunteers to help them. To volunteer as a CASA, you must:
- Be 21 years of age or older
- Have no criminal history
- Have the ability to get to and from meetings in King County
- Have reliable access to and be able to use a computer, including email
- Possess strong verbal and written communication skills (English is the required language at this time)
- Commit to at least one case assignment (6-12 months, approximately 10-12 hours per month)
- Complete the required application, interview and initial training
Process to become an advocate:
- Submit application
- Link below
- Complete reference checks
- It’s a good idea to follow up with your references and make sure they received the form, as it often gets caught in spam filters.
- Email admin@familylawcasa.org if you need help.
- Interview to get approved for training
- We will contact you when we have your completed references.
- Complete pre-training materials
- There are 16+ hours of prerecorded material to review before training.
- Detailed instructions are sent out 2-3 weeks before the live training date.
- Attend new advocate training
- This will be held in person at our conference room, if possible.
- This training is about 7 hours long.
- Attend Implicit Bias training
- This will be held in-person at our conference room, if possible.
- This training is about 3 hours long.
- Please note this is an additional date to the new advocate training, usually 2-3 weeks after.
- Complete post-training paperwork
- This will be provided during training.
- Get approved to take a case
- Please note that you will not be fully approved to take a case until training is complete. The training is part of the screening process to become an advocate.
- Get a case assigned
- Depending on how many cases the court appoints us to, it may take a few months to have a case assigned to you.
- We do our best to match volunteers and cases based on experience and preferences.
What Will I Do as a CASA?
Volunteer CASAs gather information and make recommendations to the court about a child’s best interests. A staff supervisor is assigned to guide and support each volunteer throughout the process. Most cases involve the following tasks:
- Review the case with the assigned staff supervisor (in person or over the phone)
- Complete a home visit with the child in each household
- Interview the family members named in the case, preferably in their home
- Interview a limited number of friends and relatives (phone or in-person)
- Interview relevant professionals, such as teachers, therapists or service providers (phone)
- Review records and documents received
- Complete 1 – 2 written reports for the court by the specified due dates using a CASA report template
- Appear in court with the CASA Program Attorney if the case goes to trial (the trial date is specified when the case is assigned)
Thank You Jill Kourtis for providing this video