Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate!

Hey guys!  Yanno what?  I went looking at the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) page and saw something I NEVER SAW BEFORE-  
CASA Logo "CASA volunteers are ordinary people who care about kids. CASA volunteers come from all backgrounds. Many work full time. Some are students or retired people. Most CASA volunteers work on one case at a time. No legal expertise is required."  

 Well, what do I have to say about THAT?   WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? 

To heck with trying to infiltrate CPS.  Forget about recruiting Social Worker Whistle Blowers!   Let's check this out.  Couldn't the children use a REAL PERSON as their ADVOCATE instead of the usual incompetent lefty-type? - Leonard Henderson

See- http://www.nationalcasa.org/volunteer/index.htm

11-12-2002 A Voice for the Children article

Hey, what an AWESOME way to fight the system and prevent falsely accused
parents from being railroaded.
You are SOO resourceful! I am definitely checking this out.

 

Hello All,

I believe that if any of you have the time to volunteer to be a
CASA that you should, CASA are appointed to make sure that the
social worker is doing their job, to secure or recommend services
for the child and to make an independent recommendation to the judge
on what is in the child's best interest. You would not work "with" a
SW.....you would be looking over their shoulder and ensuring they do
their job, most SW's I have talked to in my area are not the
thrilled with CASA or GAL's because it is someone who they have no
control over, they have to allow them full access to the casefile
and report to the judge. Currently the county I live in does not
have CASA, we have GAL's which are local attorney's who (so far I
have not seen one do it different) to the best of my knowledge just
walk in the office flip through the casefile, ask the SW what they
recommend and tell the judge whatever the SW said was "in the best
interest". Now personally if it was possible (and I am working on
it). I would be a CASA in our neighboring county until my county has
this program so that I could see and maybe prevent some children
from further suffering at the hands of an incompetent, overworked,
uncaring SW. You have to be trained in court procedure........which
you have to admit could come in very handy!! And you would have to
love the thought of walking into DSS and asking for a file and them
having to give you access and treating you with RESPECT. This
would/could be a good way to change some SW's or completely get rid
of some.......if nothing else it may make some think twice before
they remove a child , incarcerate or hospitalize one. I believe
there are a lot of smart people here that would make good CASA's or
GAL's. You would be working with the child and helping that child
make sure that they are truly receiving aid that is in their best
interest.

Char

 

My thinking about it is like this.  There are children that need protection, and I'm interested in volunteering to do that.  I wouldn't go into any case prejudiced one way or another.  I would look out for what I considered to be the child's best interests.  It is that simple.  No going in to bash DSS or prove a point about them, or to bash the parents and suck up to DSS; however, knowing in advance what kinds of things the state often does wrong to children in their care would merely help me to look out for the best interests of the child, regardless of what party is threatening those best interests.

Eric von Kleist
Spartanburg, South Carolina

 

GO FOR IT!! You would be wonderful for the children since you know
just what they are subjected to when CPS steps in. 

Sheryl Lane-McGrath
New York State