Expectations of CASA volunteers

Serving as a CASA volunteer requires commitment, courage, generosity, patience and time. It also requires that you meet certain standards and qualifications. In order to be considered to serve as a CASA volunteer, you must:

• Be at least 21 years of age;

• Complete and submit an application (from the program where you wish to volunteer);

• Submit the names of three or more references, at least two of whom are not relatives;

• Authorize the program to conduct a criminal background check and provide the necessary information for them to conduct a confidential review of your history;

• Participate in interviews conducted by CASA staff;

• Complete the required training;

• Be sworn in by a judge or authorized person as a Friend of the Court; and

• Follow all CASA standards and practices.

If you contact a local program and are accepted as a CASA volunteer, you will receive 30 hours of training before you are assigned a case and 12 hours of continuing education each year. Once you begin service as a CASA volunteer, you can expect to invest between one and four hours each week. You will visit your child (or children, if you are assigned to serve a family), contact the child's parents, foster parents, teachers or daycare providers, social worker and others significant in the child's life. As a CASA volunteer, you must also maintain excellent notes and write objective, fact-based reports for the court on a schedule determined by your assigning judge. Volunteering as a CASA produces important results; you will see your work truly making a difference in the life of a child.

With respect to child welfare practice, Wisconsin is largely a county-operated system. This means that each county (with the exception of Milwaukee, which is operated directly by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families) is responsible for providing child welfare services and for the staff that provides them. As a result, though CASA's role is enumerated in Wisconsin statutes, child welfare practice and CASA practice varies from county to county. However, each local CASA program conducts its training from the National CASA Association Volunteer Training Curriculum, and there are principles and practices that are embedded in all CASA work. You will find them listed above and in duties of CASA volunteers.

For people who would like to offer their skills and talents, but who may not have the time necessary to serve as a CASA volunteer for a child, CASA programs also need volunteers to serve on their Board of Directors, as advisors and on committees that strengthen programs and raise funds. For more information visit find a local program. Or, if you would like to work on a statewide level to promote CASA, then contact the Wisconsin CASA Association.