Be a Voice in Court for a Child! Court Appointed Special Advocate

We are looking for volunteers to act as Family Law CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in King County. A CASA advocate is a Court Appointed Special Advocate who receives training and volunteers their time to investigate and report on the best interests of a child. In tough custody cases, parents are often unable to focus on the needs of their children. Many of these children are so young they cannot speak for themselves. CASA volunteers give these children a voice in court by focusing on the needs of the child and striving to strengthen parenting skills and family relationships. 58% of the families we serve are BIPOC, and we encourage BIPOC to apply to volunteer.

Our Mission Statement: Family Law CASA advocates for children in high-conflict cases across King County so they have the best chance for a safe, more secure home life, advancing equity for low-income families and significantly reducing the risk of abuse and neglect.

Our Racial Equity Values Statement: At Family Law CASA, we recognize our existence is inextricably tied to racist, sexist, and classist systems that disproportionately impact marginalized groups of King County, especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and people in low-income communities. Through our critical work championing children’s voices in family court, we seek to continue to mitigate these real impacts by:

• Implementing anti-racist and inclusive practices and intentionally participating in ongoing equity and bias training with our board, staff, and volunteer advocates.
• Including and elevating the voices of all stakeholders that intersect with our program and hold ourselves and our allies accountable for ensuring access to justice and equitable representation in family court.
• Recognizing that authentically engaging with and centering historically marginalized voices will enable us to disrupt systemic harm and transform our practices, programming, and organization to be more equitable.

In addition, we have adopted the Washington Race and Equity Justice Initiative Acknowledgement and Commitments.

What does a Court Appointed Special Advocate do?

After 21 hours of training (provided by Family Law CASA) and an orientation meeting with an Advocate Supervisor, new advocates spend an average of 60 hours over 6-9 months conducting an investigation and writing report(s). Throughout the investigation, Court Appointed Special Advocates are supported by an Advocate Supervisor (paid professional) who guides them through each step of the process. Advocates are also represented by the Family Law CASA Attorney. While each case is unique, a Court Appointed Special Advocate generally completes the following tasks:

• Interviews parents, teachers, doctors, the child and others who might provide helpful information (Due to COVID-19 these interviews can be done virtually!)
• Reviews background checks, CPS reports, chemical dependency reports and medical or psychological reports
• Asks screening questions during interviews to assess for unreported domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse and/or mental health concerns
• Observes the child's interactions with parents and watches for developmental delays, educational delays, safety concerns or other unaddressed needs
• Writes a report that includes recommendations about what is best for the child in the case

Requirements:

Advocates come from all walks of life, careers, ages, backgrounds and demographics to serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates. To volunteer as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, you must:

• Be 21 years of age or older
• Have access to a car and the ability to drive to/from appointments
• Own and be able to use a computer, including email
• Have good communication skills and strong writing ability
• Speak and write in English (court is conducted in English without reliable access to interpreters in our cases)
• Have reasonable time available to investigate the case & write reports by the court specified due dates
• Have no criminal record
• We have opportunities for advocates in all areas of King County.

For more information and to register go to www.familylawcasa.org/volunteer/

There will be two required training dates. Both will be in-person unless otherwise announced.

There will be recorded materials for completion by the first training date sent out three weeks prior to training.

Learn more and apply here: https://familylawcasa.org/volunteer/