Murray/Whitfield CASA

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers are everyday members of this community, who have been trained to provide court-appointed volunteer advocacy for local children who have been separated from their families by foster care. Program staff train, support and coach volunteers through every step of the work! The program’s goals are to foster family preservation, ensure excellent care and treatment for the child during their time in foster care, and assist the court in making decisions that are well informed and in the child’s best interest.

CASA volunteers are appointed by the Murray/Whitfield Juvenile Court Judge to advocate for children’s best interests. They are appointed to children at the time that they enter foster care, and stay with each case until it is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home.

CASA volunteers are a consistent, nurturing adult presence during a very uncertain, and sometimes scary and unstable time in a child’s life. Our best interest advocacy is driven by the guiding principle that children grow and develop best with their family of origin, if the family can be safely reunified.

We serve as a source of support and assistance to the child’s family members, as they work to recover from the challenges and traumas that made that child’s home an unsafe place. CASA volunteers serve as officers of the court, in the role of a trained guardian ad litem. They interview anyone who might be able to shed light on the child’s needs, and then go to court and make recommendations to the judge, based on their independent assessments about what is in the best interests of the child.

CASAs also serve as a source of encouragement and support for the child, visiting them in the foster placement, making sure they’re safe, listening to their perspective, wishes, and dreams, and offering mentorship, guidance, and affirmation as the child finds their way through this time of transition and growth.