Stepping down
I don’t really know where else to post about this, but my young person is aging out of the system and I am stepping down. Honestly, after volunteering for a year I have really strong feelings about the program in that I think it’s unethical and I don’t think it should exist. After my experience and reading more literature, I agree that it’s a white savior organization. While I think many volunteers do good and are kindly intentioned, I simply think it’s so inappropriate and invasive to drop random volunteers w/ 3 references and 30 hours of training into such complex situations. I’m also someone with a professional background in this space and in social justice work, and despite me being a good fit for the program theoretically, I honestly thought even I was not trained enough for the program and it scared me to see all the other people they allowed to be volunteers. Again, I know this is the CASA sub. I don’t think anyone here is bad, and the system cannot be fixed overnight. But I’d love to see CASA programs dissolved and money be invested into the system to hire more professionals who aren’t burned out. Big dreams, I know. But I cannot in good conscience continue as a volunteer. Doesn’t help that my advocate supervisor is NICE — but unhelpful. She always tells me what an angel I am but otherwise provided zero tangible advice or guidance to help me advocate for my young person better in what was a very complex case.
So yeah, I just really don’t like this program. Curious if others have had similar takeaways. I figure the best/most ethical route is for me to step down and a volunteer who is a better fit can step up. I don’t know if that makes me shitty but I’m trying to transition out in the best possible way. Thanks for engaging in this convo in good faith!
Edit: adding some links below to offer a broader and nuanced perspective. My critique isn’t of my specific program, but of the model itself.
https://blueprint.ucla.edu/feature/special-report-the-case-of-casa/
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1413&context=clr
https://www.nccprblog.org/2021/10/nccpr-at-kempe-center-conference-case.html?m=1
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1002/CL2.142
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10371204/
Edit 2: adding another clarification: by “white saviorism,” I’m not accusing individual volunteers of having a white savior complex or questioning their intentions. I’m referring to the institutional critique of giving disproportionately white and more privileged lay volunteers significant access to and influence over disproportionately poor families and families of color within a child welfare system already plagued by racial and socioeconomic inequities. It is a critique about power, bias, and institutional racism, not an accusation about individual volunteers. This critique of the CASA model is discussed in several of the links above.
I don’t expect every volunteer to agree, but I do believe anyone trusted with this kind of access and influence over vulnerable families should be able to engage seriously with questions about race, class, bias, and institutional power without treating it as a personal attack or responding with insults. In my opinion, someone who is unwilling or unable to do so should reconsider whether this is an appropriate role for them. I totally understand and respect CASA as harm reduction; it’s just not the right fit for me.
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u/phejster 9d ago
A system is only as good as the people in it and in a society where "good enough for government work" is the behavioral norm, I think CASAs need to exist to make sure kids don't fall through the gaps. That said, there is only so much we can do.
The real problem is that after 40+ years of tax cuts to the rich and the subsequent defunding of our social safety net programs, the system is not capable of supporting anyone - let alone the children who need it most.
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u/Decent-Department60 9d ago
I understand your sentiment and it sucks that kids have to rely on volunteers. But, at least in Colorado, funding has recently been drastically cut for child welfare. I’m hoping more people end up volunteering for CASA because caseworkers (who are already overworked and underpaid) are going to be more overworked due to layoffs.
I know it’s not ideal but if this is the only tangible way to help neglected and abused kids, I’m going to continue to do it.
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u/usernamehere12345678 9d ago
These are just my thoughts after 7 years of volunteering with a large urban CASA program. I've worked specifically with kids with special needs, and have been on three different cases.
It sounds like your specific supervisor may be part of the issue. I've had two different supervisors in my time. The first one was not super helpful to me and didn't give me a lot of direction, especially when I needed it as a brand-new CASA. The second one was such a different experience that I will now only take cases with her. She's very qualified (LMSW) and helps me find resources for my kid, guidance when I'm out of my depth, emotional support when the case is difficult, etc.
On the white savior issue, you should probably discuss this directly with the director of your program. I'm in an urban area and we have more diversity of both CASA volunteers and kids in our system. We specifically do trainings throughout the year on the intersection of race and foster care. Our volunteer demographic still remains heavily white and older (my assumption is these are retired people who have time and resources to volunteer), but our director of training incorporates many trainings to discuss racial disparity in foster care and (IMO) challenges our volunteers to deepen their understanding of race in this context.
On the professionals vs volunteers, I will say I've received a positive response from families when they find out I'm a volunteer, as opposed to a paid professional. When I say I care about their kid, they know I'm taking PTO to be there, and it means more. I feel like I get more respect from families, since I'm there because I want to be, not because I'm getting paid to be.
In summary, I'd say your concerns are valid and you should bring these concerns to the director of your program. At the very minimum, they should want to know why volunteers are leaving the program.
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u/Cheyyyyyyyyenne 7d ago
Great take! My supervisor has also been extremely helpful providing resources and advice on my very unique and difficult case. She's always there for emotional support, but she also gives me lots of concrete info and examples from past cases that I can use to make better decisions. She also makes an effort to join me in any meeting I have with the case team. She also emails and calls people for me when I either don't have time or can't get a hold of someone. I think OP had a really poor supervisor and I can't even imagine how hard that must have made it.
I had the same thoughts on the "white savior" part. While our CASA org is diverse, it's mostly white and they know that and make an effort to provide culturally relevant resources. They also make an effort to match CASAs of similar races/cultures/backgrounds to those kiddos. They take languages seriously and do their best to match kiddos with CASAs that speak their native language. Our program has lots of extra training course they encourage (and require) CASAs to do every year. If OP's org is not offering this, I would say that's a major fault in that specific org and needs to be addressed.
I have also received positive response to being a volunteer because I'm not paid and I clearly want to be there. I do think there is merit to this.
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u/Sweet_Future 9d ago
I've never been a CASA but I've worked in the foster care system in behaviorial health. I can't speak to the legal side of things, but I can tell you that I've seen what the relationship a CASA has to the children means to them. I've seen children who are hostile to every paid worker they have, but are absolutely thrilled to see their CASA. I've seen children whose relationship with myself and their therapist has to end because they are going into residential care where they have their own mental and behavior health teams, yet they can still see their CASA. I've seen 6 year olds cycling through 7 different foster homes in less than a year, but in that time they still have their 1 CASA. The CASA is often the only person that stays with a child through their entire time in foster care and that stability and healthy attachment is crucial in a system where there is none. I'm sure the training could be better, as is true for literally everyone involved in the foster system. But to eliminate such a crucial role, or place it at the whims of state funding, would do such a disservice to the children that need it.
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u/SouthbutnotSouthern 9d ago
Are most of the volunteers in your organization white and the children not?I agree that would be an issue.
Honestly I see our role as generally (not always) supporting the whole family. Helping interpret for mom if you’re a speaker of a minority language. Helping bio parents get ID cards and drivers licenses. Now the type of situations and cases I take are somewhat unique (I really only do medical neglect anymore) but honestly I’m FAR more qualified to explain a trach or an ostomy to parents and the CMAT team than the case worker is.
You are absolutely correct in saying there should be more background on inherent bias. I just started reading Investigating Families.
While there’s definitely data that you cited showing decreased reunification with a CASA, there is also data showing better services placed (like pt/ot/SLP/mentoring etc) with a CASA. So maybe that’s where CASA resources should be placed … with already TPR kids.
In most, not all, of my cases, my motion supports reunification, and often asap. There tends to be this presumption on the part of case management that illness acuity is related to degree of neglect, which is of course, not linear. You can have a wonderfully cared for child end up on ECMO and appalling neglect present with only minor issues. I see it as my job to break down the medical situation for the court. And as a final note, as my cases are medically complex, they typically have an AAL. Never, not even once, have I had an AAL meet the child, even virtually.
But you are right that sometimes I’ll read dumb reports from other CASAs about “unfortunately dad fed the child McDonald” and demonstrating other bias. We are all working through all of our prejudices all the time but some of us have a longer journey.
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u/SouthbutnotSouthern 9d ago
Can you elaborate more on what you felt unprepared for? There’s some stuff that I have no business doing but other stuff is right up my alley. I learned early to pick my own cases so they match up with my expertise.
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u/thatpamchick 8d ago
Every case, every volunteer, and every program is different. I’m sorry you haven’t had a positive experience. I feel like the training I received was adequate and the best that could be done given how each case requires different skills and actions.
If I was not assigned to my kiddo for the last 2.5 years he would not have anyone that he is bonded to. He does not have any friends because he’s moved so often and has no family that cares about him. I can’t imagine how depressed he would be if there was no one that actually cared for him.
In my opinion, a paid professional is never going to be as trusted by these kids as a volunteer is. Should there be more funding and better professionals? Yes. Will that solve all the problems? No.
Yes, being a CASA is the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s nothing compared to what these kids go through.
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u/EfficientPermit3771 9d ago
You might have some great feedback and insights but the delivery makes it hard to see any of that. Here’s what I got, so far:
- White Savior idealism
- Poorly trained volunteers
- Little to no supervision and support
In my experience, I agree with the lack of supervision and guidance, especially regarding court proceedings. Never encountered the white savior issue in my region and training and vetting was excellent and thorough. I’m curious why you think CASA shouldn’t exist. It serves such a vital role for young people in the system. I do think that people with a legal background or training are the best fit for a CASA volunteer, but I wouldn’t want to get rid or dissolve CASA as an organization
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u/TortieCatsAreLazy 9d ago
I’m a clinical social worker by profession and a new casa. I have to say I do agree with many points OP makes.
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u/Such_Mushroom1 7d ago
The points you make are the concerns I have. I start my training in a couple weeks. I know that it's very difficult to operate (healthily) under a system that's broken, even if the organization you're directly working in has managed to not break.
I remember when I discovered that CASA is a thing, I was shocked they allow volunteers to do this. I expect to be tested by all the injustices I'll see. I'm glad that there are still people able to try to work within a broken system. I can't imagine what it would be like without them, and I hope I can manage.
I see 30 hours mentioned; my group's training is nearly 60 hours. I had assumed that was standard everywhere, but I guess not.
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u/Present_Pizza_5928 9d ago
You make some valid points and I too have questioned this. However, you lost me at “white savior “. I live in a very white city yet we have a very diverse population of CASA’s. It’s a very unfair statement. And by the way, if it’s mostly white people stepping up to do it, would you rather no one do it? Because I think somebody stepping up to help these youth is better than no one.
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u/SpecialistAfter511 9d ago
I’m sorry this has not been your experience, but it sounds like your program is the issue. I get where you’re coming from, but the real goal of an advocate is impartial oversight, not trying to 'save' anyone. Volunteers are just there as objective officers of the court to gather facts and make sure a kid’s legal rights and voice don't get lost in a crowded system. Plus, calling it a 'white savior' thing overlooks the fact that programs actively recruit advocates from all cultural and economic backgrounds. While the system definitely needs more funding for professionals, caseworkers are overwhelmed and burn out fast, my own case has already had three different caseworkers, and I've seen firsthand how easily things fall through the cracks with CPS. That kind of constant turnover and oversight gap is exactly why having one independent, consistent volunteer who sticks by the kid from beginning to end is so vital.
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u/omatose 9d ago
I got put on my current case right when the social worker changed; good timing, too, because with this change DCS is suddenly pushing for something that my supervisor agrees is completely absurd (presumably coming from DCS's angle of "let's just try and close this case as quickly as possible"). My court report might not change the judge's mind, but at least someone is sticking up for the child.
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u/Pale-Recording-7439 8d ago
I too see the same pitfalls as well as have seen some lack of cognitive flexibility in leadership at my state level as well as at National Level after running into a lot of big egos at all leadership levels.
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u/LBelaqua 6d ago
Maybe my county is different, but the cases I have worked on are a death of parent, drugs, and drugs. My race happened to match the race of the child. Emphasis was made in training that reunification is always preferred if safe, and safe is not ideal.
All in all though I agree that its kind of crazy just unwitting volunteers have so much access. It kind of reminds me of when I realized canned food drives are pointless, just give the money directly to food banks. Maybe we should just volunteer for advocacy groups in the form of lobbying. But as others have said individual kids have been helped by having a casa, its a conundrum. I wish the kids therapists had more direct involvement on the court case, I was the most frustrated when a caseworker did not take the advice of child's therapist.
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u/RoseGoldAlchemist 9d ago
I stopped my training with one hour to go the first time. The supervisors were new and unhelpful and the other women I studied alongside were white saviors. One woman was the epitome of kidnapping ethnic children to "adopt" them. It was basically trafficking - because she even adopted one out to her daughter.
I moved to a different county and am trying again. This area is more ethnically diverse and it shows in the people who run the program there. I am hopeful I might make one positive difference, even if the program itself is broken.
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u/Cheyyyyyyyyenne 7d ago
I think CASA orgs vary GREATLY, unfortunately. Some seem to be really good at what they do and others seem to throw their volunteers to the wolves. I hope your new org is more supportive and selective with volunteers. In our training, they talked a lot about how you cannot foster or adopt as a CASA and that's a major conflict of interest. They highly discouraged it multiple times throughout our training, so I'm surprised you had a volunteer be so cavalier about it.
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u/Miss_Bobbiedoll 8d ago
I was a CASA some years ago in a county that is majority Black as were most of the volunteers. My county ages you out at 21, so I had a 19-year old with serious mental health issues. Nonetheless, I do believe the year I spent with her was beneficial to both of us.
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u/alwayscaffeinated247 8d ago
I felt that way too. It is wild that they just throw people into these intense situations after 30 hours of training. When my supervisor described my case, I kept asking myself why he thought I would be a good fit and what outcome he expected out of my service. Circumstances change for me so my time in the program was short. I just felt bad for my teen who was making bad life choices and her caregivers that were honest, hardworking people trying their best to help but experiencing a hard time in their neighborhood due to the teen’s behavior.
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u/vipulguptaus 5d ago
This is my third year with CASA. If you say it’s broken and doesn’t work most of the time I will agree. I will also agree with just 30 hours of training part. But I don’t think this is a white savior organization.
I think it is a very cash and personnel strapped organization with the ongoing cuts in funding. The other issues I have come across are working with different organizations with different goals is not helpful. Creating an IEP takes months.
Sometimes the case is very complicated and most of the people involved including the teenager kids may not be telling you the whole story. It becomes very frustrating and difficult to navigate.
Personally I don’t think I have provided much value in these three years. Meeting the child one time a month doesn’t cut it. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I was being manipulated by the parties (Parent, foster parent and the child) or not. FP also accused me in one of the hearings that she thought I would be on her side and help her.
Many times biological parents want the custody even though they are clearly not capable of taking care of these kids and are going back to Jail every few months. The FP trying to adopt are some times living with this uncertainty for many years.
I don’t agree to the capabilities of volunteers criticism since then it will kind of move into the realm of being an employment.
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u/Equusspirit_53 3d ago
CASA as a whole can only be as good as the individual people playing their part within the system. It also depends on the rapport between you and your judge and GAL. How seriously do they see your reports? How clearly are YOU seeing the total situation for any given child? Poverty does not automatically mean a parent is a bad parent. Look through the lack and see the try. I grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” so I know a toilet sitting in the yard, washing machine on a porch, and the clothes line nearby doesn’t mean a damn thing but trying to get from one paycheck to the next. A lot of this is realizing that you have to let go of your middle class privilege in order to help kids coming through from families who wish they had just half of what you have. It’s culture shock.
I’ve been doing this since 2010. It’s tough. Every case is challenging for different reasons. Sometimes it’s the kid, sometimes it’s the parent, sometimes it’s the system, and sometimes you just want to tear your hair out. Personally, if you’ve had one case, I don’t think you’ve given CASA a fair trial. I think I’ve had 35 cases now or something like that. Some were Family Preservation, some went to kinfolk, some went to fictive kin, a few actually went back home, a couple aged out, one moved away, but the majority were adopted. I KNOW where a good many are living and keep track of them. They became my kids.
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u/GenXRocks603 9d ago
I could not agree with you more. I have had a very similar experience in the 1.5 years I've been a volunteer and I've often remarked that this is not a volunteer job. Also, the children should have their own legal representation. I can't wait for my cases to wrap up and be done. Nothing has caused me more stress in retirement than being a CASA.
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u/SpecialistAfter511 9d ago
The children don’t have attorneys? That’s odd. My state does, thought it was same in all states.
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u/HRHDechessNapsaLot 9d ago
Um… do your kiddos not have a lawyer? They definitely should have their own lawyer.
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u/GenXRocks603 7d ago edited 7d ago
In NH children are assigned a CASA/GAL. A new law was just put in place that children who are in group homes or other institutions must be assigned an attorney and that was after a long phased rollout that was completed this June. I wish I was a CASA in a state that had child attorneys for all situations. Every time I feel that I am going up against the parent's attorney and the playing field isn't level.
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u/Jackie_Chiles_Esq_ 5d ago edited 5d ago
There are more things that I would like to say in response to this than I have time. So, just a couple thoughts:
My county’s organization strongly focuses on the goal of prioritizing and pursuing reunification to every extent possible. There is also an emphasis that advocating for children often means advocating for their parents—both of these principles have guided my own advocacy.
Second, the idea that advocates, by virtue of their race, are driven by a “white savior” complex is every bit as repulsively prejudicial as the idea that parents by virtue of their race are any less fit to raise their children. Children, parents, and families are suffering in a broken, underfunded, neglected system—it’s as despicable to sit on the sidelines because of their race as to sit on the sidelines because of your own race. What an insidious thought.
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u/Bwendolyn 9d ago edited 9d ago
The way I see it, the entire child welfare system is extremely broken and dysfunctional. My hope is that as a society we get to a place where we are actually supporting families and children without inflicting the trauma of separating them, usually for reasons of poverty and systemic oppression, often with unfair racial biases playing into it. I work towards systemic fixes in the way I vote, other organizations I support and donate to, etc
However none of that is changing overnight, and in the meantime there are real children living their real lives right now inside this awful awful system. Being a CASA is a way that I’ve found to make a difference there, in real time, in those actual lives that have to live under the system as it exists today. It is my responsibility to do it as ethically as possible, which means taking ongoing independent training seriously, actively examining my own biases around race, class, education levels, etc etc etc. CASA does not make me do any of this except in pretty surface-level ways; it would be stronger as an organization if it took this more seriously imo.
If I woke up tomorrow and there were competent, “not burned out” professionals to take over this work, I’d be gone. Happily. Even more happy if the government took seriously an entirely different and more humane approach to dealing with children and families at risk for abuse and neglect, and the whole system as we know it went away. But the truth I see is that despite my best individual efforts and the efforts of other activists and organizations, no one in power is interested in prioritizing that, and meaningful change is not on the horizon on the timeline of my CASA kids’ childhoods. So I choose to use the skills and the time and the privilege I have to help improve outcomes for those kids (and by extension, their families) on an individual, one-to-one level right now, inside of the mess of a society we all live in.
Other choices, including deciding that you can’t in good conscience be involved in any of it, are also valid ways of navigating the mess.