CASA Worker and the Interests of Children in Court - Essay Example

Introduction

Over 70,000 people volunteer to work as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in order to represent the priorities of children who have been affected by child abuse. Lack of proper care offered by parents and guardians is insistent and disturbing problems that most Americans face. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services released a report that estimated over 3 million children have been abused and neglected in the United States (Weisz & Thai, 2003). In 1977, the first CASA program was established in Seattle, Washington. David Soukup, the King County Judge that appointed volunteers in the community to represent children that had been abused and neglected, started the program (Dicker & Gordon, 2006).

This paper will discuss the position that addresses the findings of the interview conducted to a CASA Volunteer. The paper will address CASA volunteer as a profession including the salaries and benefits, essential functions of the position in the organization, ethical considerations, the diversity of the position, and technologies used in the position as well as the demands and challenges posed by technology. In addition, the paper will address the reasons as to why I fit for the position. The paper will then conclude with a summary of the entire ideas in the paper.

Court of Appointed Special Advocates

Court of Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is an organization whose mission is to promote and support the advocacy of the courts in volunteer programs that advocate for the needs of children who have been neglected in the US to gain better opportunities and permanent homes (Weisz & Thai, 2003). The position of a Court Appointed Special Advocates Volunteer is found at CASA, a non-profit organization that provides programs, which assist courts through presenting information, and advocacy for neglected and abused children (Dicker & Gordon, 2006). The focus of the organization is on promoting and protecting the rights of children whose life has been associated with domestic abuses like child labor through offering counseling programs to parents (Weisz & Thai, 2003). Programs at CASA offer training and supervision to citizens that volunteer. They are later appointed to speak on behalf of children under jurisdiction by the local juvenile court judge.

To be a volunteer at CASA, one has to invest energy, time and heart. Greats steps are taken by CASA to ensure that all volunteers are culturally and competent regardless of gender and race (Tuff, 2014). However, attitude, behavior and communication may not fully be covered in the training under a diverse population.

The fact that CASA is commonly referred to as volunteers, no payment is made to such people. The amount of service that an individual offers is valued in terms of grant purposes. All the services that are offered by CASA volunteers is through personal dedication and goodness of the heart. Thus, CASA volunteers are not paid for the services that they provide. Positions that pay well in the organization are generally administrative jobs.

As a volunteer at CASA, an individual is appointed by the court, trained and becomes a committed individual who ensures that the needs of a single child is well addressed under a welfare system of overburdened children (Tuff, 2014). The information about a child is gathered through family members of the child, caregivers, teachers, doctors or any other individual that is associated with the child so as to make informed and independent recommendations to assist in the judgment for the best option for the child.

Ethical Considerations

In the first place, a CASA volunteer should ensure that he or she upholds confidentiality and respects the privacy of individuals in all issues concerning the assignments of the case (Justin, 2002). Second, a CASA volunteer is expected to treat all participants in the case with fairness, respect, respect, good faith and courtesy. Third, the CASA volunteer should maximize the use of authority in appointments of cases, controlling the role of CASA to realize responsibilities within a specific case. Fourth, the CASA volunteer is expected to take the responsibilities of developing knowledge and utilizing the information fully in order perfume the roles of a CASA volunteer (Justin, 2002). Lastly, a CASA volunteer is expected not to use or refer to his or her contribution with the program to develop his or her individual view in any proceedings dissimilar to the case in which he or she was selected as the CASA volunteer nor should he or she represent individual views or opinions similar to those of the program.

The CASA Volunteer is expected to be aware that the position occupied demands responsibility and will perfume faithfully in all the duties concerning the position of a Court Appointed Special Advocate.

Responsibilities of CASA volunteer

A CASA volunteer has essential functions of spending quality time with children in the CASA programs (Justin, 2002). The main responsibilities of a CASA volunteer include:

• To gather information concerning children who have been affected by domestic abuses. This includes reviewing records and documents as well as carrying out interviews to the children, members of the family and other parties involved in their lives.
• To present documented findings at court hearings through written reports.
• To assist the children understand the proceedings in the court by explaining to them what is going on.
• Being present at the court and advocating for the best options for the child and presenting testimony where it may be required.
• Search for cooperate clarifications from individuals and different organizations associated with the lives of the children.
• To make recommendations over the services provided to the child and ensuring that the child as well as the family are receiving the right services and advocate for those that are not directly available. Present concerns over the health of the child, education and other issues to suitable professionals.
• Closely follow case plans and orders in the court. Ensure that all plans are followed and authorized review hearings are being apprehended.
• To inform the court on developments from the members of the family and assistances. Ensure that the right cases are filled for a child in order for the court to understand the changes in the condition of the child.

Education background

All CASA volunteers are expected to attend the course sessions of a New Volunteer Education Program. The training is about 42 hours with an average of 20 hours dedicated to online training, which is parallel with six hours of observations in the courtroom (Tuff, 2014). At the time of the training, the CASA volunteers are monitored for suitability of the program. After both the New Volunteer Education Program and the observations in the courtroom are complete, the individual is then qualified for induction and subsequent case assignment (Tuff, 2014). Sessions that incorporate in-service education are available and offered all through the year and can be complete of independent study. These sessions including other trainings in the community require an average of 12 hours each year. The CASA volunteers are offered guidance and direct supervision from the staff (Tuff, 2014). Besides this, volunteers may use other suitable opportunities in education towards furthering their education. This may include reading books related to the job as well as attending educational programs and seminars.

Volunteers are usually overloaded with cases (Kavanagh, 2010). Parents, agency workers, family members and friends are constantly handling stress around the lives of young people. Burnout can be defined as a state of mental, emotional, and physical overtiredness that is as a result of excessive and prolonged stress (Kavanagh, 2010). The condition happens when one is overwhelmed and not capable of meeting constant demands. One loses the motivation or interest that resulted in taking the role as stress continues. On the other hand, compassion fatigue is normally associated with emotional and physical exhaustion and a deep decrease in the ability to feel for. The condition is termed as the cost of caring to some individuals.

Some of the ways to prevent burnout and fatigue as a CASA volunteer may include the following: In the first place, one should get educated on the common signs associated with burnout and fatigue (Kavanagh, 2010). The ability to understand the signs and symptoms allow one to prevent and manage such conditions. Besides this, practicing self-care can be a good approach in preventing burnout and fatigue. Some of the self-care practices may include taking balanced diet, regular exercise, a balance between leisure and work, and respecting ones emotional needs.

In addition, the ability to set emotional boundaries can also be an important method for therapists, caregivers, nurses and social workers in preventing burnout and fatigue. Setting emotional boundaries may assist one in upholding a connection as well as respecting the fact that one is different (Kavanagh, 2010). Lastly, a CASA volunteer should boost his or her resiliency in order to bounce back from stress. The art of resiliency can be cultivated and learned.

The types of technologies that are used on regular basis to facilitate the position of success achieved by CASA volunteers include; the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others to share and address different experiences (Litzelfelner, 2008). Besides this, the training of CASA volunteers uses some sites to offer information about the training.

In conducting the interview the position of CASA, I would use critical thinking in decision making and problem solving to ensure that all cases concerning child abuse and neglect is well addressed and advocate for better priorities and permanent home for such children.

The most important elements of personal and professional etiquette that I will employ in this position will include: First, appearance. I will ensure that I am neat when it comes to my appearance. Second, I will employ competence in the profession. This will include doing more research, continuous reading, and attending seminars. Third, I will ensure that I keep in mind all ethical considerations in the profession. At all times, I will ensure that I display ethical behaviors as a volunteer.

To be successful in the mission of assisting neglected and abused children to gain stability and find permanent solutions to their challenges, I will ensure a constant collaboration with other social workers. This will enable me achieve success in the field.

Among the strategies that I will use as a CASA volunteer will involve (Litzelfelner, 2008); ensuring that children stay with their parents at any given chance available, being companionate with guardians, parents and caregivers, investigating the relationships that exist and are applicable in getting out children from foster care to their parents, meeting children in places they are located, and making decisions and applying them in a way that the child may feel that they are at home.

My biggest strength in communication is that I have the ability to speak to anybody. My strength in communication can be seen through my ability to listen and respond in a clear way. I have developed skills to communicate to people one on one in a better manner. On the other hand, I have a weakness when it comes to communicating to a large multitude of people. I become very nervous, and at times will forget what I intended to speak. This paper has used a number of scholarly journals and professional articles to address different perspectives of the paper.

Conclusion

The paper has addressed CASA as an organization whose mission is to promote and support the advocacy of the courts in volunteer programs that advocate for the needs of children who have been neglected in the US to gain better opportunities and permanent homes. Due to the large population of children facing the challenge of neglect and abuse, the position assists the courts through presenting information and advocacy for neglected and abused children. The paper has explored different perspectives of being a CASA volunteer. No salaries and benefits are offered to volunteers since the job is out of individual interest. Different roles of the position in the organization and ethical considerations have been discussed by in relation to the CASA volunteer. The diversity of the position, and technologies used in the position and the demands and challenges posed by technology have been addressed. Lastly, the paper has addressed my reasons as to why I fit for the position including my strengths and weaknesses in the profession.