Henrico County Court Appointed Special Advocates, Inc.

Henrico CASA’s recent strategic plan supports the agency’s overriding goal of reducing abuse and neglect in Henrico County. To accomplish our goal, Henrico CASA is committed to serving all children who are referred to us for court advocacy. This goal has been met with the assistance of up to 136 CASA volunteers who have served up to 400 children and 6 talented and passionate staff who are all supported by a 13-member board of directors. CASA uses highly trained volunteers to consistently accomplish its secondary goals. These goals include:

To provide the Court with independent factual information on which to base decisions in cases of child abuse/neglect;
To assist the Court and social services in assuring court orders are followed;
To provide advocacy for abused/neglected children who are the subject of judicial hearings;
To monitor cases involving abused/neglected children until the terms of a court order have been completely fulfilled;
To reduce the recurrence of abuse/neglect and to assist the Court and social services in attempting to break the cycle of child abuse; and
To educate the community about the problems of child abuse/neglect and to encourage community involvement in preventing abuse/neglect.

-Staff will recruit, screen, and train high-quality volunteers to passionately advocate for all children referred to the program.
-Henrico CASA will offer an effective training program to prepare new volunteers for their advocacy role.
-Henrico CASA volunteers wlil conduct thorough investigations to determine appropriate service recommendations to include in their reports to judges, which will result in more children and families participating in court-ordered services.
-All assigned children will be kept safe from abuse while receiving advocacy services from Henrico CASA.

When an abused or neglected child is referred by the Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Henrico CASA provides a trained volunteer to complete an independent evaluation of the child's circumstances by speaking to all family members and case professionals, visiting regularly with the child, and reviewing the child's physical and mental health, and school records.The volunteer will work closely with the child's social worker and guardian ad litem, providing additional information to both. Volunteers will collaborate with professionals who provide case management, legal representation, and counseling services. The advocate is directed by the Court to promote only that which is in the child's best interest. During this process the volunteer assists the child and their family in understanding the court process and will remain active with the child's case until a permanent decision is made by the Court. The final work product of the advocate's effort is a detailed report to the Court, complete with a case history, documented factual findings, and recommendations for the child's well-being. In addition to Henrico CASA's court advocacy program, the organization will work to promote and participate in collaborative efforts with other child-serving agencies on behalf of abused, at-risk, and truant children, and to raise community awareness in this area.

We have revamped our pre-service training curriculum by using a case study model. A 'real case' is incorporated into the 6-week training program. This hands-on process is the way our volunteers learn the best - they are better prepared for their duties.

In order to continue providing services to all referred children and improve program efficiency, we are focused on maintaining our committed volunteers, and also recruiting new dedicated volunteer advocates. Our program manager and volunteer coordinators are working to create a strategic plan to guide their volunteer recruitment, retention and recognition efforts over the next five years. The executive directors of the Metro Richmond region are also working together to use public relations and community resources to better brand the CASA name throughout the Richmond community.

Typically the Henrico CASA program conducts new volunteer training sessions (40 hours) twice a year with approximately twenty-five trainees participating. During fiscal year 15, Henrico CASA conducted a six-week training class in the fall of 2014, and hosted two sessions in the spring and summer of 2015. Each of the new volunteers have been/will be assigned cases and serve newly referred children. During their assignments, their respective volunteer coordinators will support their work through assisting them with their investigations and relevation documentation, report preparation, and attend all court hearings with them.