RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — There is an urgent need for more court-appointed volunteers as child abuse and neglect cases rise in Richmond and Henrico County.
Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASAs, are volunteers who serve child abuse and neglect victims during the court process.
Sarah-Keel Crews is a volunteer coordinator with Greater Richmond SCAN, which is an umbrella for five programs, including Richmond CASA. Crews said it’s a challenge to get more people to sign up.
“This is such a unique role that it’s challenging to recruit for because it’s about commitment. It’s about longevity,” she said. “We want our volunteers to see this through from start to finish.”
According to Richmond CASA, volunteers spend time with a child and speak to relatives, service providers, teachers and social workers to gather information and help make recommendations to the court. Based on what they learn, volunteers advocate for services that heal and strengthen families.
“You are advocating for their best interest,” Crews said.
CASA volunteers carve out a little time to meet with a child every so often, and help to reduce the time a child spends in the court system or in foster care.
“Every child and every student deserve every opportunity to thrive,” Jeannine Panzera, Executive Director of Henrico CASA, said in a press release. “Our advocates make that possible by setting children up to succeed.”
Richmond CASA currently has 90 volunteers, but Crews said they need 20 more to get to adequate staffing. Because of the shortage, they have 10 cases on the waitlist — resulting in 12 children currently without a CASA.
“When we don’t have a volunteer, the kids on those cases do not have a CASA or a court appointed special advocate to go through the life of their case with them, which could be detrimental to the outcome of the case,” Crews said.
Henrico CASA said volunteering is down, but their main challenges are volunteer retention and the time that is required for the initial training.
Four volunteers in Henrico County were sworn in at the end of June. But to keep cases off of their waitlist, Henrico CASA has to train 12 to 15 new volunteers this year.
The program said they never had a waitlist since its inception in 1994.
Earlier this year, case assignments were up 30% compared to the same time last year in Henrico.
Both Richmond and Henrico CASAs partly blame the aftereffects of the pandemic for the number and the severity of cases increasing.
“Due to the pandemic, they’re really with their nuclear family, which is giving whoever the abuser is more access to that child because they’re not going around more places,” Crews said.
Henrico CASA said in the post-pandemic era, children who were isolated in unsafe homes are now being seen by teachers and professionals, being reported and then entering the court system.
The organization added that many long-term volunteers need breaks after sticking out the pandemic, because of family needs, postponed travel, and burnout.
Richmond CASA is actively recruiting for fall training, which is scheduled for September 26.
Though the demand for volunteers is high, not just anyone can be a CASA. The programs are looking for volunteers to complete a certain amount of hours a month, pass a background check and go through several hours of training.
“You don’t have to be a lawyer. You don’t have to have any legal background. You don’t have to know anything about child advocacy or welfare,” Crews said. “It mostly matters that you have a heart for the work, and want to help children, and also that you can reasonably make the time commitment.”
Meanwhile, Henrico CASA is holding its first-ever Recruitment Drive. Interested professionals can register for the virtual information session on Aug. 10 at noon or request a recording to watch at any time.
8News has reached out to Hanover and Chesterfield CASAs for more information on their own programs, and has not received information at this time.
