Voices for Children offers online information sessions for volunteers

SAN DIEGO COUNTY – In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, Voices for Children announced it will expand its offerings to host upcoming volunteer Information Sessions online. The organization operates the region’s Court Appointed Special Advocate program, a volunteer-based model providing support and advocacy to children in foster care.

CASA volunteers are matched one-on-one with a child or sibling group who has been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect and has entered foster care. A CASA spends time with the child, works to understand their needs, communicates with professionals on the case including social workers and attorneys, and advocates for the child’s best interest to the judge who is making decisions about the child’s future.

Children enter the foster care system due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. The uncertainty and anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to compound the effects of trauma already experienced by youth in foster care.

In addition, the child welfare sector may face a multitude of challenges, including investigating child abuse, providing necessary services to children, protecting the health of youth in group homes or those with elderly caregivers, finding support for college-aged youth who have no home to which they can return, and more.

In an effort to provide the unparalleled support of a CASA volunteer to more youth, Voices for Children is encouraging volunteers who are interested in helping this vulnerable population to learn more by signing up for an online Information Session.

Training sessions are scheduled for the following dates, with others to be announced at http://www.speakupnow.org/information-sessions.

• Saturday, June 27, 10-11:30 a.m.

• Tuesday, July 14, 6-7:30 p.m.

• Saturday, Aug. 1, 10-11:30 a.m.

As the only nonprofit organization designated by the court to operate the CASA program in San Diego County, Voices for Children monitors every case in the foster care system and strives to provide an advocate to every child who needs one. It also offers all of the training and ongoing support CASA volunteers need to advocate for the child to whom they are assigned.

Submitted by Voices for Children.