CASA is central to fulfilling society’s most fundamental obligation by making sure a qualified, compassionate adult will fight for a child’s right to be safe, treated with dignity, and learn and grow in the security of a loving family.

Abused children need volunteers who can apply their professional and life skills to stand up for their safety and well-being

Abused children need your help and they need it now

A volunteer who stands up for an abused child will make a real difference in their own life as well as the life of the child

Abused children need an army of compassionate adults who fight for their safety and well-being

The lives of foster children are hanging in the balance, they needyour help and they need it now

This cause has grown into the largest volunteer movement with over 70,000 volunteers nationally

By speaking up for abused children, a volunteer can help prevent a child from languishing for years in foster care

By standing up for abused children, a volunteer can help prevent a child from languishing for years in foster care

Because volunteers are highly trained and knowledgeable, judges rely on their recommendations in determining what’s best for an abused child

By standing up for abused children, volunteers not only change the life of one child, but also the lives of their children and their children’s children

volunteer training

2012 CASA Volunteer Training

January 23—March 1 in-classroom training

April 9—May 17 online & in-classroom training 

June 4—June 27 in-classroom training

August 13—September 20 in-classroom training

October 8—November 15 online & in-classroom training

CASA Volunteer initial training is 33 hours. We offer 3 learning options: 

• In-classroom training requires two/3 hour classes for six weeks. Morning and evening classes are offered. 

• Online training requires one/3 hour in-classroom session for 5 weeks and 5 online sessions. Morning and evening classes are offered for the in-classroom sessions.

• June training consists of 3 hour classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning for the month of June. No evening classes will be offered in June

For More Information

Phone:  615-425-2383

Email: cindyjohnson@casa-nashville.org

www.casa-nashville.org

CASA's Mission

The mission of CASA is to provide trained community volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children who come to the attention of the court as a result of abuse or neglect.

This project is funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee.

Click here for more information about volunteering with CASA.

A child has a fundamental right to feel safe, loved and cared for. An unassailable right to learn and grow and become the person they are destined to be. To be treated as human beings, not possessions. To thrive. In our society the stewardship of a child’s rights rest primarily with family. But too many families are in crisis, and too many children are lost in the process. Because of that, right now, nearly 425,000 children are separated from their families—a surprisingly disproportionate number of whom are Native American, Latino and African-American. Over the course of any year 700,000 children go through the system. Full of well intentioned people trying their best to place children in what is hoped will be better circumstances. But the system is overtaxed. In some counties 20 or 30 or even 90 cases of children in peril can come before a single judge before she’s halfway through her Monday. Too often a child can be placed in a different home from his sisters or brothers. Too often a single child can move to three or five or 15 foster homes in merely a matter of a year or two. Too often a child can languish for years without finding a stable home, only to ultimately age out of the system.

The solution begins with a single volunteer. Not a mentor or a ?special buddy, but a court appointed special advocate, a CASA Volunteer—specially trained to know what is in a child’s best interest, and how to get those interests met by the system. Who knows how to help a child through this time of great vulnerability and fear. And fight for each child until that child is in a place to thrive. Until that child understands that he has a right to believe in himself. Until she can understand and advocate for her own unalienable rights. To live a life of destiny, rather than fate.

Today, more than 70,000 CASA volunteers are spread throughout 1,000 programs around the country. Because of CASA, more than 2 million children have found their way to a safe home. CASA is the only program of its kind. In the child welfare and family court systems, it was—and is—nothing short of a revolution. Everything is built around one child and one adult advocate for that child. And when a CASA volunteer is there, the child is two times more likely to find a safe, loving permanent home.

When you lift up a child’s voice, you lift up a life.