San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates

Tremendous organization that trains volunteers to be child advocates for the abused and neglected in foster care. After 40 hours of top-​notch training from area PhDs, social workers and government officials, CASAs are sworn in by the court to protect the health, education, family needs, and personal needs of children in foster care. With social workers handling 50+ cases at a time, these children desperately need more attention and intervention. CASAs spend at least an hour/​week with their child over the course of 18+ months, testifying before the court and often serving as educational surrogates to ensure these children are getting the best possible chance at success.
After investigating a number of SF charities, I have been extremely impressed by SF-​CASA. The staff is professional and dedicated, the training excellent, and the community of CASA workers are a valuable and important support system. A great mix of volunteers — mostly professionals, both young and old.
Get involved. You will change the life of a child, and he/​she will change yours in even more meaningful ways.

Being a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) is the BEST volunteer position around, no question. If you have just a little time each week to spend with a child in the foster care system, you can actually make a huge difference in his/​her life. It does not take super human ability to be present for a child who does not always have a strong adult advocate in their lives, it just takes compassion, patience, and a desire to make a difference.
For me, there has been nothing more powerful and at times more challenging than being the voice for a child in an overburdened court system. I highly encourage anyone who may have even a slight interest in working with under-​served youth populations to give CASA a minute of thought, you never know what a difference you could make.

I am currently in the 6 week training program for CASA or SF Court Appointed Special Advocate. Basically you make sure the foster child that you are assigned to for 18 months (or longer if you wish and it’s mutual) doesn’t «slip through the cracks» and become one of the terrible crime statistics that you read and hear about on TV. You also work to get the kid services that he/​she needs. I just did a tour of a Community Center as part of the training and it’s amazing what resources are available to parents and children. check out the website
if you are interested in volunteering or donating. It’s amazing. I’ll update soon! :)