Advocate for Children
Lend your voice.
Court-appointed special advocate (CASA) and guardian ad litem (GAL) volunteers advocate for the best-interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect. Volunteers work with child welfare professionals, educators and service providers to ensure that judges have the information they need to make the most well-informed decisions for each child. There are 939 state organizations and local programs in 49 states and the District of Columbia with over 79,000 volunteers nationwide. More volunteers are needed.
5 Steps to Become a CASA Volunteer:
1. Attend a one-hour group Information Session – Click here to see dates OR attend a one-on-one Information Session – Click here
2. Submit an Application
3. Have an informal interview—we’ll email you to get it scheduled
4. Complete 33 hours of pre-service training—lots more information about this during the Information Session!
5. Smile when you’re sworn in by a judge as a CASA volunteer!
Make an Incredible Difference
From helping siblings find permanent placement together, to finding a child a stable home with a relative, to uncovering information that helps reunite a loving family, volunteer advocates make incredible differences in the lives of abused and neglected children.
- You’ll talk with the child and their family members, teachers and others to find out where the child will be happiest and safest: with the parent(s), a relative or a loving foster family.
- You’ll speak for the child in court, making your fact-based recommendation for placement to the judge.
- You’ll act as the one constant in the child’s life as they experience changes in foster placements, schools and caseworkers.
All the Training You Need
CASA of Tarrant County will provide all the training you need in a 33-hour course. You’ll learn about courtroom procedures as well as the consequences of abuse and neglect. After the course, you’ll be sworn in by a judge as an official volunteer advocate. Click here to sign up.
Time Commitment, Support & Flexibility
Throughout most of the case, you’ll be asked to give about 5-10 hours of your time per month. The majority of cases require presenting recommendations to the judge three to six times over the course of a year. As a volunteer advocate, you will be assigned to a Child Advocacy Specialist with CASA of Tarrant County who will guide you, support your efforts and attend all court hearings with you.
Volunteer requirements can be done on a flexible schedule. Requirements involve phone calls, foster-home visits and meeting that can be scheduled according to your availability. Court dates are given a 2-week notice prior to the date of the hearing.
Hear From Our Volunteers
Recommended Films
6 Balloons
A loyal sister struggles to stay afloat while driving her heroin-addicted brother to a detox center and looking after his 2-year old daughter.
Time: 75 minutes
Where it can be found: Netflix
All Rise: For the Good of the Children
An in depth look into a trauma-informed courtroom in East Texas who are working to heal families in the child welfare system
Time: 75 minutes
Where it can be found: All Rise
At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
A documentary about the sexual abuse within the USA gymnastics team.
Time: 1.5 hours
Where it can be found: HBO, Hulu
Florida Project
A drama following a mother and daughter who are living in a budget motel in Orlando outside of Disney World.
Time: 2 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube
Foster: HBO Special
A documentary about the foster care system, specifically in Los Angeles County.
Time: 2 hours
Where it can be found: HBO Go, HBO Now
Generation Found
Drug abuse and addiction are rampant in schools around the world but particularity in America. This documentary explores how drugs are becoming a self-medicating coping mechanism for trauma and non-trauma surviving children alike. Watch as a Texas school takes a stand and give a generation of lost children the hope and support they need.
Time: 1.5 hours
Where it can be found: iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu
Gimme Shelter
Based on a true story about a pregnant teenager who flees her abusive mother in search of her father, only to be rejected. She is forced to survive on the streets until a compassionate stranger offers a hopeful alternative. A powerful movie demonstrating the impact one person can make on a child or teen.
Time: 2 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, Hulu, iTunes
Gracie’s Choice
When her drug-addicted, abusive mother is sent to jail, a teenage girl fights to be legally emancipated and raise her younger siblings.
Time: 1.5 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, tubiTV
Healing Neen
A documentary featuring one mother’s journey through addiction, incarceration and homelessness. This program highlights the critical role of trauma-informed care in the child welfare system.
Time: 1 hour
Where it can be found: Vimeo
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
The story of a boy and his foster father who become the subjects of a manhunt after they get stranded in the New Zealand wilderness.
Time: 1.75 hours
Where it can be found: Netflix, Amazon Prime
Instant Family
An engaging comedy/drama about foster care and sibling adoption.
Time: 2 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Instant Family
Know How
A musical written and acted in by former foster youth, chronicling their journeys through the foster care system in New York City.
Time: 1.75 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, iTunes, Netflix
Like Dandelion Dust
A compelling drama exploring the different meanings of being a parent through the gritty, realistic lives of two families that intersect over the love of a little boy.
Time: 1.75 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube
Precious
The story of an abused teen in New York, who is pregnant with her second child and is offered an opportunity to enroll in an alternative school. She then begins her journey towards hope.
Time: 1.75 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, Hulu, iTunes, YouTube
Short Term 12
The story about the lives of teens in a foster care facility for at risk youth (RTC) as told through the eyes of their young supervisor, Grace.
Time: 1.5 hours
Where it can be found: Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube
Sound of Freedom
After rescuing a boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.
Time: 2.25 hours
Where it can be found: In theaters
Take Care of Maya
As a medical team tries to understand 10-year-old Maya Kowalski’s rare illness, they begin to question her parents. Suddenly, Maya is in state custody – despite a family desperate to bring their daughter home.
Time: 1.5 hour
Where it can be found: Netflix
The Day I Picked My Parents
The Day I Picked My Parents is a documentary series that follows ten foster children who are part of a revolutionary program operated by the nonprofit organization Kidsave in California, as they search to find their forever home. For the first time in their lives, they will have input into their own destiny as they decide where they want to live and who will be their family.
Time: 45 minutes each
Watch: AE TV, Hulu, Amazon Prime
The Queen’s Gambit
The Queen’s Gambit is a limited miniseries which follows the life of an orphan chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, during her quest to become the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency. The story takes place in the 1950’s and 60’s. Seven episode miniseries.
Time: 7 episodes, each 1 hour
Where it can be found: Netflix
The Ride
Directed by Alex Ranarivelo, this film is based on the life of Scottish BMX biker John Buultjens (played by Shane Graham). It follows John’s journey as an abused youth who ends up in a juvenile detention facility until he is adopted by a foster family — the Buultjens. However, he is disappointed when he learns that his new family is interracial, considering how he grew up in a family of white supremacists. One day, his foster father Eldridge (Ludacris) gives him a bike. From there, he discovers the freedom of bike riding which leads to competing in BMX riding competitions.
Time: 1.5 hours
Where is can be found: Amazon Prime
They Have Names
There are 15,000 children in Arizona’s foster care system, but who are they? “They Have Names” follows five people and their families over a year as they navigate Arizona’s child welfare system. Why do these kids end up in the system? How are their cases managed? What happens when the kids grow up?
Time: 30 minutes
Watch: Amazon Prime, Arizona PBS
Unadopted
What does it mean to be Unadopted? That’s what Noel Anaya sets out to discover after reading a copy of his foster care file. Follow Noel in his quest for answers about his family and his experience in the foster care system. The story interweaves Noel’s own journey with three other teens who, like so many foster youth, are at an emotional crossroad that may impact the rest of their lives: whether to emancipate from the foster care system, opt into extended care, or pursue a forever family.
Time: 35 minutes
Watch: YouTube
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