In June 2016, Voices for Children (VFC), a private, nonprofit organization serving foster children with volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), marked its first year of providing CASA volunteers for children living in Riverside County’s foster care system. Since 1980, VFC has operated the CASA program in San Diego County, and in early 2015, was asked by the State of California Judicial Council to assume responsibility for the then-closed CASA program in Riverside County. In June 2015, VFC’s Riverside County CASA program launched. Since then, the program exceeded its early goals, serving 140 children through the work of 113 CASA volunteers during FY2015-2016.
California law allows the Juvenile Court to designate one organization per county as its official CASA program. This designated CASA program recruits and trains volunteer advocates to investigate the circumstances of a child who has been abused or neglected, develop a relationship with the child, and make best interest recommendations to the Juvenile Court. CASAs visit where the child lives, where they go to school, and observe most aspects of the child’s life. CASAs also review medical records, talk to therapists, meet with family members and relatives, and write a Court report every six months to provide information that the Court might not otherwise have. All of these activities are now taking place in Riverside County as well as San Diego County, thanks to the work of Voices for Children.
For more information about this new program and VFC’s role in assisting foster children in Riverside County, please contact our Riverside County team at rcvolunteer@speakupow.org or (951) 472-9301.
Voices for Children – Riverside County
5555 Arlington Avenue
Riverside, CA 92504
(951) 472-9301