Voices for Children, the CASA program for Riverside County, has issued a call for critically-needed volunteers during National Foster Care Awareness Month;
The Riverside/Corona/Moreno Valley area, the Coachella Valley, and southwest Riverside County have the greatest number of children waiting for a CASA.
(May 14, 2026) RIVERSIDE, CA – Voices for Children, the nonprofit organization that provides youth in foster care with volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), has released an urgent call for CASA volunteers in Riverside County to speak up for the needs and well-being of children in foster care. May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, and the organization is aiming to recruit enough volunteers to serve 180 children still waiting to be matched with a CASA volunteer.
“CASAs play a critical role in ensuring that children in foster care can thrive, instead of simply surviving, while they are in foster care,” said Sharon Morris, Voices for Children’s Riverside County Managing Director. “These are children who have already endured abuse, neglect, and abandonment, and need a consistent, caring adult in their lives to speak up for their needs as they and their families navigate a complex system.”
What a CASA Does
CASA volunteers are appointed by a judge and assigned to one child or sibling set in foster care. A CASA’s job is to get to know the child or children one-on-one, build a trusting relationship with them, and learn about their hopes and needs. The CASA then writes detailed court reports to the judge presiding over the child’s case to help them make the best decisions for the child’s future.
While social workers, attorneys, and judges strive to make the best decisions for children’s well-being while they are in foster care, their heavy caseloads often limit the time they can devote to each case. A social worker may juggle a caseload of 25–35 families, a lawyer may support 100–150 children, and judges often oversee 500–700 cases. CASA volunteers, meanwhile, devote their attention to one child or a sibling group at a time, advocating for them in court reports to ensure that any legal decisions meet the child’s needs. CASAs also advocate for children in school, medical offices, and other settings; and get to know everyone involved in the children’s lives, including their parents, foster parents, teachers, doctors, family members, and others.
“Children in foster care, who have often experienced severe trauma, can find it hard to trust the adults around them,” said Morris. “CASAs, however, can be a trusted, consistent adult focused only on them, and help the judge presiding over their case make the best possible choices for their welfare. CASAs are also often the only adults who are not paid to be there for these children. A judge once told me that while social workers give a black-and-white outline of who a child is, it’s the CASA volunteers who give them a full-color picture that guides their decision making.”
CASA volunteers advocate first and foremost for children to be reunified with their parents whenever safe and possible. In fact, a core part of their role is to help create and strengthen a lifetime network of relatives, family friends, and other committed adults who can support the child and their parents during their involvement with foster care and beyond – increasing the likelihood of reunification. When reunification is not an option, they advocate for the child to live with another relative or family friend. They can also advocate for the child to be placed in a loving adoptive home.
The Need in Riverside County
Currently, the organization has 180 children on a waitlist who have yet to be matched with a CASA volunteer. These children are located across Riverside County, and can be served by any CASA who is willing to drive to see them at least once a month. The areas with the greatest number of children waiting for CASAs are currently the Riverside/Corona/Moreno Valley area, with 89 children on the organization’s waitlist; the Coachella Valley, with 53 children; and southwest Riverside County, with 38 children.
More than 5,000 Riverside County children will spend time in foster care this year. These children may have faced intense physical, psychological, and/or emotional trauma before being removed from their homes, only to face long periods of uncertainty, often going through multiple foster home placements until their case is resolved.
The organization urgently needs more volunteers, particularly male CASAs and those who are bilingual in English and Spanish, to ensure a trained CASA is provided to every abused, abandoned, or neglected child who needs one. Since 2015, Voices for Children has served over 1,700 Riverside County children in foster care with CASAs.
Said Morris: “The need in Riverside County is great. We urge anyone who is looking for a way to give back to their community this month–or any time in the future–to consider becoming a CASA.”
To learn more about the valuable work of CASA volunteers and how you can get involved, please visit speakupnow.org. To find the next CASA volunteer information session near you, click here and select “Riverside County.”
