Rule 5.655.Program requirements for Court Appointed Special Advocate programs

A CASA program recruits, screens, selects, trains, supervises and supports lay volunteers whom the court appoints to help work out what is best for children and nonminors in dependency and delinquency cases. It serves a county only if the presiding juvenile court judge designates it, and it must comply with this rule to receive Judicial Council funding.

Designation takes the form of a memorandum of understanding between the program and the court, and only those two may be parties to it. The memorandum must allow either side to end the relationship for convenience, and must say when and how the program gets access to the juvenile case file and any nonminor dependent court file. A program may serve several courts by signing a memorandum with each.

The program must be a nonprofit or operate under a public agency or nonprofit, with a written governance and evaluation plan: incorporation papers, a board, bylaws setting out the administrative relationship and delegations of authority, a stated mission with goals, a procedure for recruiting and evaluating an executive director, and an administrative manual covering personnel, record-keeping and data. Where the program sits under an umbrella organization, an active advisory council must be established to develop policy and budget, monitor operations and raise funds, while the umbrella’s board or management governs.

Local rules are part of the package. They must say when CASA reports go to the court, who receives a copy, who distributes it — and that it reaches those people at least two court days before the hearing it was written for.

Independence is protected structurally. No CASA program may operate under a probation department or a social services department. It may take money from them, but only under a memorandum saying the funds are for general operating expenses as the program decides and that the contributor will not oversee or monitor them, with a conflict-resolution procedure that keeps disputes from touching funding or the program’s independent evaluation, and with Judicial Council approval of the memorandum.

The financial requirements are specific: a written fiscal plan with an annual audit by a qualified professional, a budget with projections and a funding strategy, written accounting procedures, board control of fundraising, and insurance — general liability and nonowned automobile cover at $1 million each, automobile liability meeting state minimums where the program owns a vehicle, and workers’ compensation at $500,000. Staff and volunteers must report any criminal charges against themselves immediately, and a nonprofit must plan for what happens to property and confidential records if it dissolves.

Confidentiality runs on a written plan adopted by the presiding judge and the program director. Case information goes only to the court, the parties and their attorneys, and CASA staff. Volunteers remain mandated reporters of suspected abuse or serious neglect. The original case file stays in the CASA office with a custodian of records; copies leave only as needed; access requires the director’s or the presiding judge’s approval; and records must be locatable at any time. Volunteers’ personnel files are confidential too.

Screening is thorough. The written procedure requires an application capturing identifying data, education, training, experience, age and employment; notice that a formal security check including fingerprinting will be run through law enforcement agencies, with refusal a ground for rejection; and at least three completed references. Anyone convicted of, or facing current charges for, a felony or misdemeanour involving a sex offence, child abuse or child neglect must not be accepted, and the application form must say so. Recruitment must make all reasonable efforts to reach every racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic sector of the community, and no otherwise qualified adult may be discriminated against on the listed grounds. Volunteers who transport children need a valid licence, insurance meeting state minimums, permission from the guardian or custodial agency, and an annual driving record report.

Training is at least 30 hours of formal instruction covering the statutory topics, and final selection depends on completing it. Then comes an oath: before any assignment, the volunteer takes a court-administered oath describing the advocate’s duties and signs a written affirmation kept in their file. Volunteers serve at the court’s discretion as officers of the court, and every program must write down both their duties and the activities forbidden to them — taking a child home, giving legal advice or therapeutic counselling, giving money or expensive gifts, holding a related or conflicting position, and anything else the local court prohibits.

Oversight has its own written plan, approved by the presiding judge, with a grievance procedure that works in both directions and is handed out with the description of the volunteer’s role — to adults involved with the child’s case, to a nonminor on appointment, and to anyone raising a grievance. Grievance documentation goes in the personnel file. Training opportunities must be offered at least monthly, and volunteers must complete 12 hours of continuing education each year of service. A volunteer may resign or be removed from a case by the presiding judge or designee, may be involuntarily terminated by the program director, and may appeal that termination through the grievance procedure.