All Classes are held at our office:1001 Molalla Ave.,
Suite 203
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 723-0521
email: office@casa-cc.org

Child Advocates is piloting a new supervision model using CASA Coaches.

We began planning this pilot last spring and trained our first coaches in October 2011. We are excited to announce our first dozen coaches have begun supervising approximately 25 current CASAs.

The National CASA Association encourages CASA programs to consider using experienced CASA volunteers to mentor less experienced CASA volunteers. Some of our current CASA volunteers have been assigned to trained CASA Coaches to pilot this project.

The current supervisors will become "CASA Managers" and supervise the CASA Coaches. This allows us to serve almost twice as many children for the same amount of overhead costs. Our goal is to increase the number of children served by CASAs without compromising the quality of our volunteer advocacy efforts.

In addition to the current CASAs being supervised by CASA Coaches, coaches will help staff provide "on-the-job" training and supervision by mentoring newly sworn CASA volunteers. Over time, Child Advocates will recruit enough coaches to implement the peer mentoring model in full. We estimate the transition will take one to two years.

If you have questions about the process as we transition to this new model of supervision, please feel free to talk to any of the CASA coaches or program staff.

Law, Child Protection, Courts
Juvenile court/dependency system and different types of hearings in Clackamas Oregon

Developing Cultural Competence
Understand the adverse effects of bias and discrimination. Learn to recognize own bias. Strive to increase cultural competence and sensitivity.

Understanding Families (1)
Understand strength-based approach to family and children. Identify risk factors associated with abuse and neglect. Understand how stress, mental illness and domestic violence impact families.

Understanding Families (2)
How substance abuse and poverty impact families and children. Why poverty is a risk factor for children. Why the "minimum sufficient level of care" standard is in the best interest of the child.

Understanding Children
Child development, attachment, separation and loss, permanence, resilience, importance of visits and bonding, a child's sense of time in order to advocate effectively for a child.

Communicating as a CASA
Understand the importance of developing collaborative communication styles.  Understand the importance of listening.

Gathering Information
Learn how to gether information. Become familiar with parties and court documents.

Reporting & Monitoring
Community resources, recommendations, presentation of recommendations in court. Monitoring your case. Principles.

The CASA Volunteer Role
CASA Mission; Best Interest; Role of CASA in statutory authority and limitation of the role.

*Pulling It All Together
(To attend this class you must have completed a minimum of 6 classes, including CASA 101)