'The Kids Are Worth It': Court Appointed Special Advocates Seek New NoVA Volunteers

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Decades ago, a judge in Washington state created a volunteer program to provide advocates for abused and neglected children in court. Since then, Court Appointed Special Advocate programs have spread around the U.S., including in Northern Virginia.

Paloma Santiago-Adorno, who has been a CASA volunteer in Northern Virginia since 2012, says the volunteers are "the eyes and the ears for the judges" to get more information about these families' cases. CASAs are part of a child's treatment team that could include social workers, parents or caregivers clinicians and other stakeholders.

"It really is rewarding work. It's worth it. The kids are worth it, and the kids need it," Santiago-Adorno told Patch. "It's just about connecting with the kids, connecting with all the other professionals that are working on behalf of these families, giving judges well-rounded pictures of these families."

While social workers assigned to families may have significant caseloads, CASAs typically focus on one child's case at a time. But due to a shortage of volunteers, some volunteers covering cases in the City of Alexandria, Arlington County and City of Falls Church are taking on two cases at a time.

That's why the Court Appointed Special Advocates program in Alexandria, Arlington and Falls Church is seeking new volunteers to help court cases involving abused and neglected children. In the fiscal year that just ended, 77 CASA volunteers served 173 children, largely in the City of Alexandria and Arlington County.

"We have encountered a pretty severe increase in the numbers of children that we're seeing coming to [juvenile and domestic relations] courts," Amy Wilker, head of CASA for Northern Virginia Family Services, told Patch. "We do have a handful of volunteers that are willing to take two cases, but that's the max that they're allowed to handle."

CASA programs are run locally by different organizations. Stop Child Abuse Now, which had run the CASA program in Alexandria, Arlington and Falls Church, merged with Northern Virginia Family Services earlier in 2025. Now, the CASA program falls under Northern Virginia Family Services. There are other CASA organizations serving other parts of Northern Virginia.

Northern Virginia Family Services expects to see a continued trend of cases increasing in the juvenile and domestic relations courts.

"I think the stressors that are happening in our communities continue to escalate, which puts a tremendous amount of pressure and stress on our families," said Wilker. "And that is a perfect storm for abuse and neglect. I will tell you that none of our parents are looking to abuse or harm their children. There are many factors that that play into the reasons that these children are abused and neglected, and from what we can see, this escalation is probably going to continue."

The greatest need at Northern Virginia Family Services' CASA program is volunteers who are men and Spanish-speaking volunteers, as well as those who speak Amharic, Arabic and Farsi. Wilker says the CASA program seeks to match children with a volunteer they are comfortable with, such as a young man with a male volunteer.

According to Wilker, volunteers are screened, background checked and trained to work with the children in these court cases. To prepare for the CASA role, new volunteers go through 40 hours of hybrid pre-service training. The organization holds these trainings over six or seven weeks twice a week in the spring and fall. The next information session to start the process is on Sept. 10.

Wilker says the training covers topics like understanding the court process, how the child welfare system works, the impacts of abuse and neglect on children, how trauma impacts children and families that have experienced abuse, the challenges of untreated mental health or substance abuse, domestic violence, and how to write court reports for hearings.

"We train them in everything, which is why they don't have to be a lawyer or a clinician to do this work," said Wilker. "If anybody has the desire to do it, we can provide the training so that they're prepared to do that."

Once the training is complete, volunteers are sworn in by a juvenile court judge. When CASAs are assigned a case, their task is to gather information on the child and their current situation, not looking back on the abuse or neglect. That involves speaking to the child, caregivers, parents, teachers, medical professionals or others engaged with the child. Wilker says many CASA volunteers have day jobs and provide an average 10 to 15 volunteer hours to the child's case each month.

"We monitor the case for progress. So if the judge orders certain things to happen or to not happen, we are monitoring it to make sure that everybody is in compliance with the judge's orders," said Wilker.

She adds, "Our most important job is to advocate for the best interest of the child, and we do that in a bunch of different ways. With all that information that we gather, we submit a pretty comprehensive court report for every court hearing that gives the judge a very good picture of how that child is doing, whether their placement is working well, [are] there any services that might be recommended for the child."

According to Santiago-Adorno, CASA volunteers will take on cases involving children who are with their own families or foster families. In many cases, she says the children are experiencing a violation of trust from an adult through neglect or abuse. Santiago-Adorno says CASA volunteers will reinforce the idea that the adults are supposed to take care of them, but the children may not know that to be true in their situations.

"One of the things that we're looking for is, you know, is everybody adhering to the safety plan and then just making sure that things don't get worse," said Santiago-Adorno.

Dan Phillips, a CASA volunteer for four years, got involved after moving back to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic and brings working with youth mentorship programs. Phillips says getting children to open up can differ by their situation and age group. He finds that taking time to listen and find common interests can help the children to open up.

"The most important thing you can do as a CASA is, I honestly believe, is just be present," Phillips told Patch. "If you routinely meet with the child, meet with the treatment team, be part of their life so that builds trust. I think a lot of kids in these circumstances, they're used to very well-intentioned individuals that may be coming and going from their life, and trust is by far the most important factor towards opening up with communication."

According to Wilker, CASA volunteers want to help children become more resilient and learn coping mechanisms to deal with trauma. A measure of success is stopping the cycle of abuse or neglect that may have also affected the children's parents or caregivers.

Santiago-Adorno has observed children develop more of a voice when working with the CASAs.

"There may not have been great communication prior and the kids had felt a particular way about not being or not being listened to," said Santiago-Adorno. "I've seen through the services that we're able to provide, whether it's therapy or just somebody else saying, 'hey, you know what happens is not okay, but you do have a voice.' and being able to go back and be able to talk to their parents about what happened or how they felt there."

From volunteering as a CASA, Santiago-Adorno has learned "kids are just unbelievably resilient."

"They still have goals and dreams and things that they want to accomplish, and they want to heal, and they want to keep moving forward," she said. "That reminder is just amazing, the way that they just keep persevering. And so they really are. They make it worthwhile, and they're funny, right? No matter what has ever happened to them, I have never met a kid whose not funny. They have great spirit, and it's a good reminder, and we're all more than the worst thing that's ever happened to us."

Phillips called CASA "by far the most rewarding volunteer experience I've ever had" amid all of his youth mentoring experiences over the years.

"I felt like I was a member, I was part of something much bigger than myself and part of a team of individuals working together towards helping improve the outcome for a particular child," said Phillips. "I think for anyone that's really interested in really getting involved in the community and learning how they can help our social services systems and help work with the court, anyone that really wants to become an integral part of the community in that regard, I can't think of a better experience."

By recruiting more volunteers, Wilker says this can give existing volunteers a break between cases and time to reset from the "secondary trauma." Wilker says volunteers come from all different walks of life, ages and education levels. But one thing they have in common is a desire to help children who have been harmed.

"This is a really hard thing that they're doing, and I'm in awe of their dedication and their willingness to do the work," said Wilker. "They're amazing human beings. Who are so committed to the work that they do, and very often, they are faced with a side of humanity that none of us want to see."