For Our Advocates

Volunteers receive 37 hours of initial training. There are at least two training classes a year, offered in the daytime and evening. CASA volunteers are also required to participate in 12 hours of continuing education per year through special programs we offer and/or through approved outside events, books, documentaries, and lectures.

Advocate Institute

Opportunities for volunteer advocates to earn their annual in-service training hours.

Middle River Regional Jail Tour (NEW DATE) September 20th, 1:00pm - 2:30pm

All volunteers are invited to attend this informational "field trip".  Please RSVP by September 16th.

CPS Investigation Procedures September 27th, 6:00pm - 7:30pm; Location: CASA Staunton office

Presenter: Nenita Fisher-Cromer, CPS Supervisor, SVDSS

All volunteers are invited to learn the CPS investigation process and procedures.  Please RSVP by September 23rd.

Attachment Relationships October 4th, 6:00pm - 7:30pm; Location: CASA Staunton office

Megan Fulcher, W&L Professor

All volunteers are invited to learn about attachment relationships, secure and insecure, and the causes and consequences of different patterns.  Please RSVP by September 29th.

Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court System October 11th, 6:00pm - 7:30pm; Location: CASA Staunton office

Judge Anita Filson and DSS Attorney James Glick

All volunteers are invited to learn about the following:

• Court Process: The timeline for a J&DR case (Emergency Removal to Final Hearing).
  
• Court Forms: The purpose of the Petition, Affidavit, Summons, etc.
• Elements of a CASA Court Report that are beneficial to the Judge and attorneys

  Please RSVP by September 29th.

Valley Children's Center Tour February 23rd, 10:00am - 11:30am

All volunteers are invited to attend this informational "field trip".  Please RSVP by February 16th.

Domestic Violence and its Effects on Children April 19th, 6:00pm - 7:30pm; Location: CASA Lexington office

Presentor: Katrina Flowers, Child Services Coordinator, Project Horizon

All volunteers are invited to learn about the effects domestic violence has on children.  Please RSVP by April 12th.

Advocate Library

The following are a list of approved continuing education materials:

Movies, Television, DVDs

Newest Video In-Service Resource

Dr Phil - Teens, Life on the Street
Los Angeles, with its siren call of fame and money, has as many as 4,000 to 10,000 homeless teens. Dr. Phil, along with special contributor Kelly Osbourne, shines a spotlight on life on the street for homeless youth.

Everybody Loves Babies

Documentary filmmaker Thomas Balmes charts the simultaneous early development of four babies from different parts of the world, illustrating what makes human life unique, similar and precious wherever it occurs. Training his camera on newborns Hattie from San Francisco, Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia and Mari from Tokyo, Balmes captures everything from first screaming breaths to first steps.  Rated PG   (Visit Website)

A&E Intervention
Intervention™ is a powerful and gripping television series in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption. The Intervention Television series profiles people whose dependencies on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis and estranged them from their friends and loved ones.

A&E Hoarders
Each 60-minute episode of Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis.

A&E Obsessed
Intense and highly personal, A&E's true-life docuseries Obsessed examines the lives of everyday people impris- oned by unmanageable, repetitive behaviors and sometimes debilitating fear. Whether it is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, Hoarding or a variety of phobias, the unscripted series gives viewers a chance to see first-hand how an obsession can radically affect a person's life.

A&E Runaway Squad
NYC private investigator Joe Mazzilli's mission is to save desperate families who are torn apart when their children run away. Mazzilli and his squad track down and rescue endangered runaways who have fallen through the cracks. Mazzilli's goal: reunite the children with their families, and help them find a way to heal

Books

The following are a list of books available in our office library for you to check out:

• Precious – Made into a major motion picture
  
• Indefensible – One Lawyer’s Journey into the Inferno of American Justice
  
• Tweak – Growing up on Methamphetamines (this is the child’s perspective)
  
• Beautiful Boy – A father’s journey through his son’s addiction (this is the father of the boy in Tweak’s perspective)
  
• Sickened – The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
  
• Invisible Kids – One short life, one terrible death and 12 things YOU can do to improve the lives of foster children
  
• Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew

Podcasts