Resources for CASA of Central Texas Volunteer Advocates
Reporting:
CASA volunteers are required to complete monthly timesheets. Click the Optima logo below to enter your data (instruction sheets and how-to video below).
Instructions for Optima
Training Handout – Volunteers (Need to Know)
Training Handout – Volunteers (Nice to Know)
Volunteer Training Manual:
Click to view the Volunteer Training Manual 2019
Videos
Role play video by National CASA, what to expect when meeting with your CPS worker for the first time.
Helpful Handouts:
Talking to your Youth:
To help your youth feel like they are able to express their feelings, and to help you gain insight, try asking your youth to complete a youth court report.
Education Advocacy is important, especially for foster children who have switched schools. Talking to Foster Youth About School is an article that will give you ideas for prompting discussion at each age level.
Activities with your CASA child can help teach them and expose them to new things, and can also be a good chance to talk with them. Here are some ideas of Things You Can Do With Your CASA Child
Aging Out foster youth:
Older youth may feel better about their situation if they know what rights they have. You, as their CASA, should also know what to be advocating for. This article outlines those rights. Rights of Children and Youth in Foster Care
If a child ages out of care, they receive certain state-legislated benefits. Familiarize yourself with the Benefits for Current and Aged Out Foster Youth
Continuing Education
All CASA of Central Texas Volunteers are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education annually. CASA will hold trainings throughout the year and these trainings can be found on our calendar.
In addition to these trainings, volunteers may also attend outside workshops, participate in webinars, read articles and books, and view videos.
Texas CASA Learning Center offers webinars and other training in a variety of subjects. View their continuing education opportunities here. View National CASA’s CE opportunities here.
If you have other ideas and would like to know if they qualify, contact Layla Coleman at lcoleman@casacentex.org or 830-626-2272.
Suggested Reading
For Continuing Education and to enhance your advocacy, see our list of Suggested CASA Readings. More reading suggestions are available from National CASA here. CASA advocates may use books on the lists as continuing education – feel free to e-mail Layla at lcoleman@casacentex.org if you have more suggestions.
100 pages = 1 hour of CE Credit and advocates will be asked to write a short summary and submit it through Optima. Please log in your continuing education/training logs as follows:
1. Go to https://tx-central.evintosolutions.com
2. Log in with username (firstname.lastname) and password
3. On Volunteers Dashboard, Click Training Logs tab (one of six tabs in blue)
4, Click green Add button
5. Enter in start and complete date
6. Select Training Topic, Training Format, Trainer
7. Enter hours in .25-hour increments (max of 4 hours for a television series or movie)
8. Enter mileage for any CEs that you need to drive to (round trip)
9.Enter in your title and summary (a short paragraph that includes an overview and how what you’ve learned can be used in your CASA advocacy) in the Notes box
10. Click green Create button
