National CASA Podcast

The National CASA Association and the National Council of Family and Juvenile Court Judges (NCJFCJ) have an extensive collaborative history in working towards permanency and well-being for children.  Sworn in as President of NCJFCJ in July of 2014, and an active supporter of CASA, Judge Peggy H. Walker talks about this relationship and shares her expertise on working with infants and toddlers, brain science and judicial leadership involving abused and neglected children. 

LaDonna Wattley, founder of Wattley Training Institute and former Volunteer Director with Child Advocates, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN, has used her vast experiences in the child welfare, adoption and educational fields to develop in-depth trainings for others working in those fields, especially around working with families of color.  Listen to Ms. Wattley discuss cultural competency and other important things to consider when working with children and families.

Sharon Nelson and John Simek have been busy as the President and Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., a successful digital forensics, information technology and information security company. Their schedules just got even busier as Sharon was elected President of the Virginia State Bar. When they were looking for a rewarding, hands-on way to help others, they found a natural fit with Fairfax CASA in Fairfax, VA.  Listen to Sharon and John share their experiences as CASA volunteers, learn tips on working with the legal system and keeping things confidential using online technology tools, and hear their thoughts on using Skype as a tool to meet with CASA youth.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, members of the National CASA Facebook community have shared their dreams for future generations of children.  Listen to the final week of a four part audio collage recorded by National CASA staff, featuring the voices of Marleisha Cox, YWCA GirlsFirst intern, and Ellis, son of National CASA staff member Jill Wiedenhoft.

In this podcast, National CASA chief program officer, Sally Erny reflects on her experience and inspiration throughout her career. Listen to Sally talk about her 27 years of service to CASA and her vision for National CASA. National CASA is celebrating 35 years of volunteer advocacy; Sally is one of the 35 Faces that is making the life better for abused and neglected children.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, members of the National CASA Facebook community have shared their dreams for future generations of children.  Listen to week three of a four part audio collage series recorded by National CASA Staff.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, members of the National CASA Facebook community have shared their dreams for future generations of children.  Listen to week two of a four part audio collage series recorded by National CASA Staff.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, members of the National CASA Facebook community have shared their dreams for future generations of children.  Listen to week one of a four part audio collage series recorded by National CASA Staff.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation initiatve All Children - All Families helps child welfare organizations improve their recruitment and retention of volunteers and resource families in the LGBT community and works to enhance the LGBT cultural competency within the child welfare system.  Tracy Flynn, consultant with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, talks more about this opportunity.

Older youth often age out of the foster care system without the tools and resources needed to successfully transition to adulthood.  CASA and GAL volunteers that have been trained with the National CASA Fostering Futures curriculum are more aware of the needs of older youth and are better able to work alongside them to realize better outcomes.  In this podcast, four staff members from the Essex County CASA program in Newark, NJ discuss their experiences implementing Fostering Futures and how they are tracking and documenting outcomes.

After 35 years of CASA volunteers representing children in court, we caught up with the man who started it all.  In this podcast, hear Judge David Soukup remind us how it all got started.

Since 2003 specially trained facility dogs have been assisting children and other individuals with physical, psychological or emotional trauma in the court system.  In this podcast, Ellen O'Neill-Stephens and Celeste Walsen from the Courthouse Dogs Foundation talk about how this program got started and provide their legal and clinical expertise on how dogs are changing the way emotional needs are being met in the courts, especially with child victims.

This podcast takes a closer look at the most recent revision of the National CASA Standards for Local CASA/GAL Programs.  Listen to Shelley Morgan, Sybil Turner and Melissa Protzek discuss the importance of the standards and quality assurance process and talk about some of the reasons behind the most recent revisions.

Glenn and Sherri Eckhardt were named the 2012 Florida GAL Volunteers of the Year.  Hear how this husband and wife team has also partnered with other GAL volunteers to more effectively serve on complex cases and form lifelong bonds while ensuring that the basic needs of children in foster care are met.

Judge Louis A. Trosch Jr. of the 26th Judicial District in Mecklenburg County, NC, has done extensive work both personally and professionally to address issues of racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.  Hear Judge Trosch talk about the work he has done and offer ways to address these issues in your own community.

In the Fall 2012 issue of the Connection magazine, Judge Joyce Williams Warren of Little Rock, AR, shared her advice to CASA volunteers on working with their judge.  In this interview, hear Judge Warren talk about why CASA volunteers are so important, as well as provide insight in working with both younger and older children in the court system.

Learn how the Flex Learning curriculum can help develop more confident and effective volunteers.  In this podcast, program coordinator, Amia Barrows describes this blended learning approach and talks about her experience implementing this new volunteer training in her community.

After spending her childhood in an abusive home and several years in the foster care system, Stephanie Holt finds strength through her work as a CASA volunteer.  In this podcast hear Stephanie share her story as she offers hope to foster youth and provides insight for all CASA volunteers.    

We asked members of the National CASA network and Facebook community to describe the successful qualities of a CASA volunteer. Hear some of the responses we received.

In this podcast, hear how Educational Advocacy Coordinator Jeff Perry is working to improve the educational outcomes for youth in the San Francisco CASA program and how CASA volunteers can be better advocates for the CASA youth they serve.

In this podcast Dawn Rego, conference and events manager and Anthony Petrarca, training director talk about some of the workshops and events lined up for the 2012 National CASA Conference being held in Washington D.C. June 9-12.

In this second installment of podcasts on The Peer Coordinator Model we talk with program staff to hear their experiences on transitioning to this model.  Megan Shultz from CASA of Lane County in Springfield, OR offers insight into the process including lessons learned and tips that she hopes will be helpful to other CASA programs considering this model.

In this second installment of podcasts on The Peer Coordinator Model we talk with program staff to hear their experiences on transitioning to this model.  Laurie Laughlin from Maricopa County CASA in Phoenix, AZ discusses the challenges she has experienced and the success that she has seen, especially with volunteer retention.  

National CASA is working to find ways to provide a CASA volunteer for every child who needs one. In this podcast Michael Heaton, western regional program officer, talks about how CASA programs can maximize their resources, serve more kids and build stronger relationships with their volunteers using a peer-coordinator model.

We thank Rebecca Grossman for pioneering the podcasts for National CASA and we look forward to bringing more educational and informative topics to the CASA/GAL network with new upcoming podcasts with Sybil Turner.  Click on the link below to hear what topics you can look forward to.  In the meantime, we encourage you to search the podcast library for any topics that you might have missed.  If there are topics that you would like to hear more about, please email your ideas to sybilt@casaforchildren.org

This podcast is an interview with Syeda Naqvi from CASA of Cook County in which she discusses the importance of a youth's health and its effects on their well being in the future.

This interview is a follow up to the podcast "Autism Spectrum Disorder." It is the story of a volunteer from Coweta CASA, Inc. in Newnan, GA, who advocated for a child diagnosed with autism. You will hear what resources she used and recommendations she made in order to ensure the best possible outcome for the child she served.

The latest edition of "A Question of Balance" is a must-have for every person in our CASA/GAL network, if not for every person who works in child welfare. The book brings together all the pieces of the puzzle we work in and focuses in on what is truly important when decisions are being made. In this podcast Janet Ward, National CASA regional program officer and author of "A Question of Balance", talks about the latest edition of this book.

In this podcast, foster care alumna Lauren Mueller describes how her relationship with her CASA volunteer advocate, Stephanie, changed the way she looked at herself and, ultimately, gave her the motivation and confidence to pursue her goals and dreams. This audio presentation is from the closing session of the 2011 National CASA conference in Chicago, IL.

Stacy Shook, a board certified behavior analyst and the director of Northwest Behavioral Associates in Seattle, WA, discusses autism spectrum disorder, how it may be treated, and possible services for children and their caregivers.

Stephen McCrea, CASA Supervisor with CASA for Children in Portland, OR, talks about the history of mental health treatment of foster youth, including the introduction of psychotropic medications, their use now and what a CASA/GAL volunteer should know when working with medicated youth. Before working with the CASA program, McCrea was a crisis counselor and a residential counselor for youth.

In this podcast Monica Boguki, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, discusses issues around families living in poverty, their battle to get out of poverty, and ways a CASA/GAL volunteer advocate can assist these families.

In this podcast we talk about bullying with Tracy Flynn, a trainer and consultant. She describes signs a child might show, the long-term effects of bullying and how you can help children who are experiencing bullying.

You asked the questions, now we have the answers. Hear how National CASA's CEO stays hopeful in today's difficult economic climate and how he feels his role effect our network.

Brian Washburn, training director at National CASA, became a CASA volunteer advocate in 2007. In this interview he will explain why he became a volunteer and how this work affects his role developing the National CASA curriculum.

In this podcast, you will hear how CASA of Atlantic and Cape May Counties is keeping volunteers engaged by offering ongoing training opportunities.

A CASA volunteer from Washington state who has both personal and professional experience dealing with families affected by developmental delays discusses how to advocate effectively either for children with developmental delays or for children whose parents have delays.

In this podcast Alicia Kinser, Program Manager, talks about the process of taking the Family Advocates CASA Program in Boise, ID, from a staff driven model to one of volunteer management.

One goal of CASA/GAL advocates is to ensure that the youth they serve visit with their biological parents. When their parents are incarcerated, this task is tricky-but certainly not impossible. In this podcast two woman who work on Project Family Connect describe the importance of the parent/child connection while discussing how advocates may overcome obstacles to facilitating meetings between children and incarcerated parents.

In this podcast, Lisa Barsky Firsker Phd., Executive Director from Morris and Sussex Counties, discusses how to work with children who are dealing with the death of a family member or other significant loss in their lives. Firsker describes services children may need and shares tips for volunteers about what they should expect from grieving children and how they can work through their own grief.

In this podcast, Suzanne Greenberg, president/CEO of CAN Council Saginaw County and member of the National CASA Board of Trustees, shares how her passion for the CASA mission inspires her efforts as a board member.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)-the most common legal status available to immigrant youth-is an important consideration in a growing number of our network's cases. In this podcast, Susan Schmidt, a consultant for Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services, discusses why it is important for our volunteer advocates to be familiar with SIJS and the issues immigrant family members might encounter when adjusting to their new country. This is part two of a two-part podcast.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)-the most common lawful status available to immigrant youth-is an important consideration in a growing amount of our network's cases. In this podcast, Susan Schmidt, a consultant for Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services, provides an introduction to SIJS. This is part one of a two-part podcast.

Lisa Barsky Firsker, PhD explains how the use of simple materials such as crayons, paper, colored pencils and markers can be a powerful way to communicate with a child. As she says: "Inside every quiet child there is a loud voice trying to get out."

This podcast features National CASA Association Kappa Alpha Theta Program Director of the Year Melissa Protzek of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.

This is the second story teller from the 2010 National CASA Conference closing general session. It is a live recording of Dee Horn from Fulton County CASA, Georgia. In this podcast Dee shares his story about his volunteer advocacy work.  

At the 2010 National CASA Conference we asked four volunteer advocates from our network to share a story at our closing general session about their volunteer work. This podcast is a live recording of our first story teller Leana Lowery, a volunteer advocate from Fulton County CASA, Georgia.

At our 2010 National CASA Conference, we invited volunteers, staff, supporters and others to share their CASA/GAL stories in a story booth.  In this week's podcast, we present the first edited interview: a conversation between a youth who recently emancipated from the foster care system and a youth currently in state care.

Massachusetts CASA volunteer Jo-Anne Vanin explains how she views her role as a volunteer advocate and why she chooses to do this important work.

National CASA CEO Michael Piraino talks about how new technologies are helping members of our CASA/GAL network improve volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children.

The option of placing a foster child in a family member’s home is often overlooked. In this podcast Heidi Redlich Epstein from the American Bar Association talks about the importance of kinship care and ways that the Fostering Connections legislation can increase these placements.