Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Bristol County welcomes the opportunity to get to know you better on your own terms and to improve this application for future volunteer candidates. There are various volunteer opportunities to get involved with the organization.
To revisit the role of a CASA advocate, please visit this 3 minute video: https://macasa.org/story-3/
Our mission:
CASA of Bristol County recruits, trains and supervises court-appointed volunteers who zealously advocate for the best interest of children who have experienced and/or are at risk of abuse or neglect.
Our Values:
- Social Justice: Our work is a microcosm of society’s thorniest challenges that create oppression and marginalization characterized by various -isms and -obias. These include but are not limited to sexism/misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, and ageism. We believe that uplifting voices and identities that have been marginalized is the key to dismantling systemic oppression.
- Lived Experience: We elevate the voices of those most impacted by public systems and embed that representation of their experience and expertise at all levels of the organization through innovative recruitment, community-building, and lived experience networks post-CASA involvement.
- *Adaptability: In the constantly changing set of circumstances that our children, families, and communities endure, we show up with creative energy and the ability to shift and shine a light on priorities as needed.
- *Collaboration: ”It takes a village.” CASA advocates and staff provide dedicated time, increasing the capacity of the often under-resourced system. To accomplish this, we must work as part of a larger team.
- *Respect: Respect is the glue that holds our relationships together and is achieved through cultivating trust, safety, and well-being. We will ensure that our practice reflects these values through continuous evaluation, engagement with those serviced by our volunteers, and lived experience capacity building.
- Dignity: We center and honor the experiences of children and families through the continued evolution of our language, actions, and deliberate cultivation of our environments. We will ensure these efforts are culturally-driven, iterative, and collaborative with those we serve.
- Empathy: Empathy is a skillset developed over time, wherein we recognize and validate the challenges faced by our children, families, and communities without minimizing them. Additionally, advocate supervisors are there to provide support, understanding, and perspective-building to ensure that these values will be responsive and reciprocal.
- *Integrity: We are entrusted with privileged information when children and families are at their most vulnerable. We guard the privacy of this information through adherence to intentional protocol of oral and written information both currently and through its historical preservation.
If you have any questions or need assistance completing the application, please let me know!
Contact: Grey Hilliard-Koshinsky
grey@bristolcasa.org
774-202-9745
NOTE: This application is estimated to take 15-30 minutes of your time.
