Steve Claunch never thought he’d be on a billboard, but his soft smile now greets drivers who speed through Lynchburg on U.S. 221.
Claunch calls himself by many titles: loving grandfather, retired engineer and avid gardener, to name a few. None of them make him worthy of a billboard, he said as he chuckled out the quip, “I’m just a regular guy.”
The words “I AM CASA,” in bold white and red letters on the billboard, scream that Claunch is doing a far-from-regular job.
CASA stands for the Court Appointed Special Advocate program, which matches volunteers with children in the foster care system so they have a consistent source of support and a champion in the courtroom who can dive deep into the nuance of their case and advocate for the resources and outcomes they need to thrive.
When Claunch sees “I AM CASA,” he sees a much simpler job description: a duty to be a voice for children who don’t have one.
“When you come from a dysfunctional family, you’re in this huge storm of anxiety and badness — when you’re a kid, you don’t have the vocabulary to articulate that to anybody. People say, ‘What’s wrong?’ and you don’t even know where to start,” he said. “I can be that voice, because I can understand what they’re going through, and I’m with them at every step.”
Claunch, now 65, remembers the feeling of growing up in an unstable home. His father had an alcohol use disorder and would sometimes disappear for days or weeks at a time, taking his paychecks with him.
At the time, Claunch didn’t realize what he was missing. Now, he knows: “What’s supposed to happen is people have a nice, healthy family system that they’re raised up in and they get this foundation of feeling safe and secure. A foundation where the world makes sense.”
Too many kids don’t have that foundation, Claunch said.
Every year, more than 5,000 Virginian children interact with the foster care system. Leaders of CASA programs know they have an important job to do to support those children, said Kelli Diaz, recruitment and development director for CASA of Central Virginia — but they don’t have enough volunteers like Claunch to do it. In the 2025 fiscal year, advocates served 3,430 children across the state, according to the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Last year, volunteers at the CASA of Central Virginia office — which covers the city of Lynchburg and Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell and Nelson counties — served 220 children, Diaz said. Because there weren’t enough volunteers to go around, 223 children never made it off the waitlist.
“We know a CASA can bring a child to life for the court, they can bring a voice back to these kids,” Diaz said. She says it’s stressful knowing that as long as there’s a waitlist, “there are children who don’t have that voice.”
Where CASA steps in
CASA of Central Virginia’s waitlist of children was at 117 in September and 126 in October, Diaz said. It ticked up to 139 this month. When she started her CASA role in 2019, she was used to waitlists around 60.
Watching waitlist numbers rise is alarming, Diaz said, because she knows how big of a difference CASA can make in a child’s life.
In Virginia, children with a CASA volunteer are half as likely to reenter the foster care system than those without, and they spend an average of eight months less in foster care than those without, she said.
Those outcomes are possible because CASA volunteers are able to understand the nuances of cases better than other players in the courtroom, Diaz said. CASAs often only work with one case at a time and stay on the case from start to finish, which is not a luxury that most attorneys have, she said.
While judges, attorneys, social workers and other players in the courtroom strive to work in the best interest of the child, they are often overburdened and under-resourced — and could lack the one-on-one connection with the child that’s needed to make informed decisions, said Judge R. Louis Harrison Jr. CASA’s extra support makes the program “an extremely valuable part of the system,” he said.
“Everyone in the whole system is busy, maybe a little too busy,” said Harrison, a judge for the 24th Judicial District’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. “But these kids need some guidance, and they’re very hungry for it, and CASAs will get a closer bond to that child than anyone else in the system.”
Mary Chamberlin, a guardian ad litem for children in the 24th Judicial District, said she often is working on 40 or 50 open cases at a time. A guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed by a judge to provide independent recommendations in the client’s best interests. Chamberlin said she visits children once before every hearing — which is considered best practice for attorneys like her — but sometimes that means months will go by without making that connection.
CASAs visit with children twice a month, which means they can build trust with families over time and are “able to get a much more complete picture of what’s going on before the attorneys can,” Chamberlin said.
“Sometimes all we can do is meet families in the courthouse before the hearing,” she said of her packed schedule. “CASAs get that day-to-day, that personal knowledge, and they can help be that connection between the other professionals like me and the family.”
Chamberlin said she’ll take all the extra support on a case that she can get, especially when a child’s future is on the line.
“In these cases, the stakes are so huge. Could we go forward without CASA? Maybe, but I definitely wouldn’t want to,” she said. “These are just such vulnerable kids, and to me, every asset that we can give them is something that we should be giving them.”
Harrison said that CASAs’ reports to the court are invaluable because “that gets me to an even playing field with the players in the room.”
“Everyone assumes a judge up there masters the case. But you’re given a case file sometimes with extremely little information. You know less about it than anyone else in the room, but you’re the one who has to make a decision about it,” he said.
To that extent, CASAs are his eyes and ears, Harrison said.
“My job is to fix it, your job is to point it out,” he said to four new CASA volunteers at an induction ceremony in September.
‘Ongoing, critical need’ for volunteers
Claunch, who was sworn in as a CASA volunteer just over a year ago, said the work of being eyes and ears is rewarding but challenging.
He had just retired from a 34-year-long career as a mechanical engineer for Framatome when he saw a CASA billboard on U.S. 460 and decided it was his time to “step up” for his community, he said.
“If you’re looking to retire and relax, you’ll have to think twice about this job,” he said. Hearing and writing about the trauma of abuse and neglect can be emotionally draining, working alongside legal experts can be intimidating, and having patience throughout cases that often last about a year can be exhausting, he said.
Those challenges can make becoming a volunteer unappealing and can lead to volunteer shortages, Diaz said.
CASA was founded in 1977 in Seattle, and now has more than 900 programs across the country. Combined, those programs had about 97,000 volunteers in 2019, according to CASA’s annual reports. In 2023, the most recent year with data available, the number of volunteers was down to 79,000.
The drop in volunteers was consistent across sectors as the COVID-19 pandemic affected how people get involved in their communities, according to a joint Census Bureau and AmeriCorps report. The 2024 report said that in many areas, formal volunteering rates are rebounding from historic lows recorded during the pandemic: About 28% of Americans reported volunteering through an organization in the most recent survey, which is up from 23% in 2021.
The number of CASA volunteers statewide narrowly returned to pre-pandemic levels in the 2025 fiscal year, according to data from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Diaz said CASA of Central Virginia is just now seeing a rebound to 2019 levels of volunteer involvement and recouping years of recruitment and training opportunities lost to the pandemic. It’s still hard to recruit, she said, because CASA has a tougher sell to make than a soup kitchen or humane society that doesn’t demand as much time or emotional bandwidth.
“I think it’s hard for people to accept that child abuse happens,” she said. “It’s a problem that’s too big to ignore once you know about it, so people feel they’re better off ignoring it.”
According to the most recent data available from the state Department of Social Services, 5,744 children are in foster care in Virginia. At the time of their removal from home, about 50% were experiencing neglect, defined by the Code of Virginia as a lack of adequate food, clothing, shelter, necessary medical care or supervision. Parents struggling with drug or alcohol abuse are found in 40% of foster care cases, according to the state department’s data, and children who experienced physical or sexual abuse at home make up about 20% of cases.
CASA volunteers see those statistics come to life, Diaz said, which brings trauma of its own.
It’s also difficult to recruit, Diaz added, when the reality is that a CASA volunteer’s advocacy efforts don’t always succeed.
CASA volunteers’ recommendations were accepted and incorporated into judicial court orders about 83% of the time in 2024, said Laureen Hyman, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, in an emailed statement.
“So we always tell our volunteers, ‘Don’t come in expecting that you’re going to love every outcome,’” Diaz said. “But you can come in expecting that you’re going to have an impact, that you are going to be able to change this child’s trajectory in the time you spend with them.”
A growing number of children need advocates
Irvin and Teesha Ward, an Evington couple that has fostered 47 and adopted seven children since 2012, said they’ve seen the impact that CASA can make.
Irvin Ward said he was skeptical of CASA at first, largely because his home was already filled with social workers, attorneys, case managers and other professionals — “and here was another person overloading your dining room.”
“But no, then you realize, they’re more advocates for these kids and on behalf of the families, and they’re trying to reconnect the dots,” he said.
The Wards have had CASA volunteers on three of their cases and said they appreciated the extra support while it was around, whether that came in the form of checking in with children during the busy back-to-school season, taking note of significant successes and challenges to present to the court, or anything in between. One volunteer “played a big role” in helping the couple adopt four siblings that they had fostered, Teesha Ward said.
When the four children first arrived in the Wards’ home, they were severely malnourished, could barely walk or talk, and would sob and bang their heads against the floor in distress, the couple recalls. Over time — and with many doctor visits and therapy sessions — the Wards built a loving and supportive environment where the children began to heal.
“[The CASA volunteer] saw the relationship we had with the children, and how they took to us, and the bond and everything we developed with the children, so she was able to advocate for us to stay together rather than make these kids start over somewhere else,” she said.
Most of the Wards’ foster care children did not have a CASA volunteer. There just aren’t enough of them to meet the demand, Diaz said, even as volunteering rates slowly return to pre-pandemic levels.
That’s partly because the number of children in Virginia’s foster care system has been increasing. About 4,300 children were recorded in the system in 2013, and that number grew to 5,300 in 2018, according to a study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The study attributes the increase to two main factors: the growth in the number of children who entered foster care due to parental drug abuse, and a legislative change that upped the age children can exit the foster care system from 18 to 21.
The number of children in foster care dipped during the pandemic, largely due to statewide school closures that limited interactions between students and teachers, who are common reporters of suspected abuse or neglect, according to reporting by the Virginia Mercury.
This year, the number of children in Virginia’s foster care system exceeded pre-pandemic numbers by hundreds. Meanwhile, the number of CASA volunteers remains at pre-pandemic levels.
“The CASA model depends on dedicated volunteers, and there is an ongoing, critical need to recruit qualified individuals to serve in this vital role. This is not a new issue for programs in Virginia,” Hyman said.
Collecting facts, building trust, being a consistent support: the day-to-day tasks of a CASA volunteer
No two days as a CASA volunteer are the same, Claunch said.
CASA volunteers visit with the child or children in their case two times per month, once in the home where they’re living at the time and once in a more neutral location like school or the local social services office.
Those visits are all about being a strong observer, Claunch said. He looks out for signs of emotional, physical and mental health changes, overall comfort and happiness, outcomes in school and extracurricular activities, and more to gauge what a child needs from the court system and if reunification with the child’s parents is in the child’s best interest.
“One of the most important jobs of the CASA is to gather information,” he said. “We have to dig deeper than everyone else in the system because we’re the only ones who have time to.”
Claunch also spends time aiding communication between professionals like social workers and attorneys and the biological parents and foster parents involved in a case to ensure “everyone knows what’s expected of them and what resources are available to them.”
He said he’s often surprised by how much his volunteering role feels like he’s right back at Framatome, supervising a team of 10 engineers in the thermal hydraulics unit.
“You learn in a job like that the importance of making sure everybody knows everything you know,” he said. “I pull from those communication skills every day with CASA.”
Claunch’s observations of children and their environment in general factor into a court report that is submitted to a judge before every hearing in a child’s foster care case — typically one every few months.
The report is narrative and tells the child’s story, unlike social workers’ reports that must follow specific state guidance and answer a series of set questions, said Amy Lingenfelter, advocate manager for CASA of Central Virginia. The CASA report can bring a child to life — with pictures, anecdotes and precise details — for the judge who will likely never meet the child in person, she said.
Pictures can make all the difference in the courtroom, Diaz said. She “vividly remembers” a case in which a 3-year-old child was pulling their hair out due to the trauma they had endured at home. “They had little bald spots all over their head,” she recalls, as it was photographed in the CASA report.
“Then you fast forward to the end of the case, and all of the child’s hair had grown back in, and that child looked so happy and healthy. So that judge was able to see, actually see, we’re on the right track,” she said.
All together, volunteers dedicate about three to five hours per week to their case, depending on how many siblings are involved and where their foster homes are located, Lingenfelter said. Volunteers stick with the case until it is closed and children are either returned home or placed into a safe and permanent adoptive home, she said, which could take more than a year.
The consistency is key, especially for children who may not have any other stable adult in their life, Lingenfelter said.
“Sometimes kids in foster care change placements. They have to go to a different home, and then that’s a new set of caregivers, and sometimes a new school, and sometimes new service providers. And I’ve seen cases where the guardian ad litem will have to change or the social worker changes because there is so much turnover in this field,” she said. “So we want to make sure that we are the person that’s the familiar face that’s sticking around. We want to be there to see it all the way through.”
According to the most recent data from the state Department of Social Services, only about 30% of children in foster care in Virginia stay in one foster care placement during the length of their case. About 26% will have two placements, about 29% will have between three and five, and about 15% will have six or more.
Claunch said that by monitoring a case over time, he has the unique opportunity to build trust with children slowly but surely. With more trust comes a better connection that allows Claunch to better understand and advocate for what the child needs, he said.
That makes small milestones — like getting a fist-bump from a child on a new case — just as big as the billboard on U.S. 221, he said.
A piece of the puzzle that’s been overlooked: parents and CASA’s role in minimizing trauma
Lingenfelter said that while volunteers are known as advocates for children, “advocating for kids often also looks like advocating for services for parents” to remedy the root cause of the foster care placement, which often involves substance abuse.
Claunch said he understands better than anyone that “things happen, all of a sudden you’re behind the 8 ball, and you still deserve support.” After growing up around his father’s alcoholism, Claunch began drinking and using drugs as a teenager. In his 20s, he went to rehab, got clean and sober, and repaired a relationship with his father, who also achieved sobriety.
Behind the scenes, CASA staff plan fundraisers all year long to ensure the program has the money it needs to train volunteers and keep the lights on at the Lynchburg office. This fall, CASA of Central Virginia hosted its 11th annual Superhero Run for the cause. Photo by Andrew Wilds, courtesy of CASA of Central Virginia. 
CASA of Central Virginia staff members Stephanie Morgenegg, the special events and marketing coordinator, and Allison Stronza, the executive director, celebrate the 11th annual CASA Superhero Run. Photo by Andrew Wilds, courtesy of CASA of Central Virginia. 
Racers cross the finish line at CASA’s annual Superhero Run fundraiser. Photo by Andrew Wilds, courtesy of CASA of Central Virginia. 
Kelli Diaz, recruitment and development director for CASA of Central Virginia, poses with characters at CASA’s “Star Wars”-themed fundraiser in November. Photo by Andrew Wilds, courtesy of CASA of Central Virginia.
“There’s a lot of wisdom that comes with that, that we share with each other now,” he said of their recovery journey and their path to becoming “great friends.”
“Now, I tell parents in my cases I know what it’s like to be on both sides of the fence,” he said. “And I’m trying to help you get your kids back. I’m on your side. You do have some work to do in order to get your kids back, but it is possible. We can put this picture back together.”
Returning children to their homes “shall be the primary goal for all children in foster care,” according to Virginia’s social services manual. It’s CASA’s goal as well, and it’s written into the state law that governs how children interact with the foster care system.
Even so, only about 37% of children in foster care in Virginia have a case plan goal of being reunified with their parents, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Social Services. About 30% have case plans preparing them for adoption, about 10% have case plans preparing them to live with other relatives, and others are slated to stay in long-term foster care or age out of the system entirely.
Sara Bailey, director of the University of Lynchburg’s Counselor Education Program, said the weight of those goals cannot be overstated because permanently removing a child from their home can have lifelong impacts. People who have been adopted are more likely to attempt suicide, more likely to be diagnosed with mental health conditions, and more likely to have substance use disorders, she said — all because the trauma of losing contact with family doesn’t go away on its own, she said.
“A piece of the puzzle that I think has been historically overlooked is the traumatic experience of a child of any age being removed from their primary caregivers. And that is true even when the primary caregivers are causing harm,” she said. “I think we need to do a better job at creating some space to ask, ‘Is there another way? Can we help parents and keep children at home?’”
Diaz said CASA is always updating its bias training to ensure that volunteers keep their minds and hearts open when speaking with parents who have been accused of abusing or neglecting their children.
“Whether we like it or not, everybody has biases,” she said. “So we talk about the importance of being able to communicate well with children, families, professionals and any demographic that volunteers may not be used to communicating with. Our volunteers have to investigate and think independently in order to know what’s best for the child.”
Chamberlin said attorneys like her, CASA volunteers, and social workers agree on what’s in the best interest of the child a majority of the time. On the rare occasion that they disagree, “the relationship between the lawyers and CASA can be a little bit hot and cold,” she said. CASA volunteers aren’t bound by the same rules of evidence that lawyers are, she explained, and lawyers can get frustrated with double or triple hearsay that makes its way into CASA reports.
“I will say, in my experience, I have found CASA to be incredibly helpful,” she said. “We’re all here because we love the kids we work with, and we try to leave every case better than we found it.”
Want to help? Here’s how.
Those interested in becoming a CASA volunteer can apply online for the program in their area. Applicants undergo a series of interviews and background checks before being approved to begin training, Diaz said.
CASA of Central Virginia runs training sessions for new volunteers throughout the year, Diaz said, with the next session starting in January. That winter class meets once per week in the Lynchburg CASA office, on Tuesday evenings, and lasts about two months.
The spring class, which starts in April, meets twice per week and thus wraps up within a month, Diaz said.
Training consists of a variety of exercises, readings and discussions, Diaz said, which include learning about CASA responsibilities, analyzing practice cases, shadowing other CASAs in the courtroom, and studying how to identify and address signs of trauma.
After volunteers complete training, they are inducted into the CASA program by a judge and can begin taking cases immediately, Diaz said.
CASA of Central Virginia’s next information session for interested applicants is scheduled for Jan. 3.
‘You just need to care’
At the end of the day, Claunch said, he wants the children in his cases to have a stable life — and sometimes it’s safer to build that life away from the home they grew up in.
In the first case he worked on as a CASA volunteer, he advocated for the child to be adopted because “everybody in the room agreed” that returning them home was not a safe option. The adoption was approved by the judge. Claunch doesn’t have words to describe the feeling of the case’s outcome, he said, just the feeling of a deep exhale.
“It’s the relief of knowing they’re safe. It’s over,” he said.
Claunch hopes that his positive influence lasts long after his cases close, though. He sees mentorship as one of the most important duties in his CASA role.
“When I saw that CASA needed male volunteers, I realized that I could be that role model that I was so lucky to have,” Claunch said. He looked up to his Cub Scout master and baseball coach when he didn’t have a strong relationship with his father, he said. To this day, he remembers how their support made him feel.
“If you could put it into words — it’s a feeling of somebody walking up and putting their arm around you and saying, ‘You’re going to be just fine,’” he said.
Everyone deserves that feeling, he said.
“I am CASA,” Claunch said, referencing his billboard. “I think the point of that is: Anybody can do it. You just need to care about these kids.”