What is “Best Interest”?
Parents typically decide what is best for their children and then provide it for them the best that they can. They are their children’s best advocates. The court intervenes in families’ lives when parents cannot or will not protect, promote, and provide for their children’s basic needs. A CASA/GAL volunteer becomes the advocate when the parents cannot – or will not – fulfill this role.
Juvenile court judges use the “best interest of the child” standard when making decisions in child abuse and neglect cases. Child welfare and juvenile court practitioners and scholars have debated the meaning of “best interest of the child” for years. Although books have been written on the subject, there is still no concise legal definition for this standard.
In cases where the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) applies, the law presumes that it is always in the best interest of an Indian child to have his/her own people determine what is best for his/her future.
The Role of the CASA Volunteer in a Child’s Life
Your goal as a CASA/GAL volunteer is to remain empathetic to the family while remembering that the child is your focus. It is important to be objective, to remain detached enough to see clearly the child’s and family’s situation and needs. To be successful as a CASA/GAL volunteer, you must care about the families of the children, but you cannot live their lives for them.
The most difficult boundaries to set and maintain are those between the CASA volunteer and the child or children in the case. It is natural to care about a child who has been hurt and who relies on you to keep his/her best interest at the forefront – if you didn’t care, you wouldn’t work so hard to ensure his/her needs are met. However, if you get too personally involved, it is hard to maintain the objective perspective that is required for advocacy work. Our goal is to be part of a temporary intervention in a child’s life – to assist in a time of need and then to leave and let the child continue along his/her way. When the child is in a safe, permanent home, your work as a CASA/GAL volunteer is done. It is time to move forward and help another child.
