Knowing how to advocate for children and adolescents with mental health challenges are essential foundations for effective advocacy. A mental health condition is only one part of a person's life. It should not automatically determine how we view someone's ability to parent, maintain relationships or be an important part of a child's life.
For CASA volunteers, the goal is not to make assumptions based on a label. In fact, our volunteer training specifically reminds volunteers that personal values and biases about mental illness can affect objectivity. Good advocacy requires gathering information, maintaining perspective and looking carefully at the individual circumstances of the child and family.
That distinction matters. Instead of asking simply, “Does this parent have a mental illness?” we ask questions such as:
- How, if at all, is the parent's mental health affecting the child?
- What treatment or supports are available to the parent?
- What strengths and healthy relationships already exist in this family?
- What does this child need in order to feel safe, supported and connected?
- Are appropriate services actually available and accessible?
CASA encourages volunteers to gather additional information about the impact of parental mental illness on a child rather than drawing conclusions from the existence of a diagnosis alone.
When someone in a family is experiencing mental health challenges, the effects may reach beyond that individual. Children may experience uncertainty, changes in routines or relationships, or additional stress. Families may also be navigating other challenges at the same time. CASA volunteers intentionally consider mental health alongside issues such as trauma, poverty, substance use, domestic violence and separation and loss because children's experiences rarely fit neatly into a single category.
Understanding those experiences does not mean assuming the worst about a family. It means trying to understand the whole picture.
CASA identifies strengths and resources within families. Supportive relationships, emotional resources, cultural connections, extended family and informal support systems can all provide stability during difficult times. Children themselves may also need mental health support. Children in the child welfare system may have experienced abuse, neglect, separation, loss, placement changes or other traumatic events.
A child's behavior can sometimes be a way of communicating something they cannot yet put into words. Rather than simply asking, “What is wrong with this child?” volunteer advocates help shift the conversation toward, “What has this child experienced, and what does this child need?”
CASA volunteers do not diagnose or provide mental health treatment. Their role is advocacy. They can ask questions. They learn about a child's physical, mental, behavioral and educational needs. They identify unmet needs, advocate for appropriate services and continue monitoring whether those services are being provided.
Mental health care often involves professionals including therapists, doctors, caseworkers and others. But children also benefit from relationships with caring adults who remain present in their lives Consistency matters.
A CASA volunteer can be one of those consistent adults: someone who visits regularly, listens, gets to know the child, asks questions and carries that child's needs into meetings and the courtroom. CASA volunteers are trained to establish relationships with children and others involved in their cases, meet regularly with the child, assess needs and advocate for appropriate services.
For a child whose life may include changing placements, professionals and circumstances, having someone who continues to show up can be meaningful. Talking about mental health in families requires compassion and objectivity.
A diagnosis should not become a shorthand explanation for everything happening in a family. A child experiencing mental health challenges should not be defined by a behavior or diagnosis. And families facing difficult circumstances should not be reduced to the hardest moment of their lives.
CASA advocacy asks us to remain curious instead of judgmental. CASA gathers information, recognize strengths, works to understand challenges while keeping the child's individual needs at the center. On World Mental Health Day, that is an important reminder for all of us.
Mental health matters. Support matters. Relationships matter. And every child deserves to have someone asking not only whether they are safe, but whether they have what they need to heal, grow and thrive.
For Nebraska CASA volunteers, that is part of what it means to be a voice for a child. Join us now.
