Voz de Niños seeks volunteers to advocate for Webb County foster children

Voz de Niños is inviting the community to volunteer as advocates in Webb County, where about 300 children are in the foster care system.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national volunteer movement founded in 1977. Voz de Niños is a member of the Texas CASA association, and collectively the local CASA programs serve the majority of Texas' 254 counties.

As integral members of their respective communities, Voz de Niños recruits, trains, supervises and supports court-appointed volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children.

CASA's mission is to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in foster care through community support through training and volunteerism.

Volunteers needed

Cristina Bueno, volunteer coordinator for Voz de Niños, said they are currently asking the Webb County community to sign up to volunteer to advocate for children in foster care.

"A lot of people think it's fostering, taking the child home, but not necessarily," she said. "It's becoming part of the case, trying to see how we can help out the child and their needs."

She explained that a Voz de Niños CASA volunteer acts as a court-appointed advocate for abused and neglected children in Webb County, focusing on ensuring their safety, well-being and permanent placement.

"They get to know the child, investigate case records, speak with involved parties (family, teachers, doctors) and submit reports to a judge to provide a voice for the child's best interests," she said.

Bueno said that they recruit volunteers year-round and are looking for people dedicated to serving more children.

"If we have more volunteers, we can serve more children," she said. "In 2025 we served more than 60 children, but in Webb County there are 300 children in foster care."

She said that some applicants want to be volunteers and at the same time foster parents, but that is impossible since it represents a conflict of interest.

"We let them know from the beginning that that's awesome because we need foster parents in Laredo, but it is a conflict of interest being a CASA advocate and wanting to become a foster parent," she said. "We explain to them what CASA is and of course, what fostering is but we let them decide it. It depends on whatever they want to proceed, either they want to become a foster parent or a CASA advocate but they cannot do it at the same time due to a conflict of interest."

The impact of advocacy

She said that one of the rewards of being an advocate is seeing how the children develop because sometimes, when they first start a case, some children are very shy and reserved.

"And it's understandable," she said. "They've probably been through a lot already, but it's rewarding to see the child slowly, little by little, opening up to you, speaking to you more, having that connection with the child. And you start feeling happy about that, saying, 'Hey, you know what? I think I am doing something.'"

She said that some advocates might feel like they are not doing anything, but they are making a difference for those children.

"Being that stability in that child's life is a lot, because some of these kiddos get moved to different placements very often. And even though they get moved, the advocate follows them," she said. "So I think it's rewarding seeing the child opening up little by little.

"It is also very rewarding for advocates for children to obtain a permanent home because they deserve permanency," she said.

Training and responsibilities

Bueno said that people who want to volunteer must take training where they are taught to act objectively and understand everyone involved in a case.

"During our training, we do speak about how we have to understand the parents, where they come from," she said. "Sometimes parents, when they were young, were also abused. So that becomes a pattern in their present lives, and we ask our advocates to understand parents - why they might have done this, why they might have done that - because at the end of the day, everyone deserves a second chance but of course, thinking primarily about the safety and welfare of the children."

She said that some of the qualities and skills volunteers should have are organizational skills, since they contact different parties throughout the month, as well as understanding, empathy and objectivity, among others.

Bueno said that people who want to volunteer can apply online.

"In that application, we ask the applicant to talk about their life, and we talk about our program guidelines so that they can see if this is for them, or if it isn't," she said. "Of course, we do have some requirements such as them to be at least 21 years of age; to be able to pass our interview and background checks. We go through a CPS background check and fingerprints and then we do ask for three references. From there on, that's when we decide to continue with the applicant."

Bueno said that each year they try to recruit as many volunteers as possible.

"But every year, we do have a goal, we at least try to recruit 20 advocates," she said. "As per our program guidelines, every advocate can only manage at least one case. Some of our advocates do have more than one but that's already approved by our director.

"Some caseworkers have so many cases and the role as an advocate is that they dedicate themselves to just one case, focus on that case instead of handling them over many cases."

Bueno said that when a case is opened there is a timeline of 12 months, and sometimes it extends another six months, depending on the case. Volunteers typically stay involved for a similar period of time.

"Our goal is for our advocates to stay at least one year to 18 months, in case it gets extended," she said. "Let's just tell you complete that one year your case closes and we offer advocates to go on break. We offer them for a year but we have some advocates that after their first case, they want to do a second case. And that's amazing."

How to apply

She said she was inviting the entire community to participate in the volunteer program, where it doesn't matter if you are a student, a full-time worker or retired; there are no restrictions.

"We have all sorts of advocates. The good thing about volunteering here with us is that even though you might be a full-time worker, our volunteering is very flexible. It's something that's manageable," she said. "We give you tasks, and those tasks need to be completed throughout the month, and it's a very simple task of contacting other parties by a phone call, a text message and email. The only big requirement we do ask is for you to visit the child at least once a month to see how the child is doing."

To learn more about Voice of Children-CASA or to register as a volunteer, visit vozdeninos.org.

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