I think you should go for it, LDM. We did not have a CASA worker involved because difficult child's issues didn't involve any allegations of abuse by me. However I frequent another forum where some parents have been accused of it (sometimes falsely) and CASA workers were assigned. The forum is sectioned into what state and jurisdiction people are in so the experience would reflect our state laws and policies. Just like with GAL's, training is very minimmal and in my humble opinion, the effectiveness is as good as the wisdom and insight and efforts of the actual person. That's why I think you should do it.
As someone who has had to deal with the other people from various agencies in the system, I would like to point out and ask you to keep in mind, that when there are various people assigned to deal with different segments of the situation, many times no one person ends up with all the information and therefore, recommendations get based on less than a complete picture. For instance, difficult child's GAL took a stance that he gets in trouble whenever he's living at home with me therefore maybe he should live somewhere else. DSS now is REQUIRED to place a minor with a family member if they can find one willing to take the minor. If difficult child hadn't been committed to Department of Juvenile Justice and a different judge had been involved, it could have been determined that difficult child should be turned over to DSS, without anyone considering that with what DSS is required to do, difficult child would have ended up in a home much less desirable than the home I provide. It doesn't work like a true custody case where someone is actualkly investigating and deciding which of these two options available to the courts is the best one for the child. And that's the frightening part for parents. (I'd like to point out that ALL difficult child's arrests occurred in late winter/early spring, coincidentally while school was in session yet no one seemed to blame the school for it or suggest that he should be removed from school. LOL!)
But to answer your question- J&DR judges here have a lot of leeway in who they listen to in court and the recommendations they follow. If the minor is in trouble and has a PO, they usually take those recommendations no matter if there is a GAL and/or CASA worker involved. But from what I read and hear, CASA workers' recommendations are followed many times but most certainly, always listened to. Now how many times that CASA worker (being a volunteer layman) gets intimidated by the GAL (an attny) into thinking what the GAL says is gospel, I don't know. It's my understanding that CASA workers are only assigned in this state when there are allegations of abuse or neglect- they are not assigned in cases where these are not an issue to the best of my knowledge. I can tell you that some GAL's flat out lie about what they have checked into and tell others "ABC happened" when they really do not know for sure if it did or didn't because they didn't really investigate like they are supposed to- they have legal authority to contact and look at sd records, any kind of health record, etc. so people assume they looked into this stuff, when they really might have only heard it from an estranged family member. So if a CASA worker hears it from a GAL, then does the CASA worker assume the GAL knows it to be fact?
Specific to my difficult child, we had the GAL and someone from DSS at times (not CPS but a different dept.) and the DSS worker was good and did see the big picture and being considered just as professional as the GAL, fortunately listened to by the judge, but not listened to by the GAL. Laws, policies and funding for each separate agency plays into this a WHOLE lot. I just visualize a CASA worker thinking a child might be better off in a therapuetic foster home, for example, so recommending that to the judge. But since that probably isn't available or allowed as a first step, the judge just gets the point that the child should be removed from home and turns the child over to DSS where the child is placed with a family member who is worse than the parent.