Team & Leadership

Piedmont CASA has MOUs with the Multidisciplinary Teams, the Family Drug Treatment Court, and the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts of Albemarle and Charlottesville.

Piedmont CASA is one of three agencies (SARA and ReadyKids) who are members of the Charlottesville and Albemarle Multidisciplinary Teams (MDT) that meet monthly and staff cases involving child sexual abuse and/or serious physical injury. This interdisciplinary collaboration among police departments, Child Protective Services (CPS), prosecutors, and mental health professionals helps to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and ensures the provision of appropriate mental health services to child victims. Each team member brings special expertise and case knowledge. The attending CASA Supervisor pays attention to the children’s safety, stability, and mental health needs.

Piedmont CASA is a member of the Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Louisa County Best Practice teams, which help implement the Court Improvement Program in dependency cases and provide regional training to improve practice in the dependency courts.

A CASA Supervisor is a member of the Family Drug Treatment Court Team, a collaborative project between social services, Piedmont CASA, Region Ten Community Services Board substance abuse treatment, and the Court. It is designed to protect children from abuse and neglect precipitated by the substance abuse of a parent or caregiver. This interdisciplinary team develops case plans that encompass the parent's treatment, family service needs, the child's safety, physical and mental health needs, and intensive judicial monitoring. CASA Advocates are assigned to children whose parents are in FTC, and Piedmont CASA staff and Advocates participate in FTC case management team meetings and court hearings to ensure the children's needs are considered in the treatment plan.

The Louisa Interagency Council was formed to develop strategies to keep citizens informed about the needs of the community, the resources that are available, and how they can become involved or get access. Piedmont CASA consistently attends community awareness events organized by the LIAC.

Piedmont CASA collaborates with the VOCA (Victims Of Crime Act) Treatment Counselors at ReadyKids to make referrals, address individual children's therapeutic needs and progress, and provide cross-training and consultation about children's mental health issues, the legal system, child welfare and court processes. We also consult and cross-train with the Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA) around child sexual abuse issues.

Piedmont CASA is a founding partner of the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network. Its mission is to improve trauma-informed care by educating professionals and the community on the prevalence and impact of trauma and by advocating for trauma-informed systems of care.

.The National CASA Association provides leadership to nearly 900 state and local CASA programs. Across the country, nearly 60,000 highly trained CASA Advocates serve as powerful advocates for children who have been abused and neglected. We are changing their stories...one child at a time.