Stay Connected!

CASA of Franklin County wants volunteers to feel appreciated, to stay engaged and to have the ability to give us feedback. We asked the focus groups how we can work together to accomplish these goals.

Activities

Many people wanted to have more social opportunities, such as a book club, bowling club or monthly dinners out for our volunteers. Another great suggestion during the holiday time is Caroling for CASA of Franklin County! Volunteer-sponsored activities are a great way for volunteer GALs to get together and show their support of our work and mission. If you would like to organize these events, please just give us a call. We can provide you with any CASA of Franklin County materials you may want. Be creative!

In a future post we will discuss ways we are planning in using technology to keep us all connected!

Relationships
Another topic that stimulated a lot of discussion was the relationships between volunteers and staff attorneys. We know that this relationship works best when viewed as a partnership. Staff attorneys should be your first resource for questions, bouncing ideas off of each other, and a great place just to vent about your case! Staff Attorneys are also available to meet with you before court hearings in the morning. We have an open door policy and would love to have you stop by our offices!

Because we are all individuals and work in an imperfect system, we recognize that people have different personalities and some people may be easier to work with than others. Some volunteers like a ‘strictly business’ relationship with their staff attorney and some prefer a more casual relationship. These differences are expected when working with over 200 volunteers in the nature of the work we do. Thankfully, volunteers at the focus groups noted that almost universally they are comfortable going to their assigned staff attorney with any issues.

We at CASA of Franklin County know that staff turnover or other inconsistencies can be a challenge, especially when working on a long term case. That is why we have created a Staff Attorney protocol and a Volunteer Handbook. These policies help keep staff attorney and volunteer expectations universal and consistent. We want you to know that you are valued and want to make sure the relationship with each staff attorney is respectful and positive.

Communication is key to any good relationship and we are open to suggestions for improving our channels and/or methods of communication in any way that we can.

Feedback

Feedback is an integral part of being involved at CASA of Franklin County. There are many ways to gather feedback and we have used surveys, evaluations and even informal methods, such as emails and conferences.

We ask all volunteers to complete a five question case closing summary form. Each of these completed forms are reviewed and any feedback provided, good or bad, is addressed. We also conduct an annual survey that goes to our constituencies in the community and to all volunteers. This information is complied and evaluated. And, most recently, we conducted the Volunteer Focus Groups which created a lot of great opinions and direction for future policy and procedures. We look forward to greater participation in all of these things. As stated above, we have an open door policy at CASA of Franklin County. If something is great or even not-so-great- we want to know about it!

As you are aware we are working on streamlining our annual volunteer evaluation system. Look for more information to come in January!