Volunteer advocates in Champaign County, Ill., drove more than 39,000 miles last year to visit children placed in foster care just to maintain consistent contact. 

In Champaign County, nearly every foster care case that enters the family courtroom is assigned to a volunteer advocate from Court Appointed Special Advocates, more commonly known as CASA. The nonprofit organization trains volunteers to support staff and attorneys while advocating for a child’s best interest in court when they are placed in foster care. 

“The difficulty is the logistics to see the kids,” CASA Executive Director Rush Record said in an email to CU-CitizenAccess, who noted only a limited number of people are able to consistently make those trips. 

Record said volunteer travel has steadily increased in recent years, rising from about 25,000 miles in fiscal year 2021 to more than 39,000 miles last fiscal year. This number is expected to rise.

Foster care is designed to provide temporary homes for children who cannot stay with their biological families anymore due to a variety of reasons such as abuse, neglect, financial status and more. Advocates meet regularly with the children, gather information from schools and foster families and report back to the court with recommendations about the child’s best interest moving forward.

CASA of Champaign County operates out of offices in Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, and currently includes 119 volunteer advocates, including 16 new volunteers during the 2024-25 fiscal year. The organization also employs 10 professional staff members, two attorneys and five advocate coordinators.  

According to the organization’s 2023-24 annual report, CASA reported more than $932,000 in annual expenses as the program continued expanding staff and services to fit their growing needs. 

The organization works with hundreds of children in a given year. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, it served about 434 children, a number Record said is expected to hold steady.

Statewide, Illinois CASA reported serving nearly 10,000 children across 59 counties during fiscal year 2024 through a network of more than 3,100 volunteers. 

Record said the work is defined by both consistency and unpredictability, as the flow of new cases never follows a clear pattern. Some months bring only one or two children into care, while others bring several at once. 

“We are appointed on every case that comes into court unless there is a conflict,” Record said.

In Illinois, the foster care system is managed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which investigates reports of harm, places children with licensed foster families or residential facilities and works toward long-term outcomes such as guardianship or adoption. The department oversees the care of about 15,000 children a year.

The state department defines child abuse as mistreatment by a caregiver or person responsible for the child that causes injury or puts the child at serious risk of harm. This can include physical, sexual and emotional abuse. 

The department defines child neglect as the failure of a parent or caretaker to meet “minimal parenting” standards for providing adequate supervision, food, clothing, medical care, shelter or other basic needs.

Children removed from their homes in Champaign County are often placed far outside it, sometimes hundreds of miles away and in other states. The reasons vary depending on limited foster home availability, specialized care needs or simply a lack of open beds.

Record said long-distance placements can also be difficult for children, who are often removed from familiar schools, communities and support systems. 

When children are placed outside Champaign County, the decision is typically based on factors such as keeping siblings together, placing children with relatives or meeting specific treatment needs. 

“Placement decisions are always made based on what is best for the child not on concerns about the potential impact of distance on service providers,” Julia Gray, public information officer for the Department of Children and Family Services, said in an email.

Community volunteers appointed by judge to oversee children

Volunteer-based CASA assigns community members to represent the best interests of children involved in abuse and neglect cases that leads them to be in foster care. 

Volunteers with CASA need to pass a background check. In order to ensure the child’s wellbeing, volunteers can’t have any prior record of certain criminal offenses, such as abuse, neglect or sex offenses. Volunteers who pass the check then complete a minimum of 30 hours of training before they are sworn in before a judge. 

Unlike attorneys, volunteers are not employed by the state and instead are appointed directly by the judge to provide independent oversight.

Between 10 to 15 people regularly travel to visit the children, Record said, with destinations ranging from nearby cities like Danville to places as far as Quincy, Chicago and even out of state. 

When asked which states other than Illinois the children are placed in, Record said that he could not disclose that information for “confidentiality reasons.” When asked about the farthest a volunteer has to drive, Record said “several hundred miles.”

While CASA reimburses mileage at the state rate of 72.5 cents per mile, the time required to make those visits limits how many volunteers are able to take on such travel. 

State department spokesperson Gray said there is no set distance limit for how far a child can be placed from their home county. With more than 15,000 youth in care statewide and placements shifting over time, the agency does not track how often children are placed certain distances away.

Even when children are placed far from home, the department said expectations for caseworkers do not change. Staff are still required to maintain the same frequency of in-person visits, regardless of distance, and parents retain the same visitation rights. 

The agency also notifies CASA of placement changes so volunteers can continue their role in monitoring each case.

Still, those expectations can create a gap between what is required and what is realistically sustainable for volunteers.

“Agencies have a very difficult job,” Record said, “but sometimes the system also gets in the way and creates a lengthy process that could be much better for the kids.”

While the state department said distance is sometimes unavoidable in order to meet a child’s needs, the responsibility of maintaining consistent, in-person contact often falls on a small group of CASA volunteers willing to make the trip.

Illinois CASA says volunteer consistency is especially important because children in foster care often experience repeated disruption and instability. 

Eric Hernandez also contributed to this article.