It has been a little over one year since the first case of COVID-19 here in Texas, which brought the start of physical distancing and virtual advocacy. CASA volunteers of all ages, skills and circumstances are using technology to stay connected with children and families, and some find they stay closer with more frequent contact.

Whether your CASA program continues to require virtual visits or not, videoconferencing remains a powerful tool to check in with children and families. With this in mind, we’re sharing a few resources and reminders to help you make the most of virtual visits. 

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“The CASA/GAL program assures that volunteers have regular and sufficient in-person contact with the child to enable them to have an in-depth knowledge of the case and make fact based recommendations to the court. The CASA/GAL volunteer shall meet in person with the child once every thirty (30) days at a minimum. An exception may be granted in the discretion of the CASA program staff; however, the decision to permit less frequent in person contact shall be documented as to the justification for and reasonableness of the exception.”

Texas CASA joins all local program staff in wanting to protect the health of our volunteers, children and families and will recognize all reasonable justifications for not visiting children related to COVID-19 for the duration of this health crisis. However, because the tension of the times may trigger trauma-associated thoughts/behaviors in/from children or create dysfunctional behavior in the place where children reside, it is best to have eyes on the child in any way possible, in order to help the child stay calm and connected.

Not seeing a child in these difficult times when connections are most valuable could undo the work done to create the relationship. If in-person visits are not made due to reasons associated with COVID-19, we encourage the volunteer who does not visit the child to maintain video-conference contact with the child through the use of Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, or Messenger. Waivers of any 30 day or other applicable time intervals between visits should be granted 30 days at a time, until more information is available, or circumstances justifying the exception change emerge.  In addition, your court may have passed an Emergency Standing Order that suspends any face to face visits with children until the crisis subsides.  In that case, the court order serves as your exception form and will determine the duration.

In addition, PC meetings, mediations, Family Group Conferences and other meetings should be attended by phone or online means such as Zoom, Go To Meeting or Skype.

Check in with the court coordinator for upcoming dockets and learn the court’s desire for proceeding. Determine how to address resetting hearings or convening and reconvening in cases of dismissal deadlines.

Texas CASA recommends that local CASA programs continue remote work and remote advocacy until further notice, in order to protect the health of children and families, staff, volunteers and our local communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, organizations should reopen only if they can ensure strict social distancing, proper cleaning and disinfecting requirements, and protection of their workers and customers; with vulnerable workers continuing to work from home. We’ve outlined our recommendations for CASA programs in the attachment below.

Read more: TEXAS CASA GUIDANCE ON RETURNING TO WORKPLACES AND SOCIAL DISTANCING DURING COVID-19.

The Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Board has created a Guidance to Phased-In Visits document that provides extensive details to consider in an easy to understand and follow format as your program considers and weighs the grave health concerns to children, families and program members. Download the guide.

Additionally, the Regional Representatives have provided the below information to aid programs with vital information regarding advocacy activities:

1. A release form or waiver that allows an individual to acknowledge risks involved from Dallas CASA; and
2. Five documents constituting a “packet” from CASA of Travis County that includes: steps to assess program advocacy in light of program operations; a draft/initial list of questions and considerations for programs and their boards to assess their readiness; a flowchart temporary protocol in returning to face to face child visits; and surveys for volunteers and staff that will consider individual readiness.

View and download resources.

Paid Sick Leave

Employees qualify for up to 80 hours of paid sick time if the employee is unable to work (or unable to telework) due to 6 different reasons:

1. is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
2. has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19;
3. is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
4. is caring for an individual under an isolation order (1) or who is self-quarantined (2);
5. is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed (or child care provider is unavailable) for reasons related to COVID-19; or
6. is experiencing any other substantially-similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services

Additional information:

• For reasons 1-3, employees are eligible for 100% salary up to a cap ($511/day, or $5110 in aggregate)
• For reasons 4-6 employees are eligible for 2/3 salary up to a cap ( $200/day or $2000 in aggregate)
• Emergency paid sick leave is in addition to any existing paid leave program you already have in place

Emergency FMLA Expansion

• Employees are eligible if they are caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed (or child care provider is unavailable) for reasons related to COVID-19
• Employees have to be employed 30 day in order to be eligible. If you hire someone today, they will be eligible on May 1
• First 10 days can be unpaid, but employees can use emergency paid sick leave during this time  ( at 2/3 their pay)
• Employees will then be eligible up to an additional 10 weeks of paid emergency FMLA (2/3 of their pay with cap – $200/day or $2000 in aggregate)
• Employers under 25 employees are not required to restore an employee once leave has exhausted if the position no longer exists due to economic conditions or other changes in operations due to the public health emergency.

NOTE: CVC and VOCA will continue funding positions if your policy includes a provision for the pandemic. Please see an example policy shared by Hill Country CASA. Programs may want to define in policy which individuals are eligible (#4) or are defined as family members.

Download sample policy.

Additional resources are available from the Department of Labor.

Staff who are teleworking or working remotely will continue to perform their responsibilities and can continue to be paid accordingly. If the program has staff working remotely and they are being funded under CVC and VOCA, there is no need to ask for a loan for those salaries. That would not be allowable under Texas CASA guidelines because it would be clear supplanting. If a person cannot work remotely and the program has no policy to address it, then CVC and VOCA cannot be used. Programs can amend their policy to create allowable circumstances for working remotely.

Staff may become UNABLE TO WORK due to Covid 19 for the following reasons:

1. is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
2. has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19;
3. is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
4. is caring for an individual under an isolation order (1) or who is self-quarantined (2);
5. is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed (or child care provider is unavailable) for reasons related to COVID-19; or
6. is experiencing any other substantially-similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services

Again, if the program has staff working remotely and they are being funded under CVC and VOCA, there is no need to ask for a loan for those salaries. CVC and VOCA will continue funding positions if the program’s policy includes a provision for the pandemic. Please see an example policy shared by Hill Country CASA. Programs may want to define in policy which individuals are eligible (#4). Download sample policy.

Only staff who are not covered by grants and whose salary may be in jeopardy, if they have extended leave due to Covid 19 or the program becomes short of funds, would be a reason to apply for federal aid under the CARES Act.

If your program qualifies, you can apply for these funds:

$10,000 Emergency Advance under Emergency EIDL Grant Program

For nonprofit organizations seeking an immediate influx of funds, borrowers may receive a $10,000 emergency advance within three days after applying for an EIDL grant. If the application is denied, the applicant is not required to repay the $10,000 advance. Emergency advance funds can be used for payroll costs, increased material costs, rent or mortgage payments, or repaying obligations that cannot be met because of revenue losses.

Paycheck Protection Program Loans (emergency SBA 7(a) loans)

Creates an emergency loan program providing loans of up to $10 million for eligible non-profits, permitting them to cover costs of payroll, operations, and debt service, and provides that the loans will be forgiven in whole or in part under certain circumstances.

Loan Amount: The lesser of $10 million or 2.5 times the average total monthly payroll (including benefits) costs from the one-year period prior to the date of application.

Loan Use: Loan funds can be used to make payroll and associated costs, including health and retirement benefits, facilities costs, and debt service.

Loan Forgiveness: Employers that maintain employment for the eight weeks after the origination of the loan, or rehire employees by June 30, would be eligible to have their loans forgiven, essentially turning the loan into a grant. A caveat: the loan forgiveness covers costs incurred during those eight weeks so it is important to spend the proceeds of the loan during the eight weeks after the origination of the loan if you seek loan forgiveness.

Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Application

Under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) created by the CARES Act, loans may be forgiven if borrowers use the proceeds to maintain their payrolls and pay other specified expenses. The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration recently released the application form and instructions for loan forgiveness. While the instructions can be overwhelming, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has put together some recommendations and a forgiveness calculator so that all programs have to do is gather and enter data.

Download: Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Application

Download: AICPA PPP Loan Forgiveness Calculator (first item under Featured Resource) and AICPA Recommendations Letter

Delayed Payment of Payroll Taxes

Allows employers to delay payment of the employer portion payroll taxes in 2020; payable in equal halves at the end of 2021 and 2022.

Eligibility for Both Programs: Available for charitable nonprofits with 500 or fewer employees (counting each individual – full time or part time and not FTEs). The law does not disqualify nonprofits that are eligible for payments under Title XIX of the Social Security Act (Medicaid), but does require that employees of affiliated nonprofits may be counted toward the 500 employee cap, depending on the degree of control of the parent organization.

No Personal Guarantee: No personal guarantee or collateral will be required in securing a loan.

CASA volunteers are encouraged to use alternative contact options like virtual visits, phone calls, email or text. These can be used when checking in with the child(ren) and those involved in the case, including CASA Supervisor, caseworker, caregivers, parents and legal representation. 

Check out more suggestions and resources in our Quick Tips guide.

Pre-Service Training During Social Distancing:

• In the interest of public health, Texas CASA is supporting programs in temporarily replacing the minimum required ten hours of in-person face to face training with at least ten hours of live, virtual video-based training via a platform such as Zoom.
• Texas CASA has purchased a paid Zoom license for each program.
• National CASA has also created an option for using their flex curriculum fully online. If you wish to use this option, you’ll need to reach out to National CASA to get set up with a Moodle account, and you can e-mail their team at training@nationalcasa.org.
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Using National CASA’s virtual flex curriculum

• The virtual flex curriculum consists of five virtual training sessions (of approximately three hours each) and assignments and activities learners complete at home and online in between each session (approximately three hours of homework in between each online session.) Learners are required to post to the shared Moodle chat forum where they can respond to each other and discuss their thoughts and questions about their homework. As the facilitator, you’re able to track a learner’s participation and ensure that they’ve completed all the required assignments in between each session.
• The cost of using the flex curriculum is $75 per training class. However, National CASA has funds to help you cover this if needed.
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Using Your Own Curriculum, Facilitated in a VideoConference Format

• Another option is to take your traditional classroom facilitation guide and deliver it virtually over videoconference instead of in a physical room. This would require some tweaking and technological troubleshooting to make some activities work, and some pieces (such as the culture puzzle activity, for example) wouldn’t be possible in a virtual environment. We have figured out how to effectively facilitate a case study activity by using Zoom breakout rooms and using the chat feature to share the interview documents each group requests. Here is a link to each interview for all of the case studies separated out into an individual document that you can readily share with each small group as they request it. 
• If you choose to move your traditional classroom training online, one way to make this more dynamic (and minimize the number of hours your trainees are having to spend on Zoom) is to use the new e-learning courses we developed last year that replace the in-person Session 2 and Session 7. For anyone who hasn’t yet had the chance to check these out, these are e-learning courses that cover the same content as the facilitated session while capturing the engaging spirit of the classroom as much as possible. They feature “hear from a peer” videos so learners can hear insights and examples from CASA staff and volunteers, as well as professionally filmed and acted case study interviews to give learners an immersive experience of working a case. Here is a link to more information about those courses!

Continuing Education During Social Distancing

• If you have smaller classes of new volunteers, a great way to offer virtual continuing education for existing volunteers and make your virtual pre-service training more interactive is to invite existing volunteers to join you for different online pre-service sessions and count that time towards to CE hours. This allows you to have more learners in the video conference to complete the activities and engage in discussion together, and it helps make the virtual training a more socially rich and connected experience for your new trainees while offering another remote option for people to achieve their CE hours and brush up on foundational advocacy.

Effective Facilitation in a Virtual Environment

• Remember that adults retain 90% of information that they actively do something with. It’s important that our training efforts don’t lose their participant-centered spirit as we utilize video conferencing technology. One way to do that is to use Zoom breakout rooms as a way to have small group or dyad discussions or engage in small group activities.
• It may take some additional effort and finesse, but it’s totally possible to create an enthusiastic and engaging presence as a virtual trainer! Protect yourself from the dreaded “boring webinar vibe” that too often seeps into online trainings by intentionally keeping your energy up throughout the whole virtual training session. Continue to give your learners (and yourself!) breaks to stretch and shake it out, and find creative ways to weave in virtual ice breakers and energizers to keep folks engaged. Keep an eye on your body language — notice how much warmth and encouragement is conveyed through the screen when you smile as you talk!
• Be aware of your own challenges and don’t hesitate to reach out for support! Texas CASA is more than happy to set a Zoom and do a mock training with you so you can troubleshoot anything you need to before you start your next training.
• Continue to actively create a positive learning environment in your virtual classroom: validate people as they share their thoughts and concerns, continue to let them know they’re asking great questions and surfacing important points.
• Don’t be shy about making follow up phone calls to participants for screening purposes as needed. If someone makes a remark that you’d like to investigate more, send them a private chat to let them know you’ll follow up by phone so that you can talk with them more and better understand their thoughts.
• Just as with in person facilitating, don’t be afraid to leave silences if your participants don’t immediately respond to a question that you pose. As facilitators we often have an instinct to fill silence before anyone might get uncomfortable, but keep in mind that’s not best practice for learning and engagement. After you toss a discussion question out, count to ten: give others the time that it takes to think of how they want to respond, or for folks less likely to speak up to get just uncomfortable enough with the silence that they put themselves out there and offer their thoughts!
• Check in with participants regularly — text, call or e-mail them to make sure they’re aware of any homework deadlines and are on track, and to see if they need any technical support.
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If you have more questions after reading over these notes or if you’d like someone to practice with, please e-mail mhalpin@texascasa.org and to schedule a time for one on one support.

Texas CASA offered a Zoom training to the network, and the training can be found here. If you are using Zoom with others who may not be familiar with how to use it, consider sending these resources along with your meeting invitation:

• If you would like to practice joining a zoom meeting you can join a test meeting here.
• You can watch a short one minute video about how to join a Zoom meeting.

Please reach out Catherine Dooley at cdooley@texascasa.org or (512) 640-8241 if you have any questions relating to Zoom.

Additional Resources

Zoom Meeting Best Practices and Resources

• Zoom Meetings Training Reference Guide
• Zoom Online Events Best Practices

Zoom Webinars

• Getting Started with Zoom Meetings (30 minutes) – Beginner Webinar about the basics of zoom
• Zoom Meetings (60 minutes) – Intermediate webinar that takes you beyond the basics
• Zoom Meetings for Education (45 minutes) – Power of virtual teaching and learning in the ‘classroom’

Zoom Video Tutorials

Zoom Video Support

Zoom COVID-19 Resources

Texas CASA recommends that the Zoom pro license provided be used only by CASA staff. Ultimately, it’s up to each program to determine how many people have access to the username and password. For most volunteers, a free basic account would fit the needs of contacting children and families by video. Below is a breakdown of the differences between the free basic and pro accounts:

• A Pro Zoom License Account allows meetings for up to 24 hours and 100 people. 
  • Texas CASA provided each program with a Pro Zoom License.
• A free Basic Zoom account does not have a time limit for video meetings with 2 people. It has a 40 minute time limit for group video meetings (2+ people).
  • To download a free Basic Zoom account click here. 
  • One strategy for extending group video meetings with this account is to ask everyone to rejoin the exact same meeting once the time limit expires. That way, one can restart another 40 minute timed meeting if there are more than two people. 

To watch the 90 minute introductory training for the CASA network on how to use Zoom, click here. 

In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private:

• require a meeting password, or 
• use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.  

We also recommend not sharing a link to a Zoom meeting on a public website or social media post if at all possible. For staff meetings, family meetings, volunteer appreciation events, trainings, etc., programs should email the Zoom link and meeting ID directly to attendees.

If a Zoom meeting is posted to social media or on a public city for any community recruitment efforts, programs can require meeting registration so that a person has to enter their name and email address before getting the link to join a Zoom meeting.

Programs can continue to swear in volunteers while practicing social distancing by using videoconferencing.

Using Zoom or any videoconferencing platform, programs can invite each of the new volunteers who have completed training and their judge to “see” each other and take the oath – just like they would in person. Programs across the state are already doing it!

Programs can accept the written oath signature electronically and/or can simply wait to obtain that at a later time.

According to guidelines of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers have a general duty to provide a safe workplace. The CDC advises that if an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure. It is important to maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, including not sharing the name of the affected person. There is not a law that compels a person to notify all persons who they came into contact with if they have symptoms of COVID-19. However, if an employer knows that an employee or volunteer is having symptoms or tests positive, and was in their workplace, the requirement to maintain a safe workplace includes notifying employees and others of risk of exposure, quarantining exposed persons and sanitizing the workplace, for example. See the CDC’s Guidance for Businesses and Employers.

For more information, please see page 9 of OSHA’s Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 and Texas CASA’s sample notice if an employee or volunteer in your workplace has tested positive.