CONTINUING EDUCATION
In order to keep current with topics/subjects that relate to the volunteer role, our volunteers are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education per year. There are various ways to accumulate continuing education hours. We provide recommendations and information about classes, webinars, podcasts, documentaries, books, conferences and lectures available online or in the El Paso area.
El Paso CASA Online Learning Center
El Paso CASA advocates have access to https://texascasa.org/ through the learning center and CASA College for Continuing Education courses and recorded webinars. To access available courses, advocates first need to create an account with CASA College (https://casacollege.myabsorb.com/#/login) During registration, when asked your “affiliation” be sure to select “CASA Advocate” to receive access to continuing education courses.
In the upper right hand, corner you will see 3 bars to help you navigate through the website. This is also, where you will access your “transcript”. This will serve as your supporting documentation to upload to Optima to receive credit. If a certificate was offered, that will serve in place of transcript. All documents can be sent to krios@casaofelpaso.org for credit and to be uploaded to Optima.
Some recommended courses and webinars to get started. Once you begin any of the courses below, you will see an extensive catalogue of opportunities.
- Effective CASA Advocacy in a Virtual Environment - CLICK HERE
- Health Advocacy Webinar - CLICK HERE
- Communicating with Children - CLICK HERE
- Communicating Effectively in the Child Welfare System - CLICK HERE
- The Seven Habits of the Highly Effective CASA - CLICK HERE
- Reasonable Efforts - CLICK HERE
- Attorneys & CASA Webinar - CLICK HERE
Approved Movie List
In order to keep current with subjects/topics that relate to the volunteer role, our volunteers are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education per year. We make it easy to keep up with your continuing education hours and learn something new! There are great movies to immerse yourself in. Don’t forget to send self-reflection form to krios@casaofelpaso.org to receive your credit.
Below is a list of approved movies for continuing education hours. A short self-reflection form must be submitted to receive credit for the movie. Each movie provides 2 hours of training. With a maximum of two movies per year, for a total of 4 hours of credit.
1. Maid (2021): After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to
provide for her child and build them a better future.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
2. Four Good Days (2021): Emerging from a detox clinic, a young addict tries to stay clean while living with her
mother for the next four days.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
3. The State of Texas vs. Melissa (2020): Her name is Melissa Lucio. For over ten years, she has been awaiting her
fate on death row and is now on her last appeal. Melissa was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in
Texas. To many, Melissa looks like she is responsible for her daughter’s death. Guilty of abusing Mariah, her twoyear-
old child, day after day, until she died from a blunt head trauma. But strangely, she was never known to be
violent towards her children. In addition, nobody had ever seen her being abusive to Mariah. All documented in
dozens of CPS records.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
4. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (2020): A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social
workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
5. Foster Boy (2019): Michael is a high-powered lawyer and Jamal is an angry young man who has been imprisoned
after years of abuse in the foster care system. Together they have to overcome their differences to find justice
and expose the foster care system.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
6. I Am Somebody’s Child (2019): This movie tells the journey of a young African American girl who navigates over
30 foster homes and psychiatric facilities before age 18, and the one woman, Jeanne, who believes in her. After
Jeanne’s unsuccessful attempt to adopt Regina due to a racially motivated ruling, their bond is forced apart. “I
Am Somebody’s Child” is Regina’s story of how one woman’s belief and love becomes her lifeline as she defeats
the odds of a corrupt system and succeeds. After 25 years, Jeanne is finally able to adopt Regina in the same
courthouse that denied them previously.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
7. Ben is Back (2018): Holly is swept into a race against time after her 19-year old son returns home for Christmas
– and suddenly disappears
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
8. Instant Family (2018): When a couple decides to start a family, they are inspired to pursue adoption through the
foster care system. They feel like wonderful, altruistic people until they suddenly have three wild kids in their
home. Now they must learn to love and parent children who have no interest in being parented in this
heartwarming comedy.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
9. Short Term 12 (2013): Calm and competent, Grace is a young counsellor at a California care unit for at-risk
teens. However, her cool facade begins to crack in the pressure cooker atmosphere as she and some of the
unruly residents are reminded of past and present abuses.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
10. From Place to Place (2011): From Place to Place is a feature documentary that spends two years in the lives of
six young adults who recently aged out of foster care. At age 18 they were forced to leave foster care without
the skills or support they needed.
Submit Self-Reflection form= 2 hours of training
Movie Self Reflection Form
In-Service Form 
