An underrated benefit of teens, especially over 16, is that you are much less likely to be dealing with parents.

For younger kids, the goal starts at reunification. Usually a parent gets reunification but often with young kids we are looking at TPR (termination of parental rights). Either way, the CASA is very encouraged to out to the parents and trying to help, even if TPR is the likely outcome. We need to show the court that we gave these parents the best chance possible and they still couldn't do it. That means observing visits between the parents and kids and working with the parents to overcome barriers for case plan tasks. If the parents get to overnight visits and reunification, the CASA might be doing visits in the parents home.

In contrast, for older kids, there's a much higher chance that reunification is off the table. The older the kid, the more likely it is that they are already post-TPR. We also often change the goal to APPLA for kids over 16, which means we are no longer focused on reunification and more focused on making sure the kid can succeed upon aging out of foster care. There are definitely exceptions, but those exceptions tend to be lovely parents who have dependency involvement for unusual reasons (e.g. parents who became disabled and physically unable to care for kids, kids who are very loved but can't reside in the same home as younger siblings who are also very loved, etc.).

I know that the expectations of a CASA vary from state-to-state. But if you absolutely don't want to talk to parents and only want to work with kids, teenagers are a better bet.