“It is rewarding to be able to say I changed a child’s life for the better. It is the best feeling in the world.” This is how Passaic County CASA’s October 2019 Volunteer of the Month Lisa Ingersoll summarizes her experience serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for two boys in foster care.
Prior to meeting Lisa, the two boys were removed from home because of their parents’ struggles with drug addiction. From there they were placed in the homes of an aunt and a cousin, followed by two successive foster homes, and ultimately with their older half-sister. By the time Lisa met the brothers, the older boy had been enrolled in five different schools over the course of one year, which seriously affected his academic progress. Throughout second grade he struggled to keep up and his teachers began to talk about holding him back.
Thankfully, Lisa was able to jump into action. She campaigned for him to get an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and additional classroom support. She also pushed for him to receive tutoring over the summer in his weakest subject: math. As a result, he was able to continue on to third grade alongside his peers.
Throughout this time, the boys transitioned through six different Division of Child Protection and Permanency caseworkers. Lisa was able to be a consistent advocate for the boys, together with their older half-sister, who has filed paperwork to officially adopt them. Lisa is looking forward to attending their adoption ceremony later this year. She also looks forward to taking on a new case and being able to make a difference in another child’s life.
Lisa’s path to becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate was far from direct. This busy mother of three from Upper Montclair juggled family life and a 20-year career in marketing at a New York ad agency. When the demands of both home and work grew too much, she left her job in the city. Unsure about what to do next, she saw an ad for the then brand-new Montclair Film Festival and volunteered her marketing expertise. Over time, as the Festival grew, she assumed a staff role as Co-Director of Marketing. This left a void in terms of volunteering, which Lisa believes is important to do as much as possible. A friend told her about CASA, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Being a CASA isn’t always easy, Lisa admits, and it requires tenacity to do the job effectively. But having worked for twenty years in the challenging New York marketing field, tenacity is a skill she developed long ago. Lisa loves being able to see firsthand the impact she’s made. Plus, Lisa said, “When I go to visit the boys and they run to greet me, it is so wonderful. There’s nothing like it.”