Shay Connolly, CASA Volunteer of the Month, September 2023!

Shay has been a CASA for a year, and is our CASA Volunteer of the Month for September 2023! Congratulations Shay! 

“When I first started as a CASA”, says Shay, “I met with my Advocacy Supervisor, and she made me feel very comfortable. We got on well. She was very clear, concise, and I could tell she got it. She didn’t over-explain. I appreciated that.”

“When I met the child, I could see how much damage had been done to him. His biological parents were not equipped to be parents, they had not nurtured him, he was neglected, and in many ways they had scapegoated him for problems in their lives and had grounded him in fantasy. He had never had a reliable adult in his life.”

So Shay began to work the role of a CASA, visiting the child every month, making sure to be a constant person in his life that would be reliable, that would be there, and would speak up for his best interest. "Shay was an incredibly supportive CASA,” says Gina Cetta, Shay’s Advocacy Case Supervisor, “She attended every meeting and event for her CASA child, including his middle school graduation and his Benchmark Hearing. She really was his biggest advocate."

“I did everything that I said I would do,” says Shay, “If I said to him that I would be there at a particular time, I was there. If I told him I would do something, I made sure I did.” Shay would visit the child, and she would listen to him, listen to what he needed and what was missing in his life. “There were so many people telling him things, telling him what to do, and he wasn’t able to process it all. So I listened – and he opened up.”

Shay learned that the child could not read. “He said, ‘I’m in grade 8, how can I not read?’ – so we made sure he got a tutor, and a reading specialist.”

“For Christmas and birthdays, he just wanted Roblox cards.” says Shay. “I didn’t know what that was, but I know now! CASA got him what he wanted and he had such absolute joy opening his gifts!”

The child began to thrive in his resource home, and in little more than a year, the case closed – the child achieved permanency via Kinship Legal Guardianship. Shay says, “As a CASA, you can get attached, so for me the case was over too quick! But not for him, he wanted to have a permanent home, he’s in the best place now, and I know he’s going to be OK.” 

Thank you Shay for being a CASA!