A Lifetime of Service to Children: Sibylle Wallace, June 2018 CASA Volunteer of the Month

By Laura Warne
Communications Coordinator

Sibylle Wallace is not someone who likes to do things halfway, especially when it comes to serving children. After retiring in 2013 from a 40-year career as a pediatric neurologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital, she was looking for a volunteer opportunity that would allow her to continue “giving back” in retirement. 

As a doctor, she’d been drawn to the profession as a way to serve others, and found a particular passion and aptitude for treating the “whole child,” looking beyond clinical symptoms and taking into account the many factors impacting a child’s health. A large number of children she treated at Mt. Sinai were in foster care or on Medicaid, so she became intimately familiar with the challenges her patients faced in their everyday lives. Whether they were brought to her seeking treatment for epilepsy, ADHD, developmental issues, meningitis, pre-natal drug exposure, cerebral palsy, or any other developmental issue, Dr. Wallace saw her job as a combination of social work and medicine. As she explained it, “you have to see each child as an individual.” 

Never one to shirk from responsibility, she also says that “when you see something that needs to be done, you just do it.” In her four years as a CASA volunteer, she has advocated on behalf of four different children. Upon the completion of her first case, one involving a 4-year old girl, she found out she had logged over 360 miles traveling back and forth to see her and others involved in the case. Now she is serving a 10-year old boy with learning and social challenges. She is focused on getting him help to learn to read and get access to different programs and services that can help him with socialization. 

A grandmother of eleven who enjoys gardening and playing the cello in her spare time, Dr. Wallace has clearly dedicated her life to service to others. Ever humble, Dr. Wallace deflects praise and insists that there is much work for her left to do. Thankfully for CASA and the foster children she serves, this doctor isn’t stopping her house calls anytime soon. 

In a Class of Her Own: Theresa Waters, May 2018 Volunteer of the Month

After a thirty year career as a teacher, many people might look forward to a retirement that didn’t include worrying about children. But not Theresa Waters. This Essex County resident channeled her experience as a teacher into dedicated service as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and over four years has served as an advocate for five children in foster care. 

Back when she worked as an elementary teacher, Theresa had a number of students she knew were living in foster care. She grew attached to these children and wondered what happened to them in the years that followed.  Being a CASA, Theresa says, has helped change her thinking. Not only does she get to work with children for longer stretches, but she has learned to measure success in new ways, focusing on the long term view rather than short term objectives.

Given her expertise in education, it is no wonder Theresa took particular interest in her CASA children’s academics, encouraging them to do their best and helping to arrange for extra support when needed. She has become particularly close with one child, a 12-year old girl struggling in a residential facility. This girl has no family to visit her, so Theresa knows her weekly visits are extra meaningful. She feels like she has become something akin to a surrogate grandmother to this girl, teaching her both to play chess and what it means to be there unconditionally for someone.

Theresa says her transition from being a teacher to a CASA was an easy one, because teachers are used to volunteering and helping others. “When you see a need, you just step up,” she explained.

Appreciating our compassionate and dedicated volunteers

More than 50 CASA staff members, volunteers, and board members enjoyed brunch (and the beautiful weather) at CASA's Volunteer Appreciation Brunch on April 28, 2018, at Laurelwood Arboretum in Wayne. This annual event is a celebration of Passaic County Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers, and the difference they make in the lives of children in the foster care system. 

“I love being a consistent voice for my children.”

Volunteer Profile
Candace Eardley

A few years ago, Candace Eardley was talking to a friend who had recently become a CASA volunteer in Essex County. Candace was instantly intrigued.
“I always thought it was something I wanted to do,” she said.
Candace, a Totowa resident and former Little Falls resident, began the Passaic County CASA volunteer training program in March 2015 and became a sworn Court Appointed Special Advocate two months later. She now advocates for seven children, whose ages range from one year to 14 years old.
Prior to becoming a CASA volunteer, Candace had a long career in the travel industry. During her career, Candace owned a travel agency and created spring break trips for high school students who were learning a foreign language, which led her to her husband, who was a Spanish and French teacher.
 As an avid reader and a huge fan of book clubs, Candace makes sure that her CASA children are doing well in school. One of Candace's cases involved a pre-teen boy who was struggling in school. Through CASA, Candace advocated for a tutoring program.
"I assisted in locating various programs and eventually one was chosen," she said. "The child's grades began to improve." 
Candace encouraged reading and for his birthday, through CASA, she was able to coordinate his birthday gift to include some books that she knew he would enjoy. She was delighted when she knew he had read them.
"He even began taking out books from the school library," she said. 
Candace finds the CASA volunteer responsibilities interesting (“I am fascinated with the working of the family court system,” Candace said) as well as rewarding.
“I love being a consistent voice for my children.”

To become an advocate for children and teens in foster care, RSVP for an upcoming informational session here.

“They just need to know someone is in their corner”

Volunteer Profile
Rich Rolek

 

Rich Rolek can’t believe that it has been almost six years since he was sworn in as a Court Appointed Special Advocate.
“Time flies,” Rolek said.
Around Christmas time in 2011, Rolek caught a news segment about a father who threw his two-year-old daughter into a river. The toddler was still strapped into her car seat.
From that moment, Rolek knew he wanted to help.
Since then, Rolek has been a steady CASA volunteer. During the past six years, Rolek has worked primarily with teenagers; he has advocated for seven boys in foster care, ranging from middle-school age to high school seniors. Between college applications, football practices, and getting a driver’s license, Rolek has been present for all the typical teenage milestones, which he feels is incredibly important.
“Most of them haven’t had a male role model most of their life,” Rolek said.
Rolek’s presence in their lives is particularly crucial because of their ages. Many teenagers in foster care are never adopted and end up aging out of the foster care system. To help them prepare for their approaching adulthood, Rolek coordinates with their guidance counselors to make sure they’re doing well in school (and helps find them tutoring if they aren’t), teaches them the importance of a budget, and prepares them for college and eventually a career.
He also instills hope.
“More than anything else, I tell them that they have their whole future ahead of them,” Rolek said.
Through monthly visits to encouraging text messages, Rolek makes sure that his teens know that he is there for them.
“They just need to know someone is in their corner.”

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To become an advocate for children and teens in foster care, RSVP for an upcoming informational session here.