Meet Carlee Strish, the May Advocate Spotlight for 2022. Carlee began her journey as an advocate for CASA of Luzerne County in December 2019. Carlee was immediately assigned a case and continues to advocate for that child to this day.
Carlee is employed at the St. Jude School in the Diocese of Scranton. Through her work as an educator she has a great understanding that children generally don’t have a voice. She began following the story of CASA of Luzerne County in 2013 when she read about the program starting in Luzerne County. A little voice in her head was telling her to get involved. Her husband convinced her to follow that voice and he advocated for her to be the voice of a child by his willingness to step in whenever needed in their own family if the case required her attention. She met Annie and John at an information session and she knew for sure that she wanted to advocate- one more tiny nudge from her husband and she signed up for training.
Carlee’s most memorable experience of her advocacy so far is watching the foster parents of the child she advocates for being so selfless throughout the process. They have shed tears for the biological parents and in fear that they would lose the child in their home to reunification. Witnessing these foster parents have such compassion and empathy for the family who could not take care of their children has been touching. These foster parents encompass the altruistic ideal of fostering children.
Carlee would like to advise anyone considering becoming an advocate to “Just do it already” as her husband advised her. Anyone in the CASA office is always willing to help. Don’t let the fear of thinking you won’t do it well enough hold you back. When you have no voice of your own, any voice is better. Just being willing to speak up on someone’s behalf is a gift not everyone has.
She wishes that more people understood that a CASA volunteer is paired with a child intentionally. The advocate and the child are evaluated to ensure they are a good fit and the child is chosen for you for a reason.
The most important thing about being an advocate to Carlee is her confidence and willingness to disagree with people who have more education and experience in the court system than she does. It is sometimes unnerving to disagree with a parent’s attorney, but Carlee truly believes in advocating for the best interest of the child, so she will disagree when necessary and that is important. Her role is to use the information she gathered to recommend what she believes is in the best interest of the child, not the adults involved, including the biological parents and the foster parents.
Carlee would like to add that anyone can and should advocate as a CASA volunteer. However, there are also other ways to help. People can support CASA through attending fundraisers such as NEPA Sings and CASAblanca. People can also remember CASA in their charitable donations or by patronizing businesses that support CASA.
We are grateful to Carlee for her commitment to her advocacy. If you’d like to make a difference in the life of a child in the way Carlee has, we invite you to join us for an info session to learn more about advocacy and what it means to be a CASA.
Carlee was born and raised in Pittsburgh but is a proud member of the Mountain Top community for 25 years. he is married to her supportive husband George and they have four children, Maria, George IV, Anthony and Donato. They also have a rescued mix breed dog named Kova.
