CASA Spotlight: Albert Manson

When he met a troubled 12-year-old who had no one in his life, Albert Manson recognized a shared sense of abandonment and pain.

A CASA volunteer since 2018, Albert Manson was raised in a single parent home while growing up in a tiny town in the Mississippi Delta until the age of 12.  Albert had 12 siblings and for a time, lived with other relatives until his family moved to St. Louis.

“I knew what it felt like to feel abandoned, to not have any hope,” Albert said, crediting Senior Case Advocacy Supervisor, CaSSandra Grinston with identifying him as a perfect person to connect with a child who had lost contact with both parents. 

CaSSandra holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Development and has been with CASA of St. Louis for more than three years.  She came to CASA with 17 years’ experience working for the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services.  CaSSandra started with the state in St. Louis City as a Case Manager and worked in many capacities, including responding to hotline calls.

In her current role, CaSSandra supports over 20 CASA volunteers, helping them navigate through a system that involves fully researching the child’s family background and discussing each case with the child’s team. The team often includes the Deputy Juvenile Officer, Children’s Division case manager, therapist and the child’s attorney, who serves as Guardian ad Litem.  CaSSandra is also the advocate for more than a dozen children in the court system and provides support and guidance to fellow Case Advocacy Supervisors. 

CaSSandra presented Albert with a few CASA cases. Albert quickly chose the youth who had gone through the sort of trauma he also experienced.  

The young man’s parents were not able to take care of him due to significant intellectual and development disabilities. The court appointed his grandmother as his guardian.  He remained in her care until he displayed behavior problems and was placed in a residential facility. The young man successfully completed the residential facility’s program and was ready to be reunited with his grandmother.  Sadly, she died on January 1, 2018, before reunification could take place.  Since neither his parents nor other relatives were able to care for this young man, he remained in the state’s custody.  “This crushed him. He was withdrawn and without hope when I first met him,” Albert recalls.  

So, Albert told this young man his own story of his teen years---he entered the Army at age 17 and spent three years in the service, including time in war-torn Vietnam.  At age 21, Albert returned to St. Louis and worked at a frozen food company before joining General Motors and then spending 12 years at the U.S. Postal Service.  He then spent 20 years at National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), retiring at the age of 52; working another 10 years at NGA as contractor before retiring in 2009 at age 62.

“I worked solidly for 45 years, while also serving as the pastor of Solomon Temple Missionary Baptist Church for 42 years,” Albert said.  At the church he created a mentoring program called “Boys to Men Ministry” where boys aged 4 and up were mentored by the men of the church.  When these boys became men, they became mentors to the next generation of young boys. For decades, Albert also coached Mathews-Dickey Girls’ & Boys’ Club baseball teams—while raising three sons—all college graduates.  With all this, why did he want to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate?

“In our church, we had a foster parent who cared for three young boys---as they grew up, one returned to his mother’s care, one was killed and one broke the law,” Albert said.  “I went to court with the foster parent to support the boy who got in trouble and met the boy’s CASA volunteer, who talked to me about the program.  He showed me how to get involved on another level with children who need help most and who were beyond the scope of my ministry. I wanted to show them somebody cares.”

For two years, CaSSandra and Albert have shown that they will be a consistent presence in the life of the young man who lost his grandmother. “We have worked to build good rapport with this young man; we endeavored to show him that he could trust us and to show him his worth,” Albert said. “We did not make any promises, but assured him that we had his best interest at heart and would do all we could to help him.  This young man needed to know someone was there for him.  He has really bloomed in the past two years. He is in a good place now, it’s a therapeutic home, and there are resources available to assist him in becoming a viable citizen,” Albert said.

Their job is not done. “Albert will be working with this young man until the court terminates jurisdiction,” said CaSSandra.  “He will see this case through, advocating for this young man so he gets the services he needs. He also receives services from Epworth’s Children & Family Services’ Chafee Foster Care Program, which will assist him with learning life skills, finding a job and even getting ready for the prom.” 

Albert added that CaSSandra “does a tremendous job guiding me through the entire process. It has been wonderful seeing the effect our work has had on this young man.  I will be there for him as long as he needs me.”