Recently, two of our super CASA advocates celebrated 15 years of CASA service! Please meet Stephanie Sachs & Carol MacDonald!

Carol MacDonald, mother of three and grandmother of seven, never set out to spend more than 15 years becoming the one person many foster children can rely upon.

While raising her three daughters, Carol was an active volunteer in a number of civic organizations and a leader in Kirkwood schools’ Service Learning Program, a program that allows students to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to community service projects.

When her daughters entered their teens, Carol went back to college, earning a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy. “One semester, all the women in the family got straight A’s, and my husband took us out for a special dinner,” Carol says.

For 10 years, she served both as a Maryville University adjunct professor in the field of Occupational Therapy and as a Certified Hand Therapist, working with patients at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Advanced Medicine—known for its specialty care.

“Because I was older—even though I was invited to a tattoo party by young classmates, most of my close friends were members of the Maryville faculty. It was a teacher friend I met there who suggested I consider becoming an advocate when I graduated,” Carol recalls.

Ever since, she has been recruiting friends and family members to be CASA of St. Louis volunteers. “I tell them it is the most powerful volunteer experience they can have. Being a voice for children who often have no one else to fight for them gives you an opportunity to change the direction of young lives.”

From the beginning of her time as an advocate, Carol took on complex cases---each one involving multiple children from a single family. She has worked with children from seven families and for the past several years has focused on helping a family of six children who range in age from 5 to 20. Two of the 4 are now in permanent homes, thanks in part to Carol's advocacy. Four children remain in care. Carol is the one they call, sometimes daily, for help.

Because of COVID-19, she must stay physically distant, so Carol brings two chairs and sits in driveways to visit the children. She remembers them on holidays and reaches out to them on their birthdays when no one else does. When the two teens wanted to go to a baby shower for their 20-year-old sister, it was Carol who figured out how to get them to the party.

“I worry about them because one of the girls was put out on the street when she became disruptive at a foster home. She was kicked out with nothing but her clothes and stuck in a hospital emergency room for days before Children’s Division found a placement for her. She’s placed far away from her siblings. I’m hoping she will be moved closer to her family members.”

When Carol encounters barriers, she consults CASA Senior Case Advocacy Supervisor, Danielle Sitze. “Danielle is simply awesome,” says Carol. ““She advises me on what I can and cannot bring before the judge in court. She knows how to best advocate to help the children when they need help the most.

Danielle says it is Carol who is “awesome” in pursuing every possible avenue to find resources for the children. Danielle supports CASA volunteers as they navigate through a system that involves gathering information, working with a family support team, and making informed recommendations about what is in the child’s best interest.

Danielle praises Carol for showing enormous commitment to finding children in care permanent homes. “Carol has been the person these children can turn to when no one else is there for them. She relentlessly works to get them help they need from dental care to eye glasses to mental health counseling. Carol also provides informative reports to the court and maintains consistent contact with all team members.”

Carol says she worries about the impact moving from place to place has on these children, but then she recalls an important statistic from when she became a CASA 15 years ago, “At the time I became a CASA, this fact hooked me on becoming an advocate: the average time for most foster children is 36 months, but for children who are served by CASA of St. Louis that time is cut in half. That is huge and shows that advocates make a difference in finding forever families for these children.”

A teen learned to relax and laugh over a silly game named “Sorry” she brought him, while two teenage girls gave her dance lessons, and another explained how to create box braids.

These children were often wary around adults, but they trusted Stephanie Sachs. Over 15 years of advocating for 30 abused and neglected children, she has remained resolutely on their side.

She held their hands during bruising court cases, visited them often, brought them gifts and listened to their pain. Most of all she has been a caring and consistent presence and their knowledgeable, vocal advocate.

Stephanie became a CASA of St. Louis advocate after searching the website for volunteer opportunities. A member of the CASA board of directors since July 2020, Stephanie came to the support and advocacy program for children after a long career in education.

Stephanie has lived in California, Texas and Missouri and was an elementary school teacher in all three states before earning a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Missouri St. Louis. At UMSL, she served on the clinical faculty from 2000 to 2003. She was also Executive Director of Recruitment and Employee Relations for the Saint Louis Public Schools.

CASA Senior Case Advocacy Supervisor Danielle Sitze says Stephanie is an outstanding advocate who establishes great rapport with the children. Danielle supports CASA volunteers like Stephanie as they navigate through a system that involves gathering information, working with a family support team, and making informed recommendations about what is in the child’s best interest.

Danielle praises Stephanie for fervently pursuing next steps to find children in care permanent homes as she listens to their concerns. “Stephanie works hard to find resources to help these children become more resilient. She is the consistent presence in their lives and is not afraid to speak up for them and to get answers. She provides informative reports to the court and maintains consistent contact with all team members. Danielle adds that Stephanie has managed some tough situations.

“One of my first cases involved six children who the court released to their mother and then nine years later reentered care,” Stephanie recalls. She was assigned to advocate for a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old who had experienced abuse. “It was a struggle to win the trust of these girls after all they had been through.”

Another case was even more tragic. Stephanie advocated for two children for 13 years after their father was killed in an accident and their mother was unwilling to care for them. One of the two children ran away from a residential treatment home when she was 20 years old and was killed by a hit-and-run driver along a dark, icy highway. It was Stephanie who helped collect the teen’s belongings.

“This was my longest running case involving countless caseworkers and placements, two judges and at least three attorneys. In the end I was the keeper of their history. I knew them best.”

The 20-year-old’s brother, now 22, is in sheltered housing and in frequent contact with Stephanie. “We have lunch fairly often, and he calls and sends me cards,” she says. “I was the only responsible, caring adult in his life in the end.”

A resident of the Central West End in the city of St. Louis, Stephanie is also active in the Bible Study Fellowship as a discussion leader and children’s teacher. She has served on the board of The Covering House, which helps sexually exploited and trafficked children and has tutored domestic violence survivors through Lydia’s House and adult refugees through International Institute.

Celebrating 15 Years of Service!