Meet Carol Fahnestock, the April Advocate Spotlight for 2023. Carol became interested in CASA after working for a family law attorney. She saw what she felt was the best and worst of the foster care system and felt like she could do more to help.
Carol began advocating at CASA in 2013 but decided to take a break from the program. She returned to CASA in the Fall of 2021 and states she has not regretted it for one second. Carol has shared the personal story of losing her oldest daughter in 2018. She felt like she needed to do something to help another child so another parent would not get “that call”. In the past five years nothing felt right until she became involved in CASA again. Carol stated, “ I feel like my daughter would be proud of the work I have done.”
Carol’s most memorable moment was an email she received from a foster parent in which she said she felt like the child Carol had been appointed to had no voice until she started working on her case. She felt like the child was just another file. The foster parent stated that after speaking with Carol she felt such relief that someone, a human being, was going to protect her.
Being able to keep in touch with the case worker, Guardian ad Litem and foster parents to keep them all on the same page has been one of the most positive changes she has made for her CASA child. Carol noted that, “ Often in these cases the lack of communication leads to court dates and appointments being missed. I try to make sure I have the most recent information so I can inform the court of what is in the best interest of the child.”
Carol acknowledges that while often these cases are difficult, the reward of seeing a positive effect on a child’s life is indeed enough to make the heartache bearable. Her favorite saying is from Dr. Seuss, “To the world, you may only be one person, but you may be the world to one person.” She believes this is the core of CASA, be that one person for a child who needs a voice.
Carol would highly recommend getting involved in CASA, with so many children in the foster care system case workers and guardians often don’t have the time needed to do everything for these children. She urges you to get involved and you can change a child’s world forever.
We are grateful to Carol for her commitment to her advocacy and commitment to her community. If you’d like to make a difference in the life of a child in the way Carol has, we invite you to join us for an info session to learn more about advocacy and what it means to be a CASA.
Carol lives in Kingston and is employed as an executive assistant to the SVP for Customer Care at Astound Broadband. In 2011, Carol was appointed to the Wyoming Valley West Youth Aid Panel and she continues to serve on this panel and is proud of its success.
