Child Care
Volunteer Kathleen Cook works tirelessly on behalf of North Shore Youth.
By Mary Grauerholz
At age nine, the North Shore boy had already experienced two failed adoptions and several moves among foster parents around eastern Massachusetts. He had minimal contact with his mother and no knowledge of his father. Then his life changed, when the Lawrence Juvenile Court system assigned his case to Kathleen Cook, a lifelong resident of Andover. Cook, as a volunteer with the nonprofit Essex County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), has worked for 20 years in the interests of vulnerable children.
Cook’s client, now 20 years old, has graduated from high school, “something no one thought was even possible,” Cook says. After years in foster care, the young man is living a stable life with family members. “It was a big moment, very emotional,” Cook says of the moment the boy began to live his life with stability and love.
The work Cook did for the youth—a blend of compassionate care, genuine interest, and canny sleuthing on his behalf—is just one item from a long list of accomplishments. Now her work has won Cook CASA’s highest commendation: the G.F. Bettineski Child Advocate of the Year Award. Cook accepted the national award last spring before 1,200 colleagues and admirers at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
CASA advocates’ work duties are much the same as those of a guardian ad litem; both are assigned by judges to work on behalf of vulnerable children. “We are the one constant with the child,” Cook says. “They could have five social workers over time; they could move to a new community.” As a CASA worker, Cook often contacts many people on each child’s behalf—schools, doctors, dentists, social workers. “Anything we’re told, we back it up,” she says.
Cook followed the nine-year-old boy (whose case is now closed) through many crises, which ultimately brought his case to the state’s Department of Children & Families. Eventually, his mother surrendered him. Cook began digging into any source she could find for living relatives, and finally she found his entire paternal family—on the North Shore. “We’re almost like detectives. We find families, we use social media,” she says.
In other cases, Cook says, the issue can be simpler, such as getting a child needed dental work or an eye exam.
Cook’s star has continued to rise. She was elected last year to the Massachusetts CASA board of directors, after the national CASA organization gave money to Massachusetts to establish a statewide office. Having a statewide office is a great help in coordinating and networking for kids, Cook says. “It’s very exciting.” CASA estimates that the Essex County agency alone, with more than 50 volunteer advocates, has saved the state around $435,000. (Massachusetts CASA volunteers’ time combined is valued at $3,788,050.) The county agency includes juvenile court systems in Lynn, Lawrence, Newburyport, and Salem.
As part of her volunteer work, Cook often helps fundraise by making visits to foundations and corporate giving programs with Elizabeth Sweeney, family services chief executive officer for Essex County, or Cook’s supervisor, Sylvia J. Struss, CASA director of family services of Merrimack Valley. Cook and Struss recently presented CASA’s case to the Clipper Foundation in Boston, which donated $50,000.
And Cook’s hard work has been recognized before. Four years ago, she was named the Myra Kraft Community Volunteer MVP, an award given by the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.
Cook’s family is squarely behind her as well, rooting her on in her work. Her husband, Michael Cook, and their children are “extremely supportive,” Cook says. Since meeting at Merrimack College decades ago, the Cooks have raised their children and now operate a small finance firm in Andover. But CASA remains a high priority.
“When I started as a CASA advocate, I couldn’t know the joy or sense of purpose it would bring me,” Cook says. “There has been nothing better than being a part of helping improve a child’s life, one child at a time.”
CASA staff realize what it means to have Cook on board. As Sweeney says, “It is not an exaggeration to say the Essex County CASA program would not be in existence were it not for Kathleen Cook.”
For more information, visit www.casaforchildren.org.