Children’s advocate to receive CASA honors

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. – Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Middlesex County will honor dedicated and longtime children’s advocate, Amy Mansue, at an annual fundraiser brunch — Toast 2017 — at Steakhouse 85 in New Brunswick, May 7.

Mansue has witnessed first-hand how critical it is for vulnerable children living in the state’s foster care system to have an adult looking out for their best interests. She was president and chief executive officer of Children’s Specialized Hospital, which treats children facing special health challenges.

“I saw up close the health issues that can arise when children suffer the trauma of abuse or are born with disabilities due to parental substance abuse,” Mansue said. “They need the caring and watchful eye of an adult who has only their best interests at heart.”

To ensure that these children get the support and assistance they need in foster care, trained volunteer CASAs are assigned to individual children or sibling groups.

“For CASA, it’s all about the kids,” Mansue said. “Their sole focus is the protection and well-being of these children. It cannot be overstated how important that is. Every other entity in the child protection system has other interests.”

This is why Mansue is delighted to be an honoree for CASA of Middlesex County.

“It is only through that CASA volunteer that the child is watched over,” Mansue added. “That volunteer acts as a conduit to the other systems these children are involved with.”

The CASAs assist children in foster care to find safe, permanent homes as soon as possible, according to Stephanie Brown, director of CASA of Middlesex County.

However, in 2016 only 21 per cent of more than 600 Middlesex County children in foster care had a CASA in their corner, Brown noted. She explained that children without a CASA are more likely to stay in foster care longer, struggle at school and return to foster care because of repeated abuse.

Mansue has been concerned about the welfare of children since the 1990s when she served as deputy commissioner at the New Jersey Department of Human services, overseeing programs for children and people with developmental disabilities, among other services.
A Middlesex native who grew up in Plainsboro, with parents who were local school teachers, she is keenly aware of the need for all children to have an advocate in their corner.

“Children in foster care are among the most vulnerable children in the state,” she said. “When I was working at the Department of Human Services, many of these children simply did not have one person dedicated to looking out for them. I came to understand the critical role that CASAs play,” she reflected.

These days, Mansue’s work position entails more. She oversees seven hospitals, including six acute care hospitals in the Raritan River South, as well as the 12 locations of Children’s Specialized Hospitals across New Jersey.

“This is a very different job for me and I’m grateful to be able to work with so many talented and dedicated healthcare professionals across the state,” Mansue said. She admits that she does, “miss the interaction with the kids.”

Brown said that Mansue’s decades-long dedication to improving the health and well-being of New Jersey children led CASA to recognize her many accomplishments.

“We truly feel privileged to be able to honor Amy at Toast 2017,” Brown stated. “When you have people like Amy being a voice for the children at the state level, it is immensely helpful to us achieving our goals of safeguarding children at the local level.”

Mansue said it is just one way of giving back.

“Many of us have been blessed with healthy children and wonderful circumstances that allows us to be good parents, good aunts, good uncles,” she said. “When a child doesn’t have that, they need the resources to overcome those adverse circumstances. CASA provides a vehicle to make sure that happens.”

In addition to event tickets, CASA of Middlesex County is offering sponsorships and ad journal opportunities, as well as accepting donations from individuals and businesses for a silent auction.

“Proceeds from Toast 2017 will be used to recruit, train and support more CASA volunteers to serve the hundreds of Middlesex County foster children who, sadly do not have someone solely dedicated to looking out for their best interests,” Brown said.