“It Will Be OK”

Mary Poston Named 2025 Darlene Kamine Advocate of the Year

Mary Poston is a CASA Volunteer who’s served four ProKids children — three of whom are from the same family unit: a brother and sister, 7 and 9, and an uncle, 11, who’ve already experienced a lot of loss in life

Removed from their birth mom, the brother and sister had gone to live with their uncle and grandma. When she passed, all three kids moved in with her mom. But the chaos didn’t end because great grandma was also ill. 

While in her home, the kids were sent to school unkempt. Teachers clothed and fed them. 

They entered the system because of neglect. But none of them, not the littles or the uncle, could see anything wrong with the way they’d been living. In fact, Mary learned that the youngest, in second grade by then, still wet the bed — purposefully, he said — to remind himself of home.

While the kids longed to go back, sadly, great grandma’s illness only progressed.

In this time of slow-motion loss, it was the oldest, the uncle, that Mary was worried for. Already grieving his mom, he wasn’t prepared for another loss.

So, when great grandma finally passed, our team had a late-night call with his therapist. Mary advocated for the news to be delivered in a therapeutic setting. She insisted on being present.

As an ordained minister, it wasn’t the first death Mary had dealt with. After all, getting kids through the grieving process had been part of her job for decades. The listening, the family dynamics. She was attuned to all of it. 

She’s sat in on visits. She’s advocated for services — even helped to get the sister into a therapeutic school program. All along, her focus has been on their healing.

The oldest likes to walk when Mary visits. If he’s had a tough week, he knows she’s there to listen. But she’s not one to push. She’s there to walk, to remind him that “it will be ok.”

The same goes for all of Mary’s kids. She says of the work: “It challenges me, but yet it uses all my gifts and skills as well.”