The November 29, 2021 meeting of the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary featured an informative and important presentation concerning a new program being organized in Portage County under the aegis of the Probate and Juvenile courts. Probate Court handles cases involving wills, guardianships and probation, among other things; Juvenile Court deals with legal cases involving individuals under the age of 18–dependency, abuse, neglect, failure of the system.
The two frequently dovetail, but not necessarily to the advantage of children.
Judge Patty Smith and Ann Walden came advocating for the CASA program starting up in Portage County. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate and consists of volunteers–extensively trained–who step up to advocate for children, to inform decisions being made by the court about children. The CASA program will be 100% funded by either the state or the federal government, to start, with the goal being to become a 501(c)3 non-profit which can raise its own funds. The hope is to have fewer child placements, less child welfare cases, more adoptions, better outcomes for children, a reduction in recidivism in the courts, less child welfare. The CASA volunteers act to provide better information, more engagement, independent, transparent information, reports and recommendations for the child’s benefit.
Volunteers in the program commit to 30 hours of up-front training in the national CASA curriculum, plus 12 additional hours annually. The goal is to sign up some 300 volunteers; that’s how many cases are currently found in Portage County needing to be addressed. Websites are available; facebook has a page for the P.C. CASA Good Deeds program. Local names prominent in supporting this much-needed program include Judge Grendell and Gail Pavlika; they realize the need for providing “eyes and ears” to the court in cases involving children. Like the Marines, CASA Portage County is seeking “a few good men” and women to assist in giving our children the support they need and deserve.
