CASA, Portage County’s courtroom child advocates, more than doubled its first-year goals

Portage County Courthouse. Photo by Jon Ridinger

CASA, Portage County’s courtroom child advocates, more than doubled its first-year goals

- Tom Hardesty

CASA of Portage County is barely a year old, but it already has far surpassed its initial goals and is making a difference in the lives of the abused and neglected children it serves, the organization said in its first annual report.

The organization has grown quickly since Portage County Juvenile Court Judge Patricia Smith decided to bring the Court Appointed Special Advocate program to the county in August 2021. Within a month she had hired Ann Walden to serve as executive director, and the organization’s first 10 volunteers were sworn in the following March.

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