Jan. 27: Juvenile Court Advisory Subcommittee, Cuyahoga County Council
Covered by Documenter Tucker Handley (notes)
Appointing ‘special advocates’ for kids in the court system
For children entangled in the legal or foster care system, Child & Family Advocates of Cuyahoga County tries to match them to community volunteers to help advocate for the child’s best interest in cases of abuse and neglect. During the Cuyahoga County Council’s Juvenile Court Advisory Subcommittee meeting on Jan. 27, representatives of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) — a national organization focused on those volunteers — said more funding would help meet the need for advocates.
“We are a small but mighty team here in Cuyahoga,” Nikita Stange, community outreach coordinator for CASA’s county chapter, told the subcommittee. The local arm of the organization has about five full-time staff, a few part-time staff and an intern, she said.
Although the county requires some type of advocate be appointed, not all advocates have the same capacity, according to Stange. For example, CASAs handle only one to two cases at a time, whereas other advocates — known as guardian ad litems (GALs) — typically have much higher caseloads.
Currently, there are 83 trained CASA volunteers available in the county, but more than 1,500 kids could benefit from one, according to the presentation. CASAs can review court records, attend hearings, recommend resources and monitor the progress of a court case over time. The agency has served 875 youth in Cuyahoga County since 2016 and hopes to reach 1,000 served by the end of the year.
Want to sign-up as a CASA volunteer?
Visit CASA’s website to learn how to apply. You can also call at (216) 325-7747 or send an email to [email protected].
One of the main challenges to recruiting volunteers is finding funding for more volunteer coordinators, Stange said. These staff positions provide support and necessary supervision to CASA volunteers. Volunteers must be at least 21 years old, participate in 30 hours of training and commit to two years of service. Generally, volunteers spend 10 to 20 hours per month on their assignments.
Subcommittee Chair Ron Adrine, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court administrative judge, asked the CASA representatives to put together a funding request in writing. Council formed the subcommittee in 2024. It makes recommendations to the full council about the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, including funding for related programs.
Keeping kids out of adult court
Over the last 25 years, there has been a dramatic decrease nationally in youth arrests and incarceration, according to Brooke Burns, an attorney for the Ohio Public Defender’s Juvenile Unit. For example, youth arrests fell by 80% and there has been a national decline in youth bindovers, or youth transfers to the adult system, she said.
Despite nationwide trends, Ohio and Cuyahoga County remain an “outlier” because the state continues to transfer youth at a higher rate than other states, Burns told the subcommittee. For example, Cuyahoga County has by far the highest number of youth transfers of any county in the state.
As part of the recommendations to the subcommittee, Burns said that a more in-depth, granular analysis of court cases would be necessary to fully flesh out differences between Cuyahoga and peer counties. For example, in 2023, Cuyahoga had nearly twice as many youth bindovers as the next highest county.
Left wondering
Documenter Tucker Handley, who covered this meeting and the subcommittee’s August meeting, left with some observations and a question:
“I looked at my notes from the August meeting, and in both meetings there were discussions about the brains of youth not reaching maturity until their 20s, the shortage of behavioral health workers in the county, and direct funding into early-intervention programs to prevent incarceration. Both meetings even had the same statistic about 92% of detained youth having had at least one traumatic experience! Is going over the same material the best use of the subcommittee’s time, especially since they are behind schedule (the subcommittee was supposed to finish its work by the end of 2024)?”
Read the notes from Documenter Tucker Handley
Watch the full meeting on Cuyahoga County’s YouTube.
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