The Juvenile Court of Cobb County - Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) performed their first virtual swearing-in ceremony for new volunteers on Tuesday May 19, 2020.  These nine dedicated volunteers completed their CASA pre-service training in March, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak their initial ceremony had to be rescheduled.  A combination of the continued need for dependent children to have their voices heard through CASA volunteers and the unwavering commitment of the trainees wanting to begin advocating on behalf of the children, compelled court staff to identify an innovative way to proceed with next steps.  The pandemic proved to be no match for the unyielding call to service possessed by the volunteers.  Accordingly, court CASA employees coordinated the drafting and signing of all the necessary documents to successfully facilitate the swearing in via the use of videoconferencing technology.

We would like to thank Presiding Judge Amber Patterson for conducting the ceremony and sharing her kind words with our new CASA’s. 

For more information about Cobb County CASA please call Juvenile Court CASA Coordinator, Mari Garcia at 770.528.2285 or visit us on the web at https://www.cobbcounty.org/courts/juvenile-court/casa/about

~1st Row Left to Right: Rachel Sanders- CASA Coordinator, Elissa Peters- CASA Coordinator, Lauri and Olivia Baddour, Patricia Pavlak, Denise Williams (not pictured)

~2nd Row Left to Right: Daniel Rogers, Maricruz Garcia-Program Coordinator, Karen Woolf, Tanesse Brown-CASA Coordinator, Alejandra Dent

~3rd Row Left to Right: Dawne Kirk-CASA Coordinator, Essence Smith, Lori Barmann, Iris Ross- CASA Coordinator, Carlene Redmond-Program Administrator

~4th Row Left to Right: James Morris, Presiding Juvenile Court Judge-Amber Patterson