Courthouse offers help for people seeking guardianship of children

The Lake County Bar Association and the 19th Judicial Circuit have opened a help desk for people looking to establish guardianships for children.

The desk, which is located outside Circuit Judge Diane Winter's courtroom 307 and will be open every Friday, will be staffed by volunteer bar association lawyers.

The goal is to provide assistance for people who are representing themselves in seeking a guardianship, which generally happens when parents can no longer care for their children.

Although it is a fairly routine process, people inexperienced in court procedures can be baffled by the paperwork and require assistance from the judge.

Now, the lawyers will go through a checklist with people before their appearance before the judge and will be able to answer any questions.

The desk is the result of discussions between Circuit Judge Valerie Boettle Ceckowski and attorneys Elizabeth Rochford and Tom Pasquesi from the bar association.

For more information, call the association at (847) 244-3143.

CASA keeps growingLake County's Court Appointed Special Advocates had a banner year last year, according to statistics recently released by the organization.The group provides volunteers to do reports on the needs of abused or neglected children and make recommendations for remedy to the judges handling cases in juvenile court.Volunteers represented 512 children in the court system last year, according to Executive Director Terry Zenner Greenberg."This means that each child had the benefit of having a caring, committed adult speaking up for their safety, health and best interests," Greenberg said. "The advocates bring stability to the children's unstable worlds."For information about becoming a CASA volunteer, pleads call (847) 855-6444Heard in the hallwayBest wishes and many thanks go out to John Waller, son of retired Circuit Judge Jane Waller and State's Attorney Michael Waller, who joined the U.S. Army last week. Waller left Feb. 17 for basic combat training at Fort Knox, Ky.