Remembering Steven Wolkin
Steve’s passion helped establish CASA in Cuyahoga County, ensuring children in need had a voice in the court system.
Steve E. Wolkin was a Cleveland-area private custody and family law attorney who practiced in part at the Juvenile Court when he was tapped to serve on the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer steering committee in late 2015.
There were attempts to bring CASA to Cuyahoga County in the 1990s and again in the 2000s, but sadly, those attempts failed. A new 40+-member steering committee, including Steve, worked diligently in late 2015 to try again, successfully launching CASA in the fall of 2016.
Steve then took an active role, along with many others from the court, local child welfare agencies, and foundations, in forming a new 501-c-3 nonprofit, Child and Family Advocates of Cuyahoga County (CFACC), to administer the local CASA program. Steve served as the organization’s first Board Chairperson, housing the administrative and governance functions of the agency at his downtown Cleveland law office for a time.
Steve presided over the growth of CASA and continued as CFACC Board Chairman until 2021 when he retired from practicing law full-time and was then made an Emeritus board member. Steve continued to advise CASA periodically, especially in regard to difficult child welfare cases or understanding complicated juvenile law concepts such as best interest and how CASAs could augment the critical work of Guardians ad Litem in abuse, neglect, and dependency cases.
Steve was a reliable and sage advisor to the CASA program and a generous donor to its mission. He will be deeply missed.