Special Advocates for Vulnerable Oregonians

There are currently more than 1,500 adults under court appointed guardianships in Multnomah County alone — and with baby boomers aging, this number is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. In 2012, at the request of Judge Katherine Tennyson, Chief Probate Judge for Multnomah Circuit Court, numerous members of the local legal community created Special Advocates for Vulnerable Oregonians (SAVO), a new non-profit focused on protecting this vulnerable population.

Special Advocates for Vulnerable Oregonians’ mission is to assist the court in protecting vulnerable Oregonians by using trained and supervised volunteers to monitor guardianship proceedings. The goals are to reduce the potential for abuse, neglect, and exploitation of protected adults and preserve limited state court funding.