She was honored for her work to coordinate the state’s child advocacy system
By Jan Pudlow
Senior Editor
Roll out the red carpet for Angela Orkin.

At a ceremony in Hollywood, CA, on August 25, the executive director of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program won the National Association of Counsel for Children’s 2005 Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award.

In child advocacy circles, it’s like winning an Oscar.

“This is very big,” said Gerard Glynn, associate professor of law at Barry University. “They are the leading child advocates in the nation. It is not a lifetime achievement award, but recognition of something spectacular that has been done in the past couple of years.”

It was Glynn who nominated Orkin for the award. His nomination letter spelled out how in just 18 months Orkin has transformed the new statewide office that provides guardians ad litem to about half of the 43,300 abused and neglected foster children in dependency court.

“Less than two years ago, Florida’s state-funded child advocacy system consisted of an uncoordinated system of 21 fiefdoms,” Glynn wrote to the NACC Awards Committee June 30.

“Each fiefdom had its own director who was chosen and supervised by the local chief judge of the trial court . . . This system of advocacy historically relied primarily on volunteer court appointed special advocates with few lawyers involved. Due to, amongst other things, a mandated transfer of funding of our trial courts from the counties to the state, Florida’s legislature chose to create a statewide guardian ad litem office.

“I had little hopes of finding anyone who could successfully run this office and bring the 21 fiefdoms into a coordinated system while managing the politics of our legislature and governor’s office.”

But Orkin — a former corporate lawyer dealing in mergers, acquisitions, and securities who gave up the big paycheck to dedicate her career to child advocacy — has “exceeded all expectations and has successfully converted this system into a quality voice for children,” Glynn praised.

In a news release on the award winner presented at the NACC’s 28th National Children’s Law Conference at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, NACC’s Amanda Donnelly said Orkin’s “accomplishments exemplify that statewide systemic change can be achieved to improve legal representation for children.”

In her 18 months at the helm of the new statewide office, Orkin:

• Increased funding for the office by 22 percent to its current level of $25.9 million, even after her office was threatened with a 28 percent reduction in funding within the first few months of Orkin’s appointment.

• Dramatically improved the training and quality control throughout the state. New training methods have expanded to monthly CLEs by conference call, a practice manual, and trainings on DVD and CD. Her office provides a monthly legal briefs newsletter and the Web page — www.gal.fl.gov — has up-to-date cases, articles, and practice tips by topic.

• Significantly increased the number of lawyers within her office, leading to a reduction in caseloads. By December 2004, Orkin had 75 full-time lawyers on her staff, making it finally possible to have an attorney representing the program in every court hearing.

• Successfully recruited and trained hundreds of lawyers to represent children pro bono.

• Obtained more than $325,000 in grants during the first 18 months of the creation of the office.

“Angela Orkin has been given the daunting task of bringing Florida into compliance with the federal mandate of 100-percent representation for children in foster care within two years,” Glynn wrote in his nomination letter.

“Florida has a long way to go to reach this goal. However, if anyone can succeed in reaching this goal, it is Angela Orkin, who is committed to reaching this goal without sacrificing quality advocacy.”