Statewide GAL stands ready to assist
Statewide GAL stands ready to assist
Statewide Guardian ad Litem Executive Director Alan Abramowitz thanks every lawyer who signed up for the new registry to advocate for children with special needs, and wants them to know, “You will not be alone in your endeavor.”
The GAL Program’s offices in 20 circuits and the statewide office in Tallahassee stand by ready to help.
“We are here to work with you since, in my experience, the people who are there only for the child are in the best position to make the right recommendations and decisions on the right advocacy for children,” Abramowitz sent an email to every lawyer who signed up for the registry once the new legislation passed for attorneys for special-needs children.
“We have experts throughout the state that we can link you with, should you have an issue and need some assistance.”
Resources are available at www.GuaradianadLitem.org.
The GAL Program held its first Disabilities Training Conference in Orlando earlier this year, bringing together attorneys, judges, and child welfare professionals to share their expertise in 27 workshops with more than 400 attendees.
“It was a great success, and we plan to do it again next year. We hope that all the attorneys who are members of this registry will join us,” Abramowitz said.
“The GAL Program, our staff and volunteers, are here to work with you as a team, and to help you in your advocacy. I know it is a great challenge, but I also know that with great challenge comes great reward.”
I n summing up the potential impact lawyers can have for children with the new legislation, Abramowitz pointed to words from child advocate Robert Latham, a lawyer at the University of Miami Children & Youth Clinic:“The passage of the law is, by itself, spectacular. It had the public support of the Department of Children and Families, the Guardian ad Litem Program, and the existing pro bono children’s bar. It passed both chambers unanimously. And its implementation thus far has energized and mobilized the children’s bar to prepare to welcome and support new attorneys who [came] into the practice starting July 1,” Lantham said.
“What is even more important, however, is that the law does not limit an attorney’s representation solely to the Chapter 39 dependency proceedings. Instead, the attorney is to provide a ‘complete range of legal services’ for the duration of the case, which has been interpreted by everyone I’ve talked to to mean full holistic representation.. . .
“Child representation in Florida just got real.”
