By Jan Pudlow
Senior Editor

The day after the governor named him the new executive director of the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office, Alan Abramowitz headed to the Leon County Courthouse to sign up for training and his own GAL case in the Second Circuit.

“I have to walk in the shoes of the staff, so I can see it from their perspective,” said 48-year-old Abramowitz, who leaves his position as director of the statewide Family Safety Program Office within the Florida Department of Children and Families, and serves as vice chair of The Florida Bar Legal Needs of Children Committee.

“Like a method actor, I become the character. I need to walk in their shoes. I am a really good listener,” said the friendly man who used to work at a suicide hotline.

So Job One, Abramowitz said, is going out into the field and listening to GAL staff and volunteers; to the abused, neglected, and traumatized children they serve; and to the judges who must make tough decisions about children’s lives in dependency court.

And he’ll be looking nationwide for best practices.

The last time Abramowitz went through GAL training was as a volunteer in 1987, when he was a law student at Florida State University.

“To this day, I still remember the two children — Gerald and Candice — that I represented as a volunteer. It was very rewarding. I like being an advocate for children,” Abramowitz said. “Every day, all over the state, people are volunteers making a difference in people’s lives, and I’m glad I’m here to support them.”

On December 29, Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Abramowitz to head the statewide GAL office for a term that ends December 8, 2013, to succeed Theresa Flury, who now serves as president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Big Bend.

“With 15 years of experience in social service and juvenile justice, Alan has continually worked to improve the lives of children who depend on the child welfare system,” Gov. Crist said. “He is an effective and caring advocate for the young people of Florida, and I am confident the Guardian Ad Litem Program will excel under his leadership.”

So is Mary Cagle, statewide director of Children’s Legal Services at DCF and chair of the Bar’s Legal Needs of Children Committee.

“I think it’s incredible that Alan got this job. He so understands the vision of the Department of Children and Families,” Cagle said. “I think he’s going to be a phenomenal director of that program. He’s as true a child advocate as you will ever find.”

Cagle elaborated that Abramowitz “embraces a family-centered practice,” referring to the DCF philosophy that the first choice for every child is to bolster their family with therapy and services and try to reunite that family; and if you can’t keep the child safely within that family, then do something else to get the child a permanent home.

“Alan really gets that. He will bring a consistent philosophy. Alan has been part and parcel of the most important innovative child-focused things the department has done over the years. The department people get trained all the time. He will bring all of that to the GAL Program, so they understand how trauma affects kids and the family-centered practice,” Cagle said.

“He is also a collaborative worker, and I think that will be great for the Guardian Ad Litem Program and DCF.”

Though the GAL staff and 7,000 volunteers who serve about 23,000 children know they are making a difference, Abramowitz said, “We need to measure the great outcomes for children. We need to show how families and children are better served by our work. I think for accountability purposes, we need to show it better.

“I want to not only talk about numbers, but show permanency. . . .We know the state cannot raise a child.” If children cannot be reunited with their families, he said, they need to be adopted.

Because of community care and diversion programs, Abramowitz said, “We have reduced by 37 percent the children in foster care in the last four years. Re-abuse is way down in the state, and we lead the nation in adoptions, not only with the number but by how quickly it happens. The GAL is involved in every one of those cases.”

Another top priority, Abramowitz said, will be using GALs to serve as education surrogates for children removed from their homes.

Appointed by the outgoing governor, Abramowitz talks about working with the new governor, Rick Scott.

“Our new governor’s goal to create jobs is important to our mission. When unemployment is reduced, fewer children are mistreated,” Abramowitz said, describing how the stress involved with losing a job can trigger substance misuse and can lead to domestic violence.

“I’ll be a big cheerleader for the governor’s goal in creating jobs. I pledge to dedicate my enthusiasm and energies to be the best advocate for children.”

At his side will be Charlie Nelson, who served as acting GAL director during the search for a permanent director.

“I will be relying on him, big time,” Abramowitz said. “I trust him and believe he’s very talented. With only 17 people in headquarters, we will have to empower the circuit administrators — because that is where the action happens to support our kids — with training and advocacy.”

Last year, one issue that rocked the children’s advocate community was searching for common ground on how best to provide lawyers for children in dependency court, while not harming the statewide GAL Program. After hundreds of hours of work by the Legal Needs of Children Committee, the Bar Board of Governors in December 2009 adopted the committee’s recommended position on representing children in dependency cases, which included this declaration: “No child shall be denied the right to have the representation by an attorney for the child appearing on the child’s behalf in a dependency case whether volunteer or state paid.”

But the Florida Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Program, under Flury, opposed that position. The proposed Florida Children’s Legal Representation Act did not go forward in the 2010 Legislative Session.

Asked about that issue that he voted for as a committee member, now that he is the head of the GAL, Abramowitz said: “My history is about building consensus in the community. The more challenging the issue, the more attention it needs. As the issue comes up, I will work with partners to build consensus. I am a 100 percent believer in the GAL Program. Stay tuned.”

For the past decade, Abramowitz managed a variety of regional and statewide offices within DCF, including covering Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, Central Florida, and Palm Beach County.

In 2005, The Orlando Sentinel described him as “helping turn around one of the most troubled child-welfare systems in Florida,” in District 12’s Volusia and Flagler counties. An editorial in the Daytona Beach News Journal said, “His strength had nothing to do with pushing paper. It had everything to do with establishing connections and setting standards for DCF services.”

Abramowitz chose the Homeless Assistance Center in Daytona Beach for a computer system that allows homeless people to apply for food stamps and welfare without going to a DCF office. He championed alternatives to jail for mentally ill, nonviolent people who are arrested. From 1996 to 2000, he was assistant general counsel for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. From 1992-96, he was an assistant public defender for the 10th Circuit. He volunteered in Thailand with the United States Peace Corps from 1990-92. His first job after law school was an assistant state attorney for the 18th Circuit from 1989-90.