Florida Guardian Ad Litem

Adult Volunteer Information

Are you looking for ways to change a child's life? Then this could be the perfect opportunity for you. This will be an informational session for future volunteers. Adults only.

From the Florida Guardian Ad Litem -- a statewide organization for child welfare advocacy.

Through our dedicated volunteers, we meet our mission to represent Florida’s abused, neglected, and abandoned children. When a child is in the dependency court system due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment, the judge stands in the parent’s shoes, must protect the child and make the decisions a parent normally would.  When a judge appoints the Florida Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office, we use a multi-disciplinary team approach that always includes a Guardian ad Litem Attorney, a professional child welfare manager, and hopefully a trained volunteer or pro bono attorney from the child’s community. This team approach is nationally recognized as the best practice to represent a child’s legal interests.

As a volunteer, you are responsible for gathering facts surrounding a child’s case, reviewing reports, finding out the child’s wants and desires, visiting a child’s home, school, or placement, and providing the court with an unbiased recommendation on what is required to serve the child’s best interests. The volunteer assists in providing the judge with the information needed and what the child wants, so the judge can decide what is in the child’s best interests.

To become a volunteer, you must pass a background check, provide three letters of reference, participate in an interview, and complete free, online training.

For more information: http://www.guardianadlitem.org/

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