Child Advocate

[loverofpeace]

Please advise how much involvement a child advocate should have in a FC case. I have had a child for 15 months and I never heard or seen the child advocate. After asking the agency over and over again for the advocates name and phone number, I finally had a very brief conversation with the advocate. What is there role? and how can they perform the role if they do not interact with the child?

[AZMama]

I'm not sure what state you are in or what your state laws dictate the advocate role is.

Do the children have a guardian ad lidem? Try there. The guardian ad lidem is the child's advocate in all legal issues.

[lucky62]

We dont have access to ours either.Never had a CASA volunteer and GAL is invisible.I have also asked and asked and get nowhere.Im in Missouri.

[loverofpeace]

I am in Pennsylvania and I read the role and responsibility of the child advocate (GAL) and it looks great in writing, but as far as action - there is NONE. We never offered a CASA worker. In fact, I knew nothing about CASA until I joined this website.

[CAFostermom]

I live here in CA and am aware of the CASA system (it's a national group, I believe)....I asked for a CASA volunteer for our foster kids and I got a resounding "NO" from DSS....apparently, there must be some political tension between DSS and CASA. A friend of mine who is a CASA officer suggested that if DSS isn't willing to use a CASA volunteer, then I could push for a guardian ad litem. Here in CA, we also have a process known as the de facto parent process. It's different from a guardian ad litem; however, a foster parent who applies for this and gets the court to approve it, essentially is recognized as a the "day-to-day" parent of the child and has additional rights beyond a normal foster parent.

[loverofpeace]

CAFostermom, thanks for that information, I will research and find out it that is available in PA. In 22 months, I spoke with the child advocate (GAL) once. She never met the child, never been in my home and probably doesn't even know the name of the child

[CAFostermom]

I forgot to add, the children's attorney was a great advocate. Does your child have an attorney? Check in with them...our foster children's attorney attended each hearing and relayed any concerns we had about the kids and their relationship with mom/grandma.

[loverofpeace]

In our case, the GAL and the attorney are the same person. She attends the hearing, but has no input from us or no knowledge about the children. She rushes in on the day of the hearing and do a quick review of the file which contains documents from the social workers.

[lovemykids2008]

If you live in Missouri the CASA worker is mandated to see the child monthly if they are placed in the county of residence or quarterly if they are not.

[jams002]

why do you call this an child advocate??

[ThePowerMan]

In my state of Alabama, we only have the GAL. I do believe that we, as foster parents, are advocates to these children. I am president of our FP association and was able to get a simple process into our county DHR policy book. There is a meeting with the foster parents, state attorneys, GAL attorney, case social worker, and social worker supervisor. Granted, we are a small county but this has worked for us. It gives the FP a voice in court. The juvenile court judge loves this, too.

We were trying to come up with a way that the FP could be heard but yet not have to take the stand in the courtroom. This worked for us. Trust me.......not everyone wants to be on the stand answering questions from a defense lawyer.