Guardian ad litem seeking advocates
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 7, 2016 1:46 PM
Every child deserves to have someone in his corner.
But when it can't be a parent or guardian, ideally someone else will step up.
Colleen Kosinski, district administrator for the Guardian ad Litem, or GAL, program, says there is a "critical need" for volunteers willing to advocate for these children -- some of whom are hiding in plain sight, she said.
"We've got kids, these are children who are in school with your children, or who may sit on the same pew with you at church and people don't know the horrors that they're living with," she said. "It's really a community responsibility."
She's looking for a few caring people to respond to the challenge, she said.
"These kids are Goldsboro kids. We need volunteers to advocate for them," Ms. Kosinski said. "We have a class coming up. They (volunteers) can get in this class and get training very quickly.
"We have like 25 children right now who don't have advocates."
Being a Guardian ad Litem means representing a child that may not have a voice, or anyone willing or able to speak up on their behalf. It means listening to their story and making sure others do, too.
The program, targeting children from birth to age 18, was established in 1981, with eight counties part of the pilot program. Wayne County was one of those counties.
"From that developed the program we have where you have got a trained volunteer paired with a court advocate to work together to protect the best interest of the children," she said. "The volunteers really provide a vital link to the judges to help understand these kids, what needs to happen to keep them safe."
The commitment is relatively small -- eight hours a month -- but the residuals can be huge.
"We get children as young as little babies born with drugs in their system, all the way up to 18," Ms. Kosinski said of the agency that covers Wayne, Lenoir and Greene counties. "We always need volunteers. On average, there are 500 kids here who need an advocate to speak on their behalf.
"Kids in foster care sometimes have to leave the county because there are not enough foster homes. We follow them wherever they are and make sure they have a voice in the court system."
The role of Guardian ad Litem pairs the volunteer with a case.
"After training, they go out and meet with the children and assess what needs that child has," she said. "They talk with folks in the community -- teachers, mental health people -- and talk with the judge to help keep that kid safe and protected."
While there are currently 140 volunteers making sure that these children "don't go unheard" in the court system, more are needed.
"This happens sometimes. We just get a spike in new cases," Ms. Kosinski said.
The process to become a volunteer is pretty straightforward, she said -- fill out an application online, at volunteerforgal.org, followed by an interview and then training.
"Volunteers have to be at least 18 years old, cannot have any felony criminal record or child endangerment (charges) or social services history as a perpetrator," she said. "They have to provide three references and then we provide 30 hours of training. It's really a wonderful opportunity."
The next training session is coming up later this month -- March 16, 23 and 30 and April 6, from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., with meals provided.
"We train them and then they get sworn in by one of our district court judges if they have done everything they need to do," said Cynthia Coley, GAL supervisor in Goldsboro. "Right now I would be happy if we could come out of this training with about 20 volunteers because we would be able to meet the needs of all of the cases and any of the upcoming cases that we have in the immediate future."
"Volunteers come from all walks of life, college students, housewives, folks in business, but it's a real personal volunteer opportunity because you really have to get to know these kids," Ms. Kosinski said. "In the social services system a lot of times as the kids move, they change social workers but they stick with that one guardian."
There is no expiration date, no renewal training required once the person is sworn in. But Ms. Coley's office continues to support the volunteers throughout.
"We do try to monitor, make sure our people don't burn themselves out because some of the stories are kind of gruesome," she said.
As challenging as the role may be, though, both women say they feel blessed to be able to do this work and are confident volunteers will be as well.
"It really is rewarding. You do feel like you're giving back, that you're actually giving something back," Ms. Coley said. "It's rewarding to me when I see a volunteer get that sense of how they have helped somebody, that what they did made a difference.
"It really matters. It really makes a difference and you feel like, but for us being there, that may not have happened for that particular child."
For more information on the program, call 919-722-6300.