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| Florida is just now realizing that they have been lying to HHS and trafficking kids through foster care without any due process? |
The term is Guardian ad litem (GAL) but not all GALs are attorney, well, the majority are not.
Under various federal grant funding agreements, like Targeted Case Management, the States are supposed to assign legal represntation to all children under the auspices of a state.
Remember, boys and girls, it takes a judicial determination for the federal funding spigot to be turned on.
So, quintessentially, Florida is making a public decress of a mea culpa in child welfare fraud by publishing the fact that foster children receive no due process, have no civil rights and a NGO is lobbying for more legal hustle fraud scams to bill Medicaid.
Sounds like the work of the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) of Perkins Coie.
It also sounds like the trafficking of tiny humans
DOJ & HHS OIG need to put Florida in federal recievership.
Opinion: Florida’s foster children deserve legal representation
This year nearly 30,000 children will live away from their parents because our child welfare system brought them into state care.
These children linger in care for an average of almost three years; many experience mental health problems, bounce from place to place, fall behind in school and are separated from their siblings.
These children rely on dependency court proceedings to determine where they will live, who will take care of them, where they will go to school, and how often they can see siblings and other family members. Virtually every aspect of their lives is impacted by decisions made in a courtroom where they are the only party without their own lawyer.
Fewer than 10 percent of Florida's foster children have an attorney representing them in court. The Panhandle is fortunate to have Legal Services of North Florida, which has nine part-time attorneys to provide high quality representation to children in the 16 counties in Northwest Florida. They currently represent 210 of the 2,283 children in out of home care in those counties.
We need to do better for our society’s most vulnerable. Providing these children in care with both an attorney and a volunteer Guardian ad Litem is the national best practice, and it should be adopted in Florida.
There is an opportunity to fix this justice gap by urging the Constitution Revision Commission to place Proposal 40 on the ballot. Proposal 40, filed by CRC Commissioner Belinda Keiser, will provide children removed from their parents due to abuse or neglect the right to legal counsel to help protect their interests. Because their liberty is at stake, these children need an attorney to ensure their due process rights are protected.
An attorney can advise a child on his or her legal rights, legal options, and what happens next in the case, as well as the likelihood of prevailing on stated positions. A lawyer can also ensure confidentiality of communications and is a safe person with whom the child can repose trust.
Not only is it the right thing to do, but evidence demonstrates that providing children with legal counsel would save the state money.
Studies show that children with attorneys representing their interests are able to exit foster care more quickly and are less likely to return to care than their peers. Shorter stays in foster care translates into reduced spending on foster care and group homes, and significant savings in the long run. The ultimate goal for children in state care is to find a home where they can feel safe, stable and nurtured.
The Constitution Revision Commission should place Proposal 40 on the ballot to make Florida the national model for protecting foster children by giving them both a lawyer and a volunteer Guardian ad Litem. Our state’s children deserve better.
Christina Spudeas is the executive director of Florida’s Children First, a statewide advocacy organization focused on protecting the legal rights of at-risk and foster care children.
Florida CALL to ACTION Proposal 40 for Constitutional Amendment for Legal Represenation for Children in Fos... by Beverly Tran on Scribd
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