Local Guardian ad Litem representatives are giving businesses in Santa Rosa County the opportunity to foster ‘Timmy’ and ‘Abby’ for week in support of ‘Mission Santa Rosa,’ a community outreach program geared towards recruiting additional volunteers to represent area children in need.
Although the two children are composed of cardboard, they represent a need for child advocate needed in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
Joel Carden, the recruitment coordinator for the First Judicial Circuit of the Guardian ad Litem Program, said out of the area he covers for the program, both Santa Rosa and Escambia are lacking in volunteers.
“The reason for our push is because we have such a shortfall, across the four counties in the first judicial circuit we have about 1700 children that are in the dependency system,” Carden said. “We have a shortfall most particularly in Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties.”
Currently there is a total of 250 children in the dependency system for Santa Rosa County, Carden said.
“Out of them, there are about 120 of them do not have a Guardian ad Litem volunteer, so our goal is to provide a volunteer for every child that comes through the court system,” Carden said.
Volunteers would serve as an advocate for abused, neglected or abandoned children. While going through the court system, Guardian ad Litem is sought to represent these children in order to make sure their needs are met and their voice is heard, Carden said.
On average, a Guardian ad Litem volunteer will visit a child on a once a month basis and write a report on the child’s status which will then become a court document. Carden said a judge will take the report into consideration when making a decision on the best interest of a child.
In addition to letting the child in need know they are represented, volunteers must make sure the child’s needs are being met, whether at home or at school.
On a minimum, a volunteer is asked to serve as a Guardian ad Litem volunteer for a child for at least a year.
“In the state of Florida the law says that when a child has been sheltered, there is one year allowed until they reach permanency,” Carden said. “The reason we ask for that is because we want the volunteer to be that one consistent person in the life of the child that they know is there for them month after month.”
Representatives with Guardian ad Litem program will provide the necessary training needed in order to represent children in need.
“We are not going to put you out there until you are prepared,” Carden said. “There are some areas where we get objections and the case most often is time.”
At the most, a Guardian ad Litem volunteers will spend between 10 to 15 hours a month with checking in on a child, he said.
“What you have to understand is that the children are living this − 24 hours a day, seven days a week − and we are asking you to enter into their lives a little bit,” Carden said. “ I will grant that this is one of the most difficult volunteering events you will take part in, but it is by far the most rewarding because you have an immediate impact on the life of a child.”
The Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce served as the first fostering site for Timmy and Abby. The displayed children will also offer a volunteer sign-up sheet along with informative reading material on the program. Carden said Mission Santa Rosa is not just limited to members of the chamber, but to any interested businesses in the county.
In addition to helping Guardian ad Litem with the outreach program, the business with the most volunteers to sign up will receive a treasure chest with prizes donated by area businesses.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Guardian seeks volunteers, businesses with ‘Mission Santa Rosa’