The Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office provides an annual report "to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court."[1]
This year's report—the "A Voice Heard" 2012 Status Report—is now available for download.
You can read the below excerpt from the report's executive summary and download the full report.
The "A Voice Heard" initiative was designed to listen to the voices of children in foster care to better understand their experiences in working with a guardian ad litem volunteer and the expectations they have of the guardian ad litem volunteer with whom they have contact.
The information was obtained from informal conversations between guardian ad litem volunteers in six of Florida's judicial circuits and 152 elementary, middle and high school students, as well as youth who have aged out of the foster care system at age eighteen.
It was consistently confirmed that the bond between a guardian ad litem volunteer and the children with whom the volunteer spends time is built on the following key elements:
- Communication: Talking, Listening and Understanding
- Personal Interest: Caring and Concern
- Support: Emotional and Material
- Trust: Openness and Honesty
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