On Friday, June 22, 2012, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced Fostering Florida's Future, a new foster parent initiative launched in collaboration with their statewide community-based care agencies, the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, the Florida State Foster/Adoptive Parent Association and others.

The purpose of Fostering Florida's Future is to help "increase the number and quality of foster homes in Florida, build stronger foster families for our children and ensure that our children have every chance at becoming successful adults," according to DCF Secretary David Wilkins.

You can learn more about the program at fosteringflorida.com, by watching the press conference video or by reading the press release below.

The Fostering Florida's Future press conference was held on June 22, 2012 in Tallahassee, Florida and was hosted by David E. Wilkins, Secretary, Department of Children and Families and Mrs. Tanya Wilkins, Child Advocate.

Watch the Video

The press conference also featured Mark Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Community Partnership for Children; Alan Abramowitz, Executive Director, Florida Guardian ad Litem Program; Samantha Rogers, OPS Secretary Specialist; Everett Condry, Therapeutic Foster Parent; Karen Condry, Therapeutic Foster Parent; and Paxton Zancker, Youth.

NEW INITIATIVE WILL RECRUIT, SUPPORT FOSTER PARENTS AND HELP ENSURE SUCCESS OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE
Department of Children and Families joins with community-based care agencies, Guardian ad Litem, foster care associations to change children's lives

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Paxton Zancker was 13 years old when she was removed from her home and placed in foster care. She admits there were a few rough spots as she learned how to live with more structure and rules in her new home, but she credits her foster parents with helping her make positive choices to put her on the right path.

Paxton, now 15, has been living with Bill and Kim White for two years. She has improved her grades in school and gives most of her credit to her foster family and the pride and trust they had that she would overcome her struggles and be successful. "They are the parents I have never had," she said today at a press conference announcing a new foster care initiative in Florida.

The Florida Department of Children and Families kicked off a new foster parent initiative at www.fosteringflorida.com in collaboration with our 18 community-based care agencies across the state, the Guardian ad Litem program, the Florida State Foster/Adoptive Parent Association, local associations and many more.

"This partnership will help increase the number and quality of foster homes in Florida, build stronger foster families for our children and ensure that our children have every chance at becoming successful adults," said DCF Secretary David Wilkins.

The "Fostering Florida's Future" campaign will be focused on five key goals:

• Awareness Campaign — Fostering changes lives and helps children become successful adults
• A Family for Every Child — Recruitment and retention of foster parents
• Quality Parenting Initiative — Training and support for foster parents
• Letting Kids in Foster Care be Kids — Extracurricular activities, social media, time with friends
• Promising Futures — Attending school, graduating and pursuing further education

A new website was launched today at www.fosteringflorida.com to highlight stories of successful foster parents and children in foster care or who have aged out of foster care. This website will give information to anyone in Florida who is interested in fostering a child. A video page shows foster parents talking in their own words about how meaningful being a foster parent is to them.

Foster parents change lives of children all over this state every single day. Currently, there are more than 8,000 children in foster care in Florida. They are removed from their homes through no fault of their own, but because they have been abused and neglected and are not able to safely remain with their families.

"Children in foster care just want to be like every other kid," said Guardian ad Litem Director Alan Abramowitz. "This initiative will help foster parents be parents and make reasonable decisions regarding the children we are entrusting to their care."

Our goal is to recruit 1,200 new foster parents this year. Recruitment efforts will be centered at the 18 community-based care agencies that DCF contracts with throughout the state for prevention, foster care and adoption services. Using the model of the Quality Parenting Initiative, foster parents will know that they are our partners in deciding what is in the best interest of the children in their care. Improved support of foster parents at every agency and every level will increase retention and recruitment.

"Here in our area, we have found many ways to give an extra hand to foster parents, through support groups, specialized training and more," said Mark Jones, CEO of Community Partnership for Children, which covers Flagler, Volusia and Putnam counties. "We know that having quality, engaged foster parents leads to better outcomes for children in foster care."

All children in foster care should have the same expectations at educational success as other children. As part of this effort, DCF began tracking the school attendance and graduation rates of these children on a monthly basis to identify ways to increase school participation and ensure that children in foster care have the opportunity to graduate high school and move on to future studies. A new report card will begin looking at an array of measures for each child so that our community-based care partners can work with them on an individual basis and provide the tools that are needed to help them succeed.

"Fostering is a calling. When kids come to us, they become members of our family," said Karen Condry, who with her husband has been a foster parent for seven years. "Even after they leave our home, we have stayed in contact with many of our children. We are still a support system for them. I feel like we are making a difference in their lives."

For more information, please go to www.fosteringflorida.com. Also, check out our blog from foster parent and ESPN reporter Michael Wallace and his wife LaShaun at http://blog.myflfamilies.com.

You can show your support and help spread the word about our program and mission by placing a badge on your blog, Facebook page or other website.

Whether you are a guardian ad litem volunteer or a community supporter, we have you covered. Follow these instructions and get your badge today!

• Choose between Small, Medium and Large sizes of Volunteer and Supporter versions.
   
• Download the badge to your computer and then upload it to your website for use.
  — This option saves us on data transfer fees.
  — Right-click or Control-click (Mac) on the download link and select the Save As... option
   
• Link the badge to our website https://gal2.org/.
   
• Alternately, you may simply copy and use the provided code for your website.

Please do not alter, edit or otherwise modify the badge images. The placement of any badge on third-party websites does not confer any official endorsement by the Second Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem Program.

On the April 20, 2012 episode of his show, Dr. Phil McGraw featured the I Am for the Child campaign as part of his continued advocacy of CASA for Children and guardians ad litem.

McGraw more recently pointed out in his Father's Day blog post that more guardian ad litem volunteers are still needed nationwide—especially men.

"The children in the foster care system need someone who will keep showing up, someone who will stick by them and advocate for them until their case is settled," said McGraw, "until the child is safe in the embrace of a loving family."

He concluded by challenging his male readers to be "man enough" to become a CASA volunteer.

You can read McGraw's entire post and then learn more about how you can become a volunteer.

We regularly host a variety of events to provide community outreach, raise awareness of our program, recruit new volunteers, fund raise and furnish training to our volunteer guardians ad litem. The following event has been recently added to our calendar.

Volunteer Recruitment Coffee
Brochures, applications and other informational materials will be available at the Starbucks on Kerry Forest Parkway for our monthly community outreach and education day. View the event flyer below for more details.

• Starbucks on Kerry Forest
  Saturday, July 7, 2012 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM

On Saturday, May 12, 2012, Child Advocates II, Inc. (CAII) and the Second Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem Program hosted our annual Guardian ad Litem Appreciation Day event.

GAL Appreciation Day provides an opportunity for the local guardian ad litem community to get together with their families to socialize, have fun and recognize the exemplary work of our volunteers, community supporters and staff.

This year's get together was held at the Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church, which provided an excellent outdoor space and playground for children's activities as well as a large indoor hall to hold the luncheon, program and awards reception. Fortunately, the weather was ideal with scattered clouds and temperatures climbing from 81 to 87 degrees through the event.

The day started with children's activities and the opportunity to meet and greet while all participants arrived and signed in. To help arriving families get settled in, volunteers from the Godby High School U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) were on hand to direct traffic and park attendees' automobiles.

Greeting and welcoming new arrivals were CAII volunteers, portraits of children provided by Heart Gallery North Florida and a memorial to the late volunteer guardian ad litem George Thompson.

In addition to the aforementioned playground, children had many fun outdoor activities to choose from including the bounce house provided by 3D's Bouncers and Golden Books Preschool, face painting provided by volunteers from the local Kappa Alpha Theta chapter, drawing and coloring, blowing soap bubbles, hula hooping, playing ball and more.

While the children played, their parents, guardians and other attendees enjoyed the chance to meet and interact with each other in an informal atmosphere. For those taking in the day outside, Mike Snelling, Kit Goodner, Kim Thomas, Carrie Perkins and friends provided aural entertainment in the form of bluegrass music.

A warm day calls for cold beverages and this was no exception. A drinks table inside provided by Trak Engineering, Inc. offered water, tea and soda plus beer and wine for the adults. Outside, Tallahassee's own Big Easy Snowballs had icy refreshments available from their yellow trailer.

Before too long, it was time for the luncheon provided by Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q to begin. CAII volunteers manned the self-service buffet, the contents of which consisted of pulled pork, barbeque chicken, baked beans, cole slaw and bread. Our tablecloths were provided by Alsco.

After the approximately 150 attendees had a chance to help themselves to lunch, Circuit Director Deborah Moore took the stage to get the program started with a welcome and introduction.

Flanked by her mentee and youth supporter Brian Williams and Child Advocates II Board of Directors President Brian Sealey, Moore thanked everyone for coming and had kind words for several individuals for their various contributions and accomplishments. With Mother's Day on the morrow, Moore also took a moment to recognize and thank all of the mothers present.

Concluding her welcoming remarks, Moore next provided an introduction for the day's first special guest keynote speaker. Currently the gubernatorially-appointed executive director of the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office, Alan Abramowitz is also a guardian ad litem volunteer himself, taking cases in the Big Bend for our program.

Providing his thanks and perspective on the progress of the statewide program, Abramowitz discussed some of the program's recent good news and successes. He mentioned the program's nomination and receipt of the prestigious 2012 Davis Productivity Eagle Award; the Florida legislature and governor's support of guardians ad litem via their passage of the requested budget package and additional nonrecurring funds; and the continued success and long-term goals of both the I Am for the Child campaign and the Strategic Campaign for 10,000 Voices.

After his speech, Abramowitz turned things over to the next keynote speaker. The Honorable Judge Irene Sullivan, author of Raised by the Courts: One Judge's Insight into Juvenile Justice, was originally scheduled to appear and autograph copies of her book. However, as she was unable to attend due to a medical emergency, Jack Levine of 4Generations Institute was present to represent and speak in Judge Sullivan's place.

Levine has a distinguished career in child advocacy, parenting support and elder affairs, focusing on providing information and messages to gain support from advocates, public officials and the media. During his speech, Levine also spoke of Judge Sullivan, her accomplishments and her regret at having to cancel her appearance. As a surprise, Levine said that he was going to call Judge Sullivan and asked everyone to send their "get well soon" wishes.

After Judge Sullivan answered, Levine held his telephone up to the crowd and via the roar of well-wishers received her message loudly and clearly. Based on the subsequent reaction on Levine's face as he again spoke with Judge Sullivan, the surprise obviously worked as planned.

Thanking the keynote speakers for their time and words, Deborah Moore returned to the stage with Brian Sealey to begin the next portion of the program, the presentation of awards. First, an unannounced thank you gift pen was presented to Alan Abramowitz in recognition of his continued contributions and service. Moore also presented Jack Levine with an engraved glass bowl for Judge Sullivan.

The first award to be presented was the Guardian ad Litem Youth Supporter Award. Describing the accolade and its recipient, Moore happily announced that this year's honoree was her own mentee Brian Williams, who was also volunteering as stagehand for the day. We are all very proud of Williams' accomplishments and appreciate his desire to give back to the community.

Brian Sealey stepped forward next to present the Child Advocates II Board Member of the Year Award. As he described the accomplishments of the honoree, this author was surprised and truly honored to realize that Sealey was describing him. David July was named Board Member of the Year for his development and authorship of the gal2.org website, public outreach using social media, event photography and other volunteer contributions.

The next award to be presented was to those volunteers with Twenty or More Years Of Service. Moore spoke fondly of each individual and thanked them for their decades of service to children. Accepting their recognition in person were Dorothy "Dot" Binger, author of our Ask a Mentor column, Diane Molitaris and Jennifer Stump-Ayotte. Kelly Bennett, Mary Hopping and Scott Kent were also recognized with this award but were regrettably unable to attend.

Acknowledging the important role played by businesses and organizations, Sealey next introduced the Community Supporter Award and announced its honoree, Starbucks. Present to accept the award on behalf of Starbucks was district manager and CAII board member Omega Wynn. As well as providing coffee and refreshments for many of our events—and a tent to shade our bluegrass musicians from the sun this day—Starbucks regularly donates the use of their stores for our neighborhood Volunteer Recruitment Coffees.

With co-worker Angela Still at her side, Assistant Circuit Director Leigh Merritt came on stage next for the presentation of the George Thompson Training Award. Merritt took great pride in describing the personality and accomplishments of the honoree, Katherine Blyth, before announcing her name. A volunteer and supporter of our program and CAII for ten years, Blyth is always friendly, outgoing and willing to help. Her company, Trak Engineering, also supports events such as this one and our annual Holiday Wish List Drive on a regular basis.

Merritt continued solo for the sixth award presentation, the Circuit Team Award. Elaborating on the crucial relationship between program staff and volunteers, Merritt detailed the honorees' achievements and explained that only by working together can we accomplish our goals. Awarded for those team achievements were Bonnie Marmor, a guardian ad litem volunteer who was unable to attend, Program Attorney Chelsea Rice and Volunteer Supervisor Angela Still.

While Still accepted the award and Binger represented the absent Marmor, Rice took a few moments to thank and address the crowd as well as expound upon Merritt's remarks. Following much applause and hugs all around, it was time for the seventh and final award presentation.

Merritt began, this time joined by Volunteer Supervisor Dominic Whitfield, by explaining the award and extolling the virtues and merits of this year's Volunteer of the Year. During his five years of service, Stuart Zirin has made significant contributions and a positive impact on everyone with whom he has interacted. The applause was strong as Zirin made his way to the stage where he was greeted with handshakes and hugs.

Before bringing the awards presentation to a close, Brian Sealey made some closing remarks once again congratulating the award recipients, thanking those volunteers and businesses who provided supplies or manpower to make Appreciation Day a success and thanking everyone for coming. Before wrapping up, Sealey took a few minutes for one last special thanks and recognition—that of Circuit Director Deborah Moore, whose continued dedication to her job and the children of our community is plainly evident to all that know her.

Moore took a second to thank everyone herself and with that, a final round of applause brought things to an end. As people made their way out and others continued to meet and greet, volunteers started the clean up process and another successful event was in the books.

We would like to echo the sentiments of the day in thanking and honoring the extraordinary people who make a difference in the lives of abused and neglected children. We hope that you enjoyed yourself and are looking forward to next year's event.

We regularly host a variety of events to provide community outreach, raise awareness of our program, recruit new volunteers, fund raise and furnish training to our volunteer guardians ad litem. The following event has been recently added to our calendar.

Training Refresher Course 3
The Training Refresher Course continuing education series, sponsored by the Volunteer Advisory Committee, provides an opportunity for current volunteer guardians ad litem to review and refresh their knowledge and skills. Participants will be awarded three (3) hours of in-service continuing education credit. View the event flyer below for more details and to RSVP.

• Training Refresher Course 3
  Services and Resources
  June 20, 2012

As part of the I Am for the Child public awareness campaign, the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office has an advertisement in the June 2012 issue of The Florida Nurse, the official bulletin of the Florida Nurses Association.

You can see the advert below or download the entire issue.

Statewide Executive Director Alan Abramowitz sat down today with Beth Switzer for an interview on The Florida Channel's Florida Face to Face program, "where state leaders and policymakers talk about the issues that affect Floridians."

The discussion with Abramowitz included the Guardian ad Litem Program; improved outcomes from around the state; and the value of the program's volunteers, staff and non-profits to the children in foster care.

The interview will air during this week's episode on WFSU-TV Thursday at 8:30 PM. A complete listing of television broadcast times for the entire state is also available.

The episode will also be available online on Thursday at 11:05 AM on Web Channel 1. We will update this post with a permanent link to the episode online when it becomes available.

UPDATE 2012-06-13: Added live online stream airtime and location.

UPDATE 2012-06-20: You can now watch the full episode online.