13th Circuit Guardian Ad Litem Program May 2016

Volume 4

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

GAL Spotlight 2

Upcoming Events 3

Anniversaries 3

Optima Training Schedule 4

Legal Lesson 5

Numbers Don’t Lie 6

Appreciation Corner 7

New GALs 8

Meet our Team Members 9

The Guardian Globe

The 13th Circuit celebrates Reunification Day! Dear Guardians,

On May 20, 2016, Eckerd celebrated the families that were reunified with

their children in a celebration at the court house. This is a huge accomplishment

for our families and it was great to see our kids with smiles on their faces while

they were there celebrating with their parents.

Many times, it may not be easy working a case. You may disagree with

the direction the case may be going or disagree with how to get to a particular

goal, but seeing the end result can be so rewarding and remind us why we are all

here.

I also want to thank you all for participating in our recent survey. The

comments in the survey were particularly helpful. It is obvious that many of you

have had such great impacts in the life of a child. When asked about the most

satisfying part of being a GAL, 71% of the responses surrounded making a differ-

ence and seeing a positive outcome for the family and child.

Reunification day is a prime example of why we do what we do. We see

children happily enjoying the magician, balloon animals, and food while the par-

ents are recognized for working hard to overcome their personal challenges that

resulted in their child’s removal. I hope next year there are even more families

that are reunified and that we, as the child’s voice, play a big part in that happen-

ing!

Thank you for continuing to advocate for your children. As always, please

feel free to contact me to talk about your cases, the program, or any concerns you

may have at 307-3579 or at Tabitha.lambert@gal.fl.gov.

A Letter From Our Director

13 Points to Ponder from the 13th Circuit “I am for the

child.”

GAL staff members with the Tampa Bay

Yankees mascot, Blue. GAL Staff mem-

bers pictured from Left to Right: Sharon

Beningfield (recruiter), Andi White (CAM),

Audry Collins-Buchanan (CAM), Jennifer

Chasin (CAM), and Casey Foster (CAM).

Did you see Tibet, Florida’s first courthouse dog, and Brenda Kocher, her

handler, on the Talking Animals Radio Show?

They had a chance to sit down with Duncan Strauss on WMNF Tampa 88.5FM to

discuss all of their great work.

Check it out here: http://www.talkinganimals.net/2016/04/tibet-floridas-first-

courthouse-dog-and-brenda-kocher-her-

handler/

Take a listen! Here is the video archive:

http://www.wmnf.org/events/talking-animals/

(Select 2016-04-27)

Be on the lookout for a Voices for Children sur-

vey coming your way soon! We appreciate any

valuable feedback you can give us!

The Guardian Globe Page 2

Carolyn Hunter’s

first case almost

ended before it

started. After

carefully choosing

a case with a

young mother and

two young children, Carolyn’s first hear-

ing was a dependency trial, where the

Judge decided that the children should

only have been removed from their fa-

ther, and returned the children to their

mother. Although unusual, this turned

out to be one of Carolyn’s more reward-

ing experiences, as she was able to see

a young mother obtain and keep a job,

find suitable housing and have a suc-

cessful reunification. This was a great

start to Carolyn’s Guardian ad Litem

‘adventure’, even if her other cases have

not always gone quite as smoothly or

predictably.

Carolyn became a Guardian ad

Litem almost three years ago after retir-

ing from AAA Auto Club as an account-

ant. She wanted to volunteer in the com-

munity and knew that she worked well

with children, so when she read an ad-

vertisement in her community newspa-

per, being a Guardian ad Litem seemed

a good fit for her. After mentioning her

interest in the Program to a neighbor,

Carolyn found herself talking with Charlie

Nelson, the Statewide Guardian ad Litem

Program Director of Operations, to get a

little more information about the Pro-

gram and she was soon signed up for

training!

Carolyn has had four more cas-

es since that first one. She recently had

an adoption, which was very different

from her first case, but rewarding in a

different way, as this child also ended up

in a good place, with her own kind of

‘happy ending’.

Carolyn’s approach to being a

Guardian is two-fold. First, she emphasiz-

es relationships. It is important for her

to form a good relationship with the case

manager, the parents, and the children.

If you get to know the case manager,

then it becomes a bit easier to get them

to include you in the process and to

‘push’ them when you need to. Also, the

parents will often talk with you more

readily if they know the Guardian and

know that the Guardian wants the best

for their children. And of course you want

a good relationship with the children –

whether its playing with a baby or talking

about adoption to a pre-teen – the chil-

dren on your case need to know you and

know they can trust their Guardian.

Second, Carolyn believes that

continuing education is important (and I

didn’t bribe her to say this!). The initial

training is good, but the knowledge that

she has gotten both from the Guardian

ad Litem in-service trainings, as well as

training available in the community, has

helped her to have the knowledge she

needs to advocate for her children suc-

cessfully.

Carolyn has two adult children of her

own and four grandchildren. She and

her husband have moved many times

during their marriage and may yet move

again to be close to family. She and her

husband recently took a trip to Germany.

But to 8 children, she was -- and is --

‘Miss Carolyn’,-- who comes to see them

once a month, brings them small gifts,

asks about everything they have been

doing, celebrates good things with them,

but knows that some of their life is hard.

She is their friend that is there to help.

And their life is better because she has

been there. (CAM, Jill Krantz)

When I am bragging

about my volunteers,

one of my favorite

stories was about

Joan Rixom shoving

her foot in the door

that was being closed

in her face by a relative who was not

even cleared to babysit the children to

which Joan had been assigned. Joan is

fearless! The next thing I like to mention

about Joan is that in addition to her ad-

vocacy for children, she is also an Om-

budsman – not just any Ombudsman,

the 2015 Florida Statewide Ombudsman

of the Year! She also serves as a West

Central State Council Representative

and State Council Vice Chair for the Long

-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Nev-

er any half-measures for Joan!

Joan was a registered nurse in

the U.K. and Canada as well as in the

U.S.A. and then held hospital administra-

tive positions. Well into her “retirement,”

she was a highly-rated tennis play-

er. And then there is spending

time with her 5 children and 12

grandchildren, which necessitate

trips all over the U.S.A.

After certification in Febru-

ary, 2013, Joan’s first assignment

was a family of 3 children who were suc-

cessfully reunified with their moth-

er. She then took on 6 children who

spent the majority of the case in relative

care in St. Petersburg and Gulf-

port. Joan, who lives in Apollo Beach,

never missed a visit with any child. (We

will give some credit to her GAL Pal/

husband/chauffeur, Roger, here). Work-

ing with this family, aside from the door

incident, has been her best GAL experi-

ence thus far. In her own

words, “Following a family with a multi-

imprisoned father through some rough

times in a totally dysfunctional family,

and whose son was diagnosed with

ADHD – both son and dad went through

rough times together and they came out

with a solid relationship.” Not being sat-

isfied with only 6 children, she now has 8

GAL children, spread among two cas-

es. She was visiting some of these chil-

dren in Lakeland for a while but now

those four are in Hillsborough County,

thanks in part to her initiative in visiting

out of county and reporting on the inade-

quacy of the placement. We might have

to provide her with frequent flyer miles

on her next case….

Joan has three quotes which

she says cover everything she

needs: “Dust is protection for the furni-

ture.” “Don’t sweat the little

things.” “This, too, will pass.” This

shows the way she approaches her cas-

es and life. Joan is a feisty ball of energy

who always does her job even when it is

with difficult families and I very much

enjoy and appreciate working with her.

(CAM, Mary Alpaugh)

GUARDIAN SPOTLIGHTS

Page 3

UPCOMING TRAININGS & EVENTS IN SERVICE TRAININGS!!

All at the GAL Office:

Wednesday, 6/15, 6-8pm

Paternity issues

Presented by Kelley Flournoy, Attor-

ney

Thursday, June 30, 6pm-8:30pm

JR Bootcamp

Presented by Liza Ricci, Supervising

Attorney

Have a suggestion for a training? Let us know!!

Brown Bag Lunch!

Come have lunch with some fellow GAL Volunteers to talk

about your cases and mingle. Bring your lunch!

It will be on Friday, 6/3 from 12-1pm at the GAL Office.

RSVP required to Tabitha.lambert@gal.fl.gov

May 2016

CALLING ALL TRANSPORTERS!

The GAL Program has received donated tickets to

several events to help provide some free normal-

cy activities for our kids in foster care. Please

contact your CAM for more info on the following

opportunities:

Glazer Children’s Museum– free admission tickets

10 tickets for Free Admission to MOSI

2016 Tampa Yankees Tick-

ets (approximately 8 tickets

per game). Visit their web-

site at www.tybaseball.com

for more info. They often

have some great specials!

If you are not an approved GAL transporter, talk to your

CAM today about submitting your application so you

can take your GAL child on one of these great outings!

These Guardians cele-

brate their anniversaries

with the GAL Program in

May:

1 Year

Kimberly Garno

Kimberly Murray

Ashleigh Price

Shelanda Moore

Michelle Alecci

Laura Doyle

Claudia Hoyos-Acevedo

Phoebe Monereau

Yael Monereau

Riley O’Donnell

Bridgett Parker

Ashley Rushing

Jennifer Thompson

Tabitha Tirado

Eric Watson

Pamela Wright

Jewel Sweeting

2 Years

Ashley Allen

Leo Cadogan

Marcia Perga

Jeremy Pollack

Donna Shirah

Elaine Terenzi

3 Years

Rita Monica

4 Years

Shannon LaFrance

7 Years

Victoria Alaee

8 Years

Elizabeth Diecidue

Edith Jefferies

Julie McDaniel

Sean McSharry

Niurka Rosario

9 Years

Kari Neller

15 Years

Diane King

16 Years

Richard Cadogan

OPTIMA IS HERE! Optima is our web-based system that will allow easy access to

your case electronically! Optimize your advocacy with OPTIMA!

On the next page of the newsletter, you will find our Optima train-

ing schedule. Sign up for your training quickly! Each class is lim-

ited at 15 participants. Because this is new, all of our volunteers

needs to attend at least 1 of the training sessions, which will be 1

to 2 hours in length. If you have any questions, please contact

your CAM.

June 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

HCC Regent

9-11

11:30-1:30

12 13

HCC Regent

9-11, 12-2

3-5; 6-8

14

15

Carrollwood

Cultural Center

6-8

16

GAL Office

(Laptop or Tab-

let Required)

10-12; 2-4; 6-8

17

HCC (Ybor)

10-12

2-4

18

HCC Regent

9-11;

11:30-1:30

19 20

New Horizons

8-10; 10:30-

12:30; 1-3;

3:30-5:30; 6-8

21

GAL Office

(Laptop or Tab-

let Required)

10-12; 2-4; 6-8

22

HCC Regent

9-11, 12-2

3-5; 6-8

23

Carrollwood

Cultural Center

6-8

24

HCC (Ybor)

10-12

2-4

25

HCC Regent

9-11;

11:30-1:30

26 27

ITT Technical

Institute

10-12

28

County IT Build-

ing

9-11; 11:30-

1:30; 2-4; 4:30-

6:30; 7-9

29

ITT Technical

Institute

10-12

30

ITT Technical

Institute

10-12

Training Locations:

HCC Regent: 6437 Watson Rd, Riverview 33578, Room 109

HCC Ybor: 2112 N 15th St, Tampa 33605

New Horizons: 5402 W Laurel St, Tampa 33607

Carrollwood Cultural Center: 4537 Lowell Rd, Tampa 33618

GAL Office: 700 E Twiggs St, Ste. 750, Tampa 33602

County IT Building: 505 N East St, Tampa 33602, Room 217

ITT Technical Institute: 4809 Memorial Hwy, Tampa 33634, Lab 3

Information about Training:

Unless indicated, you do not need to bring a laptop or tablet.

RSVP to AJ at allyn.faryniasz@gal.fl.gov or 813-272-5110.

Each class can accommodate up to 15 attendees

Because Optima is new for all volunteers, you must attend

one of the trainings.

Page 5

The Importance of Reviewing Home Studies, Criminal Background Checks and Florida Abuse Hotline History before Agreeing to Modifications of Placement or Reunification

Child Protective Investigators and Care Managers will tell you, “There is an approved home study,” or “everything looked fine,” or “there are no statutory disqualifiers.” You should always trust but verify these statements, ask appropri-ate questions and review the home study and criminal backgrounds and Florida Abuse Hotline History (FAHIS) (including those of frequent visitors to the home) before agreeing to place a child with a relative, non-relative, or parent.

The Home Study Form

The home studies you review will likely be on one of two forms used by the Department. Here is how the summary of the backgrounds appear on each form:

FORM 1

FORM 2

The picture from form 1 is from a real “approved” home study (the caregiver’s name and the dates of the background screens have been redacted). This section of this form can be a bit misleading. Looks good, right? WRONG. Florida law prohibits the Department from placing a child with anyone other than a parent if they have ever been convicted of a felo-ny within any of the following categories: Child abuse, abandonment, or neglect; domestic violence; child pornography; homicide; sexual battery, and any other felony involving in which a child was the victim. Florida law also prohibits the Department from placing a child with anyone other than a parent who has been convicted of a felony within the last 5 years within any of the following categories: Assault; battery; drug-related offenses. So where the form says that there is no statutory disqualifiers that is all it means. The checks in the “yes” boxes only indicate that they checked backgrounds and say nothing about the quality of the check. Form 2, if filled out correctly, often does a better job describing the qual-ity. Remember, you should not be agreeing to a placement just because there are no statutory disqualifiers.

Continued on Page 6...

Featured Legal Lesson:

Page 6

Here’s why...the Actual Backgrounds

Usually these will not be provided to you unless you ask for them and sometimes your attorney may have to assist you in getting them. However you should always ask the care manager or CPI for them and review them before agreeing to modify a placement or reunify with a parent. The backgrounds for “Caregiver A” in form 1 above reveal that she was arrested in 2010 for Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon and has been listed as a participant in a total of 14 abuse reports from 2008-2013, including multiple allegations of sexual abuse, family violence threatens child, environmental hazards, and substance abuse. Not so good, right? Many of these reports were closed with findings that the allegations were not substantiated or no indicators. Nonetheless, if nothing else, these backgrounds and the investigative summaries associated with them could serve as a good starting point for you to ask more questions and determine whether this placement is in the best interest of the children on your case.

Frequent Visitors

Sometimes these are left off or not properly background screened. The Department’s own policies require that any per-son 16 or older who is living in or is a frequent visitor to the home be background screened. If there are no frequent visi-tors listed in the home study you may want to ask the prospective caregiver. I recently encountered a case where the pro-spective caregiver was married and had children with a registered sex offender. That person was not listed in the home study despite the fact they visited their children in the home on a regular basis.

Why Look at the Backgrounds of Parents

Statutory Disqualifiers do not apply to parents and while we can and should apply a best interest standard to placements with relatives and non-relatives, a parents’ home study can only be “denied” if it is unsafe to place a child with them. When looking at either a “non-offending” parent’s backgrounds or the backgrounds of a parent who is about to have overnight visitations or be reunified with their child, we should ask ourselves if the parent has something in their back-grounds which has not been addressed and/or remedied. Maybe the child was sheltered because of something mom did but dad’s home study and backgrounds show he is a sex offender or has a substance abuse problem.

Other Considerations . . .

In addition to backgrounds on all individuals in the home and frequent visitors, you should also be considering whether the prospective placement is able to take care of the children—review the financial aspects of the home study; do they have appropriate sleeping arrangements; do they already have 10 children placed with them and is the department asking them to take three more?

Just remember; the Court has the ultimate say as to where a child should be placed. Just because a home study is “approved” does not necessarily mean that you have to agree or that it is in the child’s best interests. If you have any questions about a home study, talk about them with the CAM and attorney assigned to your case.

Submitted by Rick Dragotto, Esquire

LEGAL LESSON, CONTINUED ...

THE NUMBERS

DON’T LIE...

Number of children in dependency system:

3,299*

Number of children appointed to GAL Program:

1,696*

Number of GAL volunteers: 676*

Number of children with a volunteer: 1,104*

*As of 4/30/16

The Guardian Globe Page 7

A Letter to the Editor by Merrilyn Crosson, GAL and Master Gal with the program for 10 years and 7 months:

Do you want to know how much YOU are appreciated?

Well, I can tell you that those who attended the fabulous picnic on April 30 at AL Lopez Park

really know!

This day was provided as a “Special Thank You” to all of us who volunteer to advocate for

our precious children. The Voices for Children group made this all happen.

Arriving at the park we knew we were in the right place, when we saw the fluttering flags,

smiling faces, happy greetings, and caught the whiff of the burgers grilling! Hooray for all of their combined efforts to make

this event such a wonderful experience. They even ordered in a light breeze just for our comfort.

I hope to see more volunteers attend future celebrations!

Although we don’t do this volunteer work in order to be recognized, it is always appreciated to

get that little boost once in a while.

One of the “perks” of attending these types of activities is the chance to get to know

more of our extended GAL family! Connect with and enjoy each other and the good work you

do daily!

WE APPRECIATE YOU!!

Thank you to Cadette Troop 270 for hon-oring our GAL volunteers with a pancake

breakfast for the 6th year in a row!

On April 30, Voices for Children held a volunteer appreciation picnic at a local park. Thanks

to all volunteers who attended and a big thanks to Voices for providing food and fun! Here

are some pictures of the picnic held by Voices for Children. We hope you will all come out

and enjoy the next event!!

WELCOME NEW GALS!

www.facebook.com/GALTampa

FIND

US

www.galtampa.org

https://twitter.com/galtampa

Congratulations

to our new

Volunteers!

Welcome to our

GAL Team!

The Volunteer Recruitment Committee

(VRC) is in need of some recruiting

superheroes!

The VRC is comprised of certified

Guardian ad Litem Volunteers and

Voices for Children members who want

to go above and beyond the call of duty.

The VRC members brainstorm, plan,

and implement initiatives to recruit vol-

unteers for the program.

The committee meets once per month

at the GAL Office.

If interested, contact Yvonne Marrone at

Yvonne.marrone@gal.fl.gov or (813)

272-5110 for more information.

Be our super hero!

Love what you see and want more of it? Give us your questions, comments, com-plaints, or suggestions. We will do our very best to get it into our next newslet-

ter.

EDITOR’S CONTACT INFO

Tabitha Lambert

Tabitha.lambert@gal.fl.gov

Let Us Hear From YOU!

A.J. Faryniasz joined the

13th Circuit GAL program

in January 2006 and cur-

rently splits her time be-

tween CAM duties and

coordinating the GAL

trainings. AJ has also

worked as a Case Manager and as a Home Visitor

for the military’s New Parent Education and Support

Program, and has taught community college classes,

and job training skills in one of the pilot “Welfare to

Work” programs. When she isn’t working for GAL,

she volunteers as the Medical Coordinator for

Friends of Hillsborough County Animal Services

(“FoHCAS”), a non-profit whose primary mission is to

increase adoptions and reduce euthanasia at the

county shelter by paying for a dog’s or cat’s treata-

ble medical conditions. In her spare time, she en-

joys traveling and scuba diving. She and her hus-

band, along with their two rescue dogs and a Beard-

ed Dragon, make their home in Riverview.

Pat Krepsky has been on staff with the Guardi-an ad Litem Program for 10 years this coming Sep-tember. Pat became in-volved with the Guardian ad Litem Program as an intern while completing a Human Services degree through HCC Dale Mabry Campus. Pat took her first Volunteer case at this time and although it took 6 years, the child was successfully adopted. Pat began working for the Guardian ad Litem program as an Assistant Case Coordinator, though this position no longer exists, she was able to remain working for the program in her present position as an Administrative Assistant.

Pat believes in the mission of the Guardian ad Litem program and feels that providing the Admin support for those on the front lines, our CAMs, Attorneys and Volunteers, is both rewarding and necessary to ob-tain the best interest outcome for the children we

represent.

Channing Sampson has

been employed with the

Guardian ad Litem Pro-

gram for a little under 2

years and she has been

working with Training for

a little more than a year. She started off as a Receptionist in February of

2014. Channing is currently a part-time student

completing her degree in Education, a staff volun-

teer, and a mother to three beautiful girls; ages 9, 7,

and 6. She enjoys spending time with her children

and creating everlasting experiences in their lives as

a family. When Channing is not working, she is busy

volunteering as a part of the Administration team at

DWCC where she and her family attend church.

Channing has a passion for children and the heart of

a helper; she enjoys volunteering her time to make a

difference in the World.

Ahndreka Willis has been with the GAL program for

2 years. Some of you remember me as a training

coordinator for the Sat-

urday training classes!

Ahndreka is one of the

first people you meet in

the office because she

is the receptionist. In

her spare time, she likes

to relax and try new hob-

bies.