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Who's speaking up for the children?
NWI Times
Mar 17, 1996
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/who-s-speaking-up-for-the-children/article_1cff45b7-4bea-58da-8e56-431be364cdb5.html
FAMILY COURT - A guardian ad litem may be appointed at the discretion of the court.
Training: None.
Supervision: None.
Cost: Attorneys - Maximum of $75/hour paid from county's legal services fund and
charged to families for reimbursement. Non-attorneys - No cost because services are volunteered.
JUVENILE COURT
- Indiana law mandates the appointment of a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) to each child who comes under court jurisdiction through the intervention of child welfare authorities.
Training: Minimum of 21 hours plus annual continuing education.
Supervision: A paid director supervises 60 volunteers.
Cost: CASAs volunteer their services.
The program is contracted to the Youth Services Bureau through juvenile court and supported by $66,000 in county funds and $7,000 in state funds. The statute allows - but the local court has not opted - to assess families up to $100.
Editor's Note: Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Webber Sr. has asked sheriff's police to investigate complaints against a court volunteer, Beatrice Lightfoot, who serves as a guardian ad litem for children in family court. But Lightfoot says she's being unfairly targeted by families who don't understand her role. Here's a look at how children currently are being represented in Porter County.
As Kimberly Cole related the story of a marriage gone bitterly awry to members of the Porter County Council last month, she questioned the actions of a volunteer appointed by the court to protect the best interests of her child. The toddler, 2-year-old Andrew, is one of the 40 to 50 percent of the nation's children who have experienced their parents' divorce.
In addition to children like Andrew, who are affected by divorce issues, others are victims of child abuse and neglect. These numbers, too, are on the rise, in part because of laws mandating professionals to report the incidents to authorities.
Family specialists point to these factors as indicative of the growing need for legal assistance for children.
In Porter County, as in the rest of the state and the nation, children's legal needs increasingly are being met through a merging of public and private resources, which may have led to the maelstrom surrounding the court volunteer at the center of the controversy, Beatrice Lightfoot.
In recent years, Lightfoot, who formerly served as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) under juvenile court jurisdiction, has volunteered her services as a guardian ad litem under family court jurisdiction.
Federal and state law mandates the court to appoint an independent representative for each child who has been found by child welfare authorities to be abused or neglected. In Porter County, this role is fulfilled by the CASA program operated by the Youth Services Bureau under the jurisdiction of Juvenile Court Judge Raymond D. Kickbush.
The law is not as specific, however, on the appointment of a similar representative for children experiencing divorce and custody issues. In Porter County, a guardian ad litem (GAL) may be appointed by a family court judge or magistrate at his or her discretion to represent children caught in the web of severe divorce or custody issues.
Nationally, CASA volunteers come from all walks of life. GALs tend to be legally trained or, at minimum, to be CASA-trained volunteers. For example, some states have stringent requirements, such as permitting only attorneys to act as GALs.
In Porter County, interviews conducted with court officials indicate Lightfoot is the only non-attorney acting as a GAL.
Her mentor, Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Webber Sr., and others laud Lightfoot's generosity and enthusiasm on behalf of the county's children.
Others, however, reflect a perspective that representing children is a special call that goes beyond the legal arena - while still demanding its discipline.
Still others point to the issue of cost: Lightfoot donates services for which attorneys get paid at a reduced rate.
Andrew's voice
In the Coles' case, Magistrate James Johnson believed their toddler, Andrew, required his own independent representative while the marriage unraveled - and beyond.
Their divorce is final. The war between the couple is not.
Besides Andrew, the Coles each had children by other marriages, but it's only Andrew who retains Lightfoot as his advocate.
To Kimberly Cole's bewilderment, Todd Cole recently was awarded custody of the toddler when Johnson finalized the Coles' divorce even though Kimberly Cole's attorney was out of the country.
In addition to a civil hearing before Johnson on that dispute, Kimberly Cole will face criminal charges before Porter Superior Court Judge Nancy Vaidik.
Prosecutors charged Kimberly Cole with battery after Todd Cole alleged she struck her step-son.
Most recently, Todd Cole sought a protective order against his former wife in LaPorte County. Instead, the court issued a mutual protective order after Porter County police appeared with Kimberly Cole, ready to rebut her former husband's contentions.
As attorneys for both parents maneuver through the courts, Andrew's interests are to be advocated and protected by his own representative, Beatrice Lightfoot.
What GALs say
Lightfoot's role is perhaps best described in a child's voice.
In an article published in "The Indiana Lawyer," Kickbush relates, in describing what a CASA does, a child once told his CASA , "A CASA does the judge's homework."
But unlike that of rigidly trained and supervised CASA volunteers, the more independent approach taken by the GAL may take many forms, from merely information-gathering to doing all the things an attorney does to represent a client.
"(A GAL) doesn't have to be an attorney," Lake County Circuit Court Magistrate Christina Miller says, "but should be, so all parties are playing by the same rules.
"Indiana has a void in the law," Miller says. "There should be more guidance."
Miller says a GAL has two roles: to advocate and to protect.
For a guardian ad litem to be effective "requires some legal talent," Miller says.
Although not meant to replace the GAL or CASA systems, Miller says yet another approach is being considered by Lake County. It's the establishment of a Domestic Relations Bureau within the county government in which social and legal services for families will be housed "under one roof."
"It helps Mom and Dad to be as non-combative as possible, and that helps the child," Miller says.
But local family law attorneys who have served as GALs, such as Mark Coleman of Valparaiso, say the guardian ad litem system in Porter County works, and the state law doesn't need much tinkering.
"I think more guidelines would be counterproductive," says Coleman. "You'd have GALs using them as a checklist and not getting into things that should be done.
"Children would be better served if just more money were put into these services," Coleman says about the judges' struggles with providing children their own voice in court.
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