[bjhv5]

My 23 month old FS GAL came over today and stayed for 10 min. The last time she stayed for maybe 20 min.Then she tells me she is going to attend hte next visitation where she will observe the bmom for 1 hour 30 min.How can she make agood determination of what our realtionship is like with our son?? How can she go into a court and say what she thinks is best for him??

I guess I am just worried that she will say he should go back to bmom when I drop him off for visitation he will just sit with me until he see his bmom bag of cookies/candies etc.She nevers hold him etc.We love this little guy so much and have been asked by more than one person IF there was a TPR would we want to adopt and of course our answer is YES!!!!!!!!!!!

What is your take on GAL's?



Second we got a 1 yo on Thursday last week poor baby had scabies so bad sores all over his legs anyway he has 2 older sisters they would like us to take and mom is due any day so that would be 8 children (3 bios age 17,13,12) The girls are 6 1/2 and 2 so we would have a 17,13,12,6,2 1/2,2,1,newborn !!! I know it is crazy.I just do not want to endanger our chance of adopting our little J.
I know I can handle that many( I have had a home day care) that is not a question.I guess I am just wanting some input.

Thanks I hope this make some kind of sense to someone!! haha.

Deb
bio mom to 3- 17,13,12
f mom to J 23months
f mom to K 1 year

[momofmykids]

My humble opinion...everybody should have 8 kids! It's great!

In my experience, the GAL's generally go along with the state, whatever the state wants, the GAL's *usually* recommend (in my neck of the woods, anyway). If she's good, she'll pick up on the fact that mom doesn't hold him, etc., and that she's just playing the "candyman" for the visit.

Good luck!

[GingerR]

We've had our 4 year-old fd since March and have yet to be visited in our home by her GAL. She did visit M at her daycare a couple of months ago, and otherwise I only speak with her on the phone if I have a question regarding her case.

I think in our fd's situation, the bio parents are so bad that the GAL would see "anyone" as an improvement, but still, our hope is that this will be an adoption, so you would think she would at least have visited us in person at some point by now.

But suffice it to say, I have many of the same questions you do. The greatest flaw in the system is that everyone recommending and deciding for these children are in actuality, completely not in touch with them or their needs.

Best of luck if you do decide to take on all 8. I think it's wonderful!

[wish41more]

Hello Deb! It's been too long since we chatted! One question, what is a GAL?
You know, ever since we got M, our 1st placemet, 2 months ago I've been thinking where do I stop? 3,4,5,...8? Just go with your gut. Only you know who much you can handle.

[Karma]

GAL guardian ad litum; supposed to represent best interests of child

[yanknrebel]

GAL.....HMMM??? Our foster/now adopted daughter was placed with us at 2 days of age straight from the hospital. We had her for 34 months before the adoption was final. We had lots and lots of court hearings and I and usually my dh was at EVERY SINGLE ONE. We sat on the 1st row, in the same seat everytime. I called the GAL numerous times and was NEVER called back. I FINALLY went up to him, introduced myself and told him that our daughter was almost 3 and we needed him to come see her. He said "Oh yeah, here is my number. Give my office a call and we'll set up a time". I explained I had called numerous times. He explained that he had just been very busy. He assured me he would come see her. LOL Never happened. However this GAL was already our side. He stood up at one point in a last ditch effort to give the bps the opportunity to "claim responsibility" of the abuse the biomom's first three children had suffered at her hands. SHe still denied ever hurting those babies, even after being convicted by her peers and serving a 10 year sentence. I have NO IDEA why our daughter had a GAL? I am sure there are some good ones out there. This GAL was a very nice man, but never took the time to even meet this child EVER during the three years before the adoption. SO good luck.

[Crane13]

8 kids and I have never had any contact with the gals. When we are permitted to go observe at court, we see the gal, but that is about it. He/she reads the court report and sides with the state everytime. I would LOVE for the gal(s) to meet my fkids and see where they are living now.

J

[mommyto9]

I agree, 8 kids are GREAT! We have 17,16,13,11,6,4,3, and 4 months. The four oldest being bio. children and the youngest four foster. We had an initial TPR hearing about 2 months ago on 3 yr old fs. (4 mo. old is his brother) We are waiting to hear from the gal. and find out when the TPR hearing will be set. I'm bummed b/c I was hoping the TPR hearing would be while bd was in jail but he gets out in 9 days so..... Oh well....

Best of Luck!

[Imdamommy]

Is the GAL the same as the CASA worker? (Court Appointed Special Advocate) We have a CASA worker that spends 45 min to an hour and a half at our home once a month. I am confused about the GAL. Does anyone know if they are two different things?

[Cobb]

The GAL is usually a lawyer (but in some states, doesn't have to be), who represents the child in court. At a court proceding, you'll have the state's attorney, the parents attorney (sometimes two) and the GAL. CASA's interview all anciliary professionals, meet with the child, family and foster family, sometimes supervise visits and makes a recommendation to the court in the form of a report, but does not speak in court unless requested to do so by the judge. GAL's case loads can be extensive (esp if in areas where that is all the only work those specific attorneys do) or cases can be appointed to judges on a rotating basis in the same way public defenders are (in area's where they don't have a specific GAL group). A CASA on the other hand usually works on one case at a time and is able to devote more attention to that individual case.

Does that help?

[momofmykids]

In TN, a GAL is an attorney and CASA is usually volunteer.

I've never had a GAL come to my house. Shoot, my last two adoptions, I never even knew who their GAL was (they're supposed to have them, but not sure if they did!). We've never had a CASA worker.

[Kate1129]

We had our foster kids (4 and 1 years old) for almost 7 months and never once did the GAL come to see the kids! Never did he even meet the kids!

I think they are a joke, but I've not had a good one yet. I'm sure there has to be a good one out there somewhere, just not here.

[sunnyandi13]

I second that there have to be SOME good GAL's out there, but darned if we have been able to find them...

Our fd's GAL was too busy to even show up in court! I called at least twice a week while she was with us to get his support of her being adopted by us - I only got to talk to him once on the phone and he said "I'll have to look her up and call you back. I've done this for 30 years and have more cases than I can handle, so I can't even talk to you about your fd without my file notes." Only, he NEVER called back. In the nine months she was with us, I only got to leave two messages, not only was he never there, his mailbox was constantly "full".

If you ask me, I think they're a joke, I've yet to meet anyone around here that has had a good experience. They don't ever meet a child, talk to the family, caregivers, etc. - how can they make an informed recommendation?

Oh well, JMO...
Sunny

[csimmons]

We have a wonderful GAL. He has attended almost every meeting and of all the people on our team, he comes down harder on bio parents than anyone. He is stern and makes no bones about where he stands in the case! He has been awesome. We also have a CASA worker and she has been a god-send. We have a really horrible caseworker who can't find his rear-end with both hands (LOL). If it weren't for getting a CASA worker who actually began to "verify" everything the biomom was reporting (which turned out to be total lies), our foster child would be home right now living with a drug addict mother who knows nothing about how to take care of herself or a child. Thank God for CASA workers!

When our adoption is over, we hope by Christmas, I plan to stop fostering and become a CASA worker. I am all for standing up for the foster children and doing what is REALLY in THEIR best interest!

[tybeemarie]

Well, what an indictment of the child welfare system this thread is! I am so disgusted! Before becoming a SAHM to our sibling group of 3, I was a child welfare lawyer who represented both birth parents and foster parents. In Chicago, every child has a GAL assigned to their case. They are legally required to see their kids once a year, their office has a policy of twice a year, but most of the time they send one of their office's investigators, who are not attorneys, to see the kids. I'm not saying that using investigators violates the law necessarily, I'm just saying if you send someone else to interview your client, you don't know your client.

This sounds like a whole lot more than you all see in your states, and it is, IMHO, totally inadequate. Many of my clients' children thought I was their lawyer, because I was the only lawyer they ever met. Many times I would have to point out the GAL's clients to them, because they didn't even recognize them. Even so, did that interfere with their willingness to make life-changing decisions on their clients' behalf? Did it give them even a moment's pause? Were they in the least embarassed? No, no, and no. It was just appalling.

Now, in fairness, I made friends with some very dedicated GAL's who DID know their clients and worked very, very hard. But that is not the average GAL, I'm sorry to say. And the caseloads they have, in fairness to them, make it impossible to know all of the children's names, much less their life situations. The GAL's I knew had caseloads of between 60 and 100 kids. That is simply too many.

What you all are describing in your posts is sheer malpractice. If you conducted your legal career in this way in any other type of law, you would be in trouble, or at least you would be looked down upon by your peers as a total loser. Not in child welfare. People pat themselves on the back for working in the field, and leave it at that.

And, as always, who suffers for this? The kids. My children were severely abused while in foster care. If they had a lawyer they actually knew, someone they saw a few times, maybe they would have disclosed the abuse to that person. You cannot expect a child to disclose their darkest secrets to someone who is a complete stranger to them. Well, this is all very depressing.

For what it's worth, the GAL's I know almost universally had strong biases against birth parents. They also look down on foster parents, but not so much as birth parents.

Hang in there, foster parents! Solidarity!