 PALM BEACH COUNTY GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAM
Guardian Ad Litem is a state supported program of trained volunteers 21 years of age and older and professional staff. These volunteers become part of the court process in order to represent and advocate for a child’s best interest. Most of these children, now subjects of judicial proceedings, have been removed from their homes because of alleged abuse, abandonment or neglect. Our volunteers advocate for needed services for the child, report to the judge, case manager and attorney via written reports/ testimony and monitor the case from beginning to end. With a GAL, a child is half as likely to languish in the foster care and child welfare system and more likely to find a safe, permanent home. In Palm Beach County, there are approximately 1,400-1,600 children in the system at this time. To be part of Guardian ad Litem, there are no special legal skills necessary- just good common sense and the desire to help abused and neglected children. Someone interested in helping children may also volunteer for our Speak Up for Kids program. Speak Up for Kids’ is a 501(c3) non-profit whose sole purpose is to support the GAL program and its mission through fundraising, grants, community events/ awareness and presentations. Volunteers are needed for Marketing, Website Management, Administrative, Special Events and Media Relations. To VOLUNTEER or obtain more information regarding Guardian ad Litem and Speak Up for Kids, visit our website at Galpbc.org or speakupforkidspbc.org or call 561-355-6224. Make a lasting difference in the life of a child. VOLUNTEER to be the VOICE of a child
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Foster Truths... Question: I am not in a position to foster right now. How else can I help?5/16/2019
Answer: Volunteer. Advocate. Donate.
Volunteer: Contact Guardian ad Litem Program-Palm Beach County, Florida for information on becoming a Volunteer Child Advocate. It is less intense than fostering, but serving as the voice of these children in the court system is immensely impactful. Advocate: Share with others the need for foster parents, tutors, mentors, and volunteer advocates. Let others know this problem exists and point them in our direction. Donate: All money donated to Speak Up for Kids Palm Beach County serves in their mission of 100% advocacy for each abused, abandoned, or neglected child in our county! Call 561 408 7779 or email info@speakupforkidspbc.org for information. We need ALL HANDS ON DECK! At Palm Beach County Courthouse with Michelle Canaday, Circuit Director of the 15th Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem Program-Palm Beach County, Florida. Michelle shares the impact volunteers make as child advocates and the need for foster parents to care for our kids.
Foster Truths... Question: We're planning a family vacation. May we include our foster child?5/11/2019
Only through true community collaboration and participation can we see a monumental shift in outcomes for our youth.
Center for Child Counseling, Inc., thank you for hosting last night's Resilience event. Our partner, Speak Up for Kids Palm Beach County, which supports us as well as volunteer child advocates appointed by the Guardian ad Litem Program-Palm Beach County, Florida are ecstatic to be part of this community of advocates. Common thread in last evening's message is that positive outcomes are magnified when a child has just one caring adult to mentor and advocate for them. Imagine the impact a family can have! You may be the agent of change a child needs! Answer: You tell the agency the level of care you can provide (traditional, enhanced, or therapeutic) and the preferred age range and you are matched accordingly. The success of foster placement depends upon matching children with the right families, so you are never forced to take a child. 
Question: Are single men excluded from serving as foster parents?
Answer: Absolutely not! Forever Families are not monolithic. This story highlights how men are rallying to support children in our communities.
NBC Miami: Single Dads Adopting Children, Creating Forever Families
Meet Barbara and Liz and listen to their inspiring stories. YOU can make a difference.  A plea to parents… We're reaching out to all community leaders and parents for help. We urgently need homes for children in foster care. Over 100 children entered “the system” in March alone. And of all the 1133 children in an out-of-home situation from Palm Beach County, 550 are ages 5 and under. Sadly, we expect this number to increase with the April reporting. So where do all these children go? When possible, children are placed with relatives or non-relative friends. But far too many of these children end up in the foster system and we are have a critical need for more foster families, especially those willing take in sibling groups (there are 99 siblings separated as of 3/31). HOPE rests with YOU, the moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and empty nesters of our great community. YOU could be a foster parent! YOU could be a child advocate! YOU could you share the need with your community, friends, groups, coworkers, church, and family? Could you open your heart, and your guestroom, to a child who needs a home? It’s easy to learn what it takes to become a foster parent. Weekly info sessions are held, just visit our website at: https://www.fosterpalmbeach.org/events.html Thank you for caring! Diana Reese #Foster PalmBeach Palm Beach County Centralized Foster Home Recruiter A program of Speak Up For Kids of Palm Beach County Volunteer Child Advocate/PBC Guardian ad Litem Program 205 North Dixie Hwy, Suite 2.2100 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 561-223-9646; cell 772-285-7446 http://www.FosterPalmBeach.org Diana@SpeakUpForKidsPBC.org  I am a Foster Mom and this is My Story
I went to class, I readied my home, I passed the background check, and I rallied family and friends to help as I would be a single foster parent, and then I anxiously awaited the first placement call. It came sooner than expected, just two days after I was certified. A little girl needed to change placements – for the 10th time – she had some behavior issues, she was 3. I’m thinking, who wouldn’t have issues after being moved 10 times. The caseworker continued, “She has no health issues and is generally happy.” “Bio Mom is working on reunification so she may be there a short time or a while. We really need someone to stick with her this time”, she said. The butterflies in my stomach, thinking: Can I really do this? What if she doesn’t bond with me? I don’t want to disappoint her. And then I took a deep breath, gathered my strength and said yes. What time will she be here? It’s not been an easy journey. It took Elisa a while to warm up to me, to trust that I wasn’t going to leave, but she’s thriving now and she’s been with me almost two years. You see, Elisa entered this world the baby of a former foster child, just 20 years old herself, trying to find forever love by having a baby. Bio Mom was trying so hard to keep her baby but lacked the true understanding of what parenting looked like because she spent her teenage years in different group and foster homes and that was after her own birth mom failed to take care of her. What I learned along the way is no one is perfect, not the child, not the bio mom, and certainly not me. Foster Care is messy! There is no cookie cutter situation. But there is love, ever abounding love, when you have patience and persistence. I came to realize that what was best for Elisa was to help her mom learn to parent her properly. It took time but by opening my heart and my home to a little girl, I now have a forever connection with her and her Bio Mom with whom she was just reunified. I hope my story inspires you to consider fostering. I am now readying my home for another foster adventure, maybe siblings this time. I am a Foster Mom and this is My Story
I heard the knock on the door my heart began pounding. Thinking, "Am I ready for this? Can I really help this child?" Opening the door, half hiding behind a caseworker, I see a little boy, looking down holding tightly onto a stuffed elephant and a football. My heart explodes with the desire to make him feel safe. "Come on in" I say, "would you like some cookies?" (It’s an old real estate trick: bake cookies to make the house feel homey.) All I got was a head shake, but Asher and his case worker came in. We sat down to do the paperwork and Asher was fidgeting, clearly nervous to be here. We walked back to show him what turned out to be his room for the next year and a half. Little did Asher know, I had already started to love him. There's just something special about helping kids who are stuck in hard situations. It took a while for Asher to warm up to me and adjust to having a routine. But patience, caring, and consistency won out and Asher is now thriving! The biggest challenge was school—he was two years behind. The routine helped and so did his motivation to play football. I'm happy to report that with our help and that of his tutor, he should be on grade level next year. For me, well, my first foster was hard. I always knew that reunification was the goal but the reality of the loss when he left was real. I'm lucky that his Bio Mom was able to see how much he grew as a person while "in care" and she still includes me in his life. You see, fostering is intended to be temporary care. My “job” was to love and care for this child as if he were my own until his biological parents could take care of him. Yes, sometimes that temporary job can become permanent and lead to adoption; but when a parent and child can be reunified, that is the best of both worlds! I am proud of the forever impact I have had on Asher’s life. I hope my story inspires you to consider fostering. I am now readying my home for another foster adventure, maybe siblings this time. Forever, “Aunt” Sally ChildNet is the lead community-based care agency contracted by Florida's Department of Children and Familes (DCF) to care for and manage the cases of Palm Beach County's dependent children.
From DCF's website: What Is Community-Based Care? Community-Based Care is a comprehensive redesign of Florida's Child Welfare System. It combines the outsourcing of foster care and related services to competent service agencies with an increased local community ownership of service delivery and design. This innovative statewide reform increases accountability, resource development, and system performance. So true! Sharing a beautiful letter from a foster parent to a case worker: Dear case worker,
You’ve stepped over my threshold one million times. You’ve been brand new and eager and I’ve witnessed you worn out and oh so jaded. You’ve carried me new babies fresh from the local hospital. You’ve dropped confused big kids in my foyer at 3 am too. I’ve seen the look of... read more http://thishardcalling.com/dear-case-worker WPBF's Angela Rozier: Local child advocate on a mission to find more foster homes for kids in need1/1/2019  Many thank's to Angela Rozer for bringing light to the need for Foster Families in Palm Beach County. Listen to the newscast here: https://www.wpbf.com/article/local-child-advocate-on-a-mission-to-find-more-foster-homes-for-kids-in-need/25337669
“What was it like growing up with foster siblings in your home?”
This is the question that I am most frequently asked... read more https://foster2forever.com/2012/03/adding-foster-children.html |
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561-223-9646 |
Diana@SpeakUpForKidsPBC.org |
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Foster Palm Beach's Centralized Foster Home Recruiter is a program of Speak Up For Kids of Palm Beach County created through a Children's Service Council Great Ideas Initiative grant to address the critical need for foster parents in Palm Beach County.
Speak Up For Kids is committed to providing every vulnerable child in Palm Beach County with a voice to advocate for their physical, educational and emotional best interests. Any financial support should be made directly through: www.SpeakUpForKidsPBC.org |
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