GAZETTE Tampa Bay Gay and Lesbian News

By Dewey Davis-Thompson
There is, perhaps, one thing you can generalize about our community: we don't let the system get us down-we fight! Even as the State of Florida continues to tie our parental wings back, we find ways to fly. This spirit of survival is exactly what Voices for Children and the Guardian ad Litem program seeks in advocates for abused and neglected children.

"Mom's boyfriend smashed me in the head and I could not go to school for a week." "Left alone for days, my little brother and I don't have food, so we beg the neighbors to feed us." These things, and much worse, happen to kids when nobody is looking out for them. The Guardian Program trains volunteers to help these children, caught in the Courts and Welfare System.

It is so easy to do good deeds with this program! Guardian ad Litem (GAL) provides support and training for volunteers who work with abused, neglected and abandoned children of Tampa Bay. After a couple of weeks of evening classes, GAL volunteers are appointed by judges to be a voice for a child in court. GAL volunteers represent the best interest of these children, monitoring their well-being and serving as trusted advisors. GAL makes sure the abuse doesn't continue at the hands of the system.

If you are unable to make the serious commitment to be a Guardian, you can still help with financial contributions to Voices for Children, benefiting the Guardian ad Litem program. GAL has launched this new organization to pay for training and support for the volunteers and to help children with emergency needs.

Government funding for the program is insufficient to meet the need. Fortunately there are people like you, ready to help!

Voices for Children are people willing to speak up for the rights of kids who find themselves shuffling through the child welfare system. Thousands of children are waiting for their voice to be heard.

GAL volunteers come from all walks of life. They're real estate agents, teachers, retirees-all good people who don't just sit back and idly complain about problems with "the system."

They're people who have decided it is time to step forward and help the children, who have no one else to count on. They have resolved to stop letting kids become just one more evening news statistic, just another tragedy. They have resolved to improve a child's life and, in doing so, have discovered that they have also improved their own lives-and can feel better about their community.

You can't measure the intangible benefits-the sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing that you've made a child's life safer. Or the fulfillment of teaching a child to learn to trust an adult and believe in someone again. These are rewards that have no quantity, only quality. You can help children who have suffered at the hands of those who are supposed to love and care for them. You can be a Guardian, or just an Angel with Pennies from Heaven. Or even a Guardian Angel.

However you chose to help defend children in the local area, I can think of no more noble or needed action you can take than becoming a Guardian ad Litem volunteer or donating to the Voices for Children Fund. The situation is grim, but we have faced much worse, and this problem has a cure. To be a part of the solution and to help the greater community of Tampa Bay, call 813-769-3460 or go to Voices for Children

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