A VOLUNTEER system could offset huge costs associated with providing an advocacy service for children in the court system, the head of a child protection organisation has said.
Reports have shown the guardian ad litem system is expensive, with private social workers being paid €110 an hour by the HSE.
The role of such a figure is to represent the interests of abused, neglected and abandoned children in court.
Evin Daly, head of One Child International, an international child protection non-profit organisation with offices in Dublin, the US and Australia, said Ireland should follow the US model of volunteer guardians. Mr Daly, who is Irish, works as a guardian ad litem and also trains new guardians in Florida, where he is based.
“In Dublin there are about 18 guardians, mostly social workers, paid for their services,” he said.
“In Palm Beach county, Florida, with a population of 1.3 million, we have 410 guardians. For the entire area of South Florida, including Miami with a population of 5.5m, there are an estimated 1,300 volunteer guardians.”
In 2009, One Child International proposed a volunteer-based system to the Government.
“In the US, none of the 67,000 guardian ad litem are paid, their work is all volunteer-based. The reward for the child and the guardian is in the work that they do.
“The state provides management and supervision of the guardians, typically by paid social worker case managers, who advise and supervise the guardians and a legal team that is available to advise and guide as needed.”
However, Freda McKitterick, who heads Barnardos’s guardian service, said that, in her experience, it is difficult to find the right person for the job, even in a professional capacity.
“This is a very specialised role and I don’t think a volunteer would be able to offer the same expertise,” she said.
Ms McKitterick said Barnardos pays its guardians far less than the HSE. She said demand for the service had increased by almost 40% from last year.
“We are keeping up but it is a struggle and everyone is working very hard.
“We are recruiting but again it is difficult. Of about 20 applications that look good on paper, about three will be suitable.”
As reported in the Sunday Business Post this month, social workers previously employed by the HSE are being paid as much as €300,000 per year by their former employer.
The highest-paid individual, working as a guardian in the east of the country, earned over €311,000 in 2010. Another earned over €267,000. The third highest earner was paid €210,000.
In the greater Dublin area, there is a structured format for payment of guardian ad litem rates. They are paid €110 per hour for their work and €42.65 per hour for travel or waiting time. In other HSE regions, payments are at rates invoiced by the guardians.
Yes, just like the so called Outreach officers being paid by the HSE for work they do NOT carry out for survivors of Industrial abuse.
They who sit on their backsides all day long and claim expenses for doing nothing, and in the meantime being paid by the HSE to be trained, using survivors as guinea-pigs.
And you may be assured, their wages wont be coming out of the government coffers, but will be coming out of the funding for survivor groups. Tis no wonder that nothing is being done. More Fat Cats to be fed.
“The highest-paid individual, working as a guardian in the east of the country, earned over €311,000 in 2010. Another earned over €267,000. The third highest earner was paid €210,000.”
There is nothing in Ireland that involves taxpayers money that won’t be turned into a scam to put some politicians mates or supporters onto the gravy train. I’d wonder who these over paid social workers are and how they got the jobs. How many holidays a year can you afford on an income of over €200,000?
Since these people are there because thay care ‘ well thay will have time for the child’ and not only as a file number its great. All these well paid social workers become indifferent to the real human needs of children and thay are too slow to be effectif.
I’ve case managed and run a small CASA (Guardian ad Litem) organization for 13 years, advocating for over 350 children.
As you probably know, CASA is about volunteer–unpaid guardian ad litem advocacy….at least in Nevada we are appointed guardian ad litem under NRS 432.500, available online. Google it. Good law.
The advantages of unpaid are several.
1. Unpaid means INDEPENDENT–this is stated in our law. And I can tell you it is what our Legislature wanted. We like paid social workers but they represent an agency agenda. Unpaid means you can go into Court and say whatever you think. Having reasons for what you think is required in the law and we case manage to ensure this. But staff and the agency do not dictate the CASA volunteer’s ultimate view.
2. Unpaid means you have TIME and you are older–have LIFE EXPERIENCE. These cases are complex–to understate it entirely. Across the U.S. attorney organizations want courts to pay them to represent children. Will they spend the time? I doubt it. Is an attorney going to talk to the aunt, uncle, foster parent, siblings, medical doctor, developmental specialist and others over and over. There are so many people to talk to, over and over as the case progresses. And child welfare attorneys tend to be young…they’ve never raised children. CASA volunteers tend to have A LOT of life experience. Common sense does mean something in these situations.
3. Unpaid means you are FRESH–aren’t going to be a guardian ad litem over and over. You haven’t become callous. You come into the madness that is sometimes the system and you ask, “what is going on here?” That’s a good thing to have in the Court process.
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Thanks!
Chris Bayer
DIRECTOR
CASA OF CARSON CITY
1545 E. 5th St. Carson City Nevada 89701
I have been a volunteer Guardian ad Litem in Florida for 11 years, and was dismayed to read that Freda McKitterick, of Barnardos’s guardian service, thinks it is difficult to find the right person for the job.
In Brevard County, we have 200 trained volunteer advocates for 642 children. Each volunteer completes 40 hours of pre-service training plus ongoing training through the year.
Our office has 5 paid coordinators who oversee the volunteers and provide any extra help needed.
It would be interesting to know the average time your paid guardians spend on each case, compared to our volunteers.
Judges have a high regard for our opinions, often ruling in our favour because they know we are only concerned with the best interest of the children.
For detailed information see
http://www.guardianadlitem.org or
http://www.casaforchildren.org
Ann Coburn
Guardian ad Litem
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit
Brevard County, FL 32927, US
‘Freda McKitterick, who heads Barnardos’s guardian service, said that, in her experience, it is difficult to find the right person for the job, even in a professional capacity.’ Obviously Ms. McKitterick has very limited experience. The volunteer Guardians in the US are very well trained and perform great work. Of course a volunteer system would put Ms. McKitterick out of a job, so there’s that. I think setting up an Irish volunteer Guardian programme would be an excellent project for the beleaguered Minister for Children.