What is a Guardian Ad Litem? Simply put, this is an attorney for your child. You generally do not have any input into who the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) is.

The GAL is assigned by the court to look out for the best interests of your child. Your child has been assigned an attorney to be sure that the child’s needs are being met, that your child is in a placement that is in the best interest, that paperwork and things like requesting a termination of parental rights are done in a timely manner and so on.

You may not always meet your child’s GAL or speak with the GAL. In some cases the GAL attends meetings about your child, talks with your child’s worker, reads reports about your child and so on. It is my personal opinion that the best way for the GAL to know you and your child is to meet you in person and spend some time in your home.

Something that many people do not understand is that the GAL does not have to do what the child wants, but rather what is in the best interest of the child. If the child wants to stay in an environment that is abusive and dangerous, obviously the GAL should not be recommending that. The GAL is to represent the child, not the foster or adoptive parent and not the birth parent. The GAL can help to negotiate things like visitation or contact with former foster parents or with biological relatives.

The only personal experience I have with a GAL is the one assigned to our case during our abuse investigation. A GAL was assigned for Sammy and it was an attorney I was slightly acquainted with. One thing I discovered through this process is that GALs do not necessarily have the experience to understand our kids. We live in a small area and children’s mental health is not a huge issue here. It may be better in larger cities, but we had to work to educate the GAL about what life with Sammy was like. This was also before we had a RAD diagnosis on Sammy. We spoke with the attorney here and there, but we never had a full meeting with him.

Kory and Mackenzie each had a Gal that I met only in our case review meetings every six months. At the time I didn’t know that I had a right to speak to the attorney and I should have advocated on my kids’ behalf to speak to the attorney. We had great workers that really advocated for my kids, but this is a mistake that I made.

Learn from my mistake and meet your child’s GAL and get to know the person who can be another advocate for your child. It can be a great asset for both you and your child.



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