A Guardian Ad Litem may be appointed in custody and child welfare cases in several situations. They investigate, and report back to the judges, and often have a major impact on how a divorce is decided, or a child’s life.
In situations involving young children in child welfare cases, the GALs also make what are called “substitute judgment” decisions as to whether, if the child were older, the child would prefer to go home and live with one or both of their parents, or be adopted and never see their parents again. This is a very important role, and these reports are critical to families in the Commonwealth. Having many clinicians, attorneys, and social workers – as well as the medical profession and the general public evaluate these proposed standards is important.
URL FOR THE DRAFT STANDARDS:
http://www.mass.gov/… [The warning is that these draft standards are 35 pages long].
URL FOR THE PRESS RELEASE:
I hope you take the responsibility of citizenship seriously and join me in reviewing this document.
Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw@aol.com
