Guardian ad Litem partners
with FAMU
to help recruit volunteers
By Calvin Martin,
Director of Program Advocacy and Inclusion
Our mission at Guardian ad Litem is to represent
abused, abandoned and neglected children in Florida’s
dependency courts – a tremendous challenge. We have
more than 10,000 volunteers but always need more, as
more children come into foster care and many stay lon-
ger. Ideally, we strive to have volunteers who reflect the
racial and ethnic mix of our foster care population. video public service announcements. We did a public
radio show together. And Guardian ad Litem staff and
volunteers are visiting classes to talk about and brain-
storm child advocacy and recruitment in communities
of color.
That’s why Guardian ad Litem created the statewide
position of Director of Program Advocacy and Inclu-
sion. And it’s why we’re proud to be collaborating with
Florida A&M University’s (FAMU’s) School of Journal-
ism and Graphic Communications for help in recruit-
ing more people of color, males and young adults as
volunteers. This is an exciting time, and we are making a differ-
ence. Thank you to the FAMU School of Journalism
and Graphic Communications and to all our Guardian
ad Litem staff and volunteers who have been so sup-
portive of this initiative.
At one class I visited, students discussed the challenges
faced by young people who come out of the foster care
Nationally, children of color are over-represented in system. Some students said they have friends and class-
the child protection system. According to a January mates who now face food insecurity or having nowhere
2020 analysis by the National Center for Health Sta- to go during the holidays.
tistics and the Department of Health and Human Ser-
vices’ Children’s Bureau, “about 2.6 percent of Ameri- This is part of our challenge. Communities vary widely
can adults ages 18 to 44, or roughly 2.9 million people, in responding to a call for volunteers, and some are
had spent time in foster care. The rate was higher for mistrustful. So we have to figure out a way to do specif-
African Americans — 3.8 percent of black men and 5 ic types of engagement efforts, which is where I think
percent of black women.”
this partnership comes into play.
Over the past few months, FAMU public relations stu-
dents have been devising surveys and conducting fo-
cus groups. Multimedia students have been creating
J oin us! To learn more about the Guardian
ad Litem Program or to become a
volunteer, visit GuardianAdLitem.org or
call 1-866-341-1425.