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Children's Issues

 

Hello there!  We have quite a year ahead of us and have an enormous amount of work ahead of us, but all the members are enthusiastic and we are looking forward to a great year. 

To begin, if you were unable to attend our first meeting, the following represent the leadership of the committee and are available to help with any questions you may have:

Amy Hickman, Co-Chair: amy@hausmannandhickman.com
Elisha Roy, Co-Chair eroy@sasserlaw.com
Tom Duggar, Co-Vice Chair: Thomas@gwdbw.com
Hon. Ray McNeal, Co-Vice Chair: rtmcneal@cox.net
Kim Nutter, Co-Vice-Chair: knitter@hodgsonruss.com
Ingrid Keller, Co-Secretary: legalassistant@ndianeholemespa.com
Kim Rommell-Enright, Co-Secretary: kenright@legalaidpbc.org

There are a variety of projects you are able to become involved in for the upcoming year.  If you were at the September meetings you have already been assigned a task or two, but if you were not, and are interested, by responding to this email, I will assign you to same.  Now is the time to become involved, as many of the subcommittees we are creating will be meeting telephonically between now and our next live meeting in Orlando in June.

The focus of the Committee this year, and probably next, will primarily be on issues surrounding attorney and guardian ad litems in Family Court and attorneys serving as Guardians in dependency Court.  We recognize there are issues ranging from ethics, to statutes to training to forms and we are hoping, via the work of this Committee to solve many of the concerns that have been raised. 

SUBCOMMITTEES:

1. Statutory Revisions:  Subcommittee Chair is Kim Nutter.  The goal of this group is to develop acceptable statutory language to govern Guardians and Attorneys in Family Court.  Sometimes those roles overlap and it is important to have language that is clear.  This committee was formed last year and has a work in progress, so it is not starting from ground zero.  This committee is charged with creating language and bringing it to the live meeting in January for open discussion.  We do not expect to have proposed legislation for this year, but would like to finalize the language by the end of June 2008.
   
   Members:   Ron Bornstein, Maria Gonzalez, Susan Savard, Frank Zilaitis, Abigail Beebe, Heather Trailer, Ingrid Keller, Elisha Roy, Amy Hickman, Patty Alexander
   
   
2. Keeping Children Safe Act, Glitch Fix:  Subcommittee Chair is Heather Trailer.  Florida Statute 39.0139 has a chilling effect and a subcommittee has been formed to quickly address a solution.  A final product from this subcommittee must be provided at the live January meeting so it may be presented to the Legislative Committee and then to EC in the event we are able to address this for this legislative session.

Members:   Amy Hickman, Abigail Beebe, Tom Duggar, Dr. Deborah Day

3. Ethical Revisions:  Subcommittee Chair is Amy Hickman.  This group will be working on new ethical guidelines for attorneys representing minor children.  The goal of this subcommittee is to have met and have concepts to present to the entire group at the January meeting.

Members:   Bill Booth, Ray McNeal, Charlotte Karlan, Kim Enright

4. GAL/AAL Training: Subcommittee Chair is Patty Alexander.  This subcommittee will be creating a CLE-Type program to provide training to both Guardian and Attorney Adlitems.  The hope is we will create a program the GAL State program will allow to be used as training for them as well.  This committee will also create forms for GAL reports, etc. so there is a format for those choosing to be a GAL.  The goal for this subcommittee is to have a conceptual idea of what the program will look like to present to all in January.

Members:   Allyson Hughes, Ingrid Keller, Sheena Benjamin-Wise, Amy Hickman, Elisha Roy, Tom Duggar, Kim Enright

5. Aging out of DCF:  Subcommittee Chair is Elisha Roy. The goal of this subcommittee is to investigate the existing projects available for children who are aging out of the dependency system.  There is a need for attorneys to serve as guardians for these children and to see what, if any, assistance the Family Law Section can provide.  We will be working closely with the GAL program and the Section Chair to address these issues.

Members:   Heather Trailer, Allyson Hughes

6. Parenting Plan Subcommittee:  Chair is Maria Gonzalez.  The goal is to work up a clear concept of what other states are using to provide to Ron Bornstein and the Rules Committee to finalize in the event the Children’s Issues bill passes the legislature in 2008.

Members:   Ron Bornstein , Ingrid Keller, Terry Fogel, Scott Rubin

 

As you can see, there is plenty to do and plenty going on and we very much need additional assistance.  I implore you to contact me to sign up for one or more of the above sub-committees.  As you can see, each subcommittee has taken on a tremendous task and the more help, hands and heads the better!!!!  You can directly contact the subcommittee chair but it would be appreciated if you would also contact me so I may add your name to our master list!  If there is someone else you know who may be interested and they are not contained within this mailing list, other members are always appreciated and never excluded.  Contact me to join the committee and forward your information to shall@flabar.org.

On behalf of the entire Committee, we very much look forward to working with you all this year.  It should be a very productive and important year of work for Florida’s children!