Strictly speaking, volunteers have a simple job. They are to serve as advocates for children in foster care. If a judge rules that the Department of Children and Families should offer counseling or other special services, they make sure the child gets those services. If a child has languished too long in foster care when family reunification is in its best interests, that's what the volunteer pushes for. Being a guardian ad litem, Cadigan said, does not require volunteers to house children.
Volunteers attend meetings with the department.
They attend court hearings. They visit the children assigned to them at least once a month. It is not an easy task, said Lombardi, who has participated in the program for 14 years. Usually, though, it is a rewarding one. To volunteer An hourlong meeting about the Hillsborough guardian ad litem program will be held at 7 tonight at Borders bookstore on S Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.