Case Study: The Guardian Ad Litem Advocate

The definition of a lawsuit is a civil action brought in court in which a plaintiff demands another person, known as the defendant, pay this person equitable resolve (dictionary.com). In other words they want payment for being wronged in the past. If the case is found to be legitimate and proven justifiable, the defendant pays the plaintiff the awarded compensation. This brings us to the story, The Lawsuit, by Naguib Mahfouz. This tale is about a son being sued by his father’s widow demanding maintenance be paid to her some twenty years after the father’s death. Several of the individuals in this story serve very little purpose.

outside agencies that now work side by side with Foster care to assist when needed.” (Webb) Some of those agencies are Guardian Ad Litems, to speak on the child’s behalf in their

Alliance for Children’s Rights seeks out to help the impoverished, neglected, and abused children living in the United States. They help with free legal services, safe homes, and education and training for foster children and foster parents. According to the Alliance for Children’s Rights, there vision is “A world in which all children have safe, permanent families with the support they need to thrive.” They focus on three main areas; free legal services and advocacy for children in foster care, training and education for those who work in the foster care system, and a system wide reform to change policies to improve children’s lives. The alliance works with a staff of Pro Bono attorneys to advocate for these children. Pro Bono is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing justice for the disadvantaged. The Alliance for Children’s Rights and Pro Bono work together to promote policy reforms such as expedite adoptions, secure medical coverage and therapy for children, support children faced with trauma and disability, and assist young adults in becoming productive and self-reliant adults.

When a law enforcement officer or other public employee is accused of potentially criminal conduct, they may face three different kinds of interviews or interrogations. If an officer is interviewed as a criminal suspect, they have the absolute right to decline to answer any questions, or to insist that they have a lawyer of their choosing to attend the interview. The first is type is during a criminal investigation; the second is during a disciplinary investigation and finally during the course of civil litigation where there has been damages. During a criminal interview, there is no professional, ethical or moral duty to participate especially without the assistance of an attorney to represent the officer under investigation. It has come to a surprise that many experienced officers will waive their right to silence and give the investigators an audio recorded statement. Some of the inexperienced criminals do not make incriminating statements. The motive for cooperation is to avoid unfavorable publicity.

While looking at the dangers and environment in a child’s home, advocates such as employees of the Department of Family and Protective Services of the State of Texas, have the moral obligation to take into consideration safety of children shelters and foster homes. Morally, advocates for the children should also take into consideration the psychological trauma that the child may or may not experience through being taken away from family and being placed, possibly multiple times, at new places away from everything they know.

The lawsuit transpired against Department of Human Services in Mississippi because the system deserted the children. In this case, a young girl named Olivia Y was abused by her mother and the foster home. While taking her out the home at the age of three, the system continually neglected her. Department of Family Children Service failed to present Olivia with adequate medical and health support. “This case is alleged that Mississippi’s foster care system was failing adequately to protect children in its custody and provide necessary services in violation of their federal constitutional rights (www.mdhs.state.ms/olivia-y-lawsuit/”).

CASA or court appointed special advocates, advocate for children in court, They are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they do not get lost in the over-burden legal and social service system or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes. For many of these abused children, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence in their lives. They listen and then they act-- they get to know the child by talking with everyone in the child's life, parents, relatives, teachers, medical professionals, attorneys, social workers, foster parents, and others. They use this information to inform judges and others of what the child needs and what will be the best permanent home for them. Guardian Ad Litem are usually lawyers or mental health professionals, depending on the court and the circumstances. They investigate the matter at hand, use their own judgment in determining what is in the best interest of the child, and report their findings/recommendation to the court. In contested custody/visitation cases, courts frequently appoint a guardian ad litem for the children (1).

In an article published in the New York Times July 7, titled “Suit to Accuse New York City and State of Keeping Children in Foster Care Too Long” author Vivian Lee discuses a suit against New York filed by the city public advocate’s office. The suit accuses the system of delays, mismanagement, and incompetence, causing harm to children by keeping them in the system for months and years longer than necessary.

Court Appointed Special Advocates and Guardian Ad Litem’s are just regular people who are doing their best to make a difference in the life of a child who is involved in the court system because they have been declared by the court to be neglected, abused or dependent. The CASA/GAL volunteer is required to go through extensive training before they are ever given a case to handle. They are expected to commit to at least 15 hours a month per a case and to handle 1-2 cases at a time. The cases can last up to two years and sometimes can last longer than that. In the beginning they may put in more hours because of all the court hearings and meeting they need to attend.

The assistance of other professionals may also become necessary. For example, if custody or visitation is contested, the court may appoint a Guardian ad Litem to conduct an investigation. Guardians charge hourly for their services as well, and the parties are responsible for these costs. Should the services of forensic accountants, child psychologists, or other

The leading cases, CIR v Mitsubishi Motors Ltd [1995] and Commissioner of Taxation v James Flood Pty Ltd [1953] that reflect a taxpayer

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For the mock trial I was assigned to be one of the prosecuting attorneys. After being presented with case materials which included facts of the case, statements from both prosecuting and defense witnesses, penal code for the alleged charges, and map of the crime scene, we as a group decided to create one Google Drive document. There we would upload our parts of the case and help other group members with their assignments.

Paralegals and Legal Assistants do various tasks to support a lawyer or attorney including organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting numerous types of documentation in preparation for legal action to take place. Legal actions that take place are court hearings, trials, and corporate meetings.

Between the cases many comparisons are to be made about both trials. The decisions of the cases showed premises, in that both trials were on the subject of marriage equality. The fact that this trial went in favor of the plaintiff showed forthcoming. As the legal establishment shown from the trials gave validity to their marriage and similar ones that are to follow. So, by referencing, or even with knowledge of the case going in favor of the plaintiff, the case shows great promise and has an extreme impact on the future, making the cases trailblazers. In both the 1960’s and during present day is the perception of marriage established. Yet, there are still those that did not have exactly the same belief and had the conception that marriage was based on love, and not gender, or ethnicity. So, from the court 's decision the presumption can be made that it influenced the movement, or a want of marriage equality which of course depended on the time period. As the people who opposed same-sex marriages and marriage based on race, differed. For example, from the bible marriage is to be between a man and a woman, as the church 's impact negatively was minimal in support of legalization of different race marriage. Although, in the case of same-sex marriages the decision was fought and outraged by the catholic community under the belief, that was established in the bible that marriage was between a man and a woman. So, the impact of the churches went from minimal in the 1960’s to great