Guardian Ad Litem Paper

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are also know as Guardian Ad Litem (GAL). Which is a guardian appointed by the court to represent the interests of infants, the unborn, or incompetent persons in legal actions. There are two different types, one being a volunteer and the other being a child advocate lawyer. The basic responsibilities of a GAL are valuable to a child’s future, historically, GAL’s have been able to change children’s lives by putting them in better care, and although certification takes years of post-high school education, salary outlook, and the ability to benefit kids in need, makes this job popular amongst people who enjoy helping kids and families of their communities.

In 1974, the United States was overwhelmed with concern about the alarming number of reported incidents of child abuse and neglect. With that, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which was the first comprehensive federal legislation dealing with these issues.
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There are a long list of responsibilities guardian ad litem’s have. Guardian Ad Litems have to gather information about the children that are appointed to by having to get to know them. The GAL will look into the family situation and advise the court about issues such as where the children should live most of the time, whether the child is being harmed by one parent’s alleged substance abuse, and what contact the child should have with the other parent (“What Is,” 2015). Overall, the GAL must look at all the different factors that could affect the nature of the parent-child relationship. Then the GAL makes a recommendation. The GAL’s recommendation should protect the child's right to have a meaningful, strong relationship with his or her parents, insofar as that is practical and in the child’s “best interests” (“What Is,” 2015). Everything that a GAL does regarding a case, must be kept