About Volunteer Child Advocate

We currently have over 1,800 children who have been removed from their families in Circuit 10, which incorporates Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties, and of those 1800 children, over 500 have no one to advocate for them. Our mission at GAL is to provide a strong voice in court on behalf of every abused, abandoned and neglected child in our community.

As a Volunteer Child Advocate, we gather information by speaking to the child, their teachers, doctors, caregivers, etc. and then make recommendations as to the “best interest” of the child. We also visit the child at least one time per month. This gives us the opportunity to become the mentor, trusted friend, and constant in the child’s life. The average case takes approximately 6 - 8 hours per month.

Application Process

Application, Background Check & 20 hours of training