About 800 children in the 19th Judicial Circuit are in need of Santas – and much more. Most of those children and youths are in St. Lucie.
“St. Lucie County represents about half of the overall total,” said Paul Nigro, circuit director of the Guardian ad Litem Program.
The judicial circuit covers Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties, along with St. Lucie. The circuit’s Guardian ad Litem Program represents children in dependency cases. It has a Holiday Toy Drive going until Thursday, Dec. 13. Folks can get information about particular children to buy presents for at its office in St. Lucie West, 584 NW University Blvd., suite 600.
“If they want to swing by our office, we have a (gift) drop box and angel tree,” Nigro said.
The program can’t release the names or identifying biographical details of children it represents in dependency cases. Nigro said the angel tree has cards that give donors children’s ages and suggested gift items for them.
Most of the children represented by the Guardian ad Litem program are in foster homes due to demonstrated or reasonably suspected abuse, neglect or abandonment by their parents. Some are with their families as the state works to help them stay united after the children have been in foster care, or to prevent removal from happening. In dependency cases there are social workers and attorneys representing the state’s interests. There are attorneys representing the parents’ interests.
As for the guardians, “we’re just looking out for the kids and making sure their interests are represented,” Nigro said.
Guardian ad Litem basically means a guardian for purposes of legal proceedings. Program volunteers visit with the children they represent and try to ascertain what they want and articulate it to the court for them. That’s often hard. About 230 of the children the 19th circuit guardians now represent are newborns to toddlers who have little to no ability to talk. By contrast, the program represents about 50 youths ages 16 to 18.
“They numbers generally go down as (children) get older,” Nigro said.
“It can just be because there’s a great emphasis on working with the children and keeping them with families. It’s a little easier with older children. They are vocal.”
These are numbers volunteer Santas need to keep in mind. “We get very little for the toddlers and infants,” Nigro said. “We actually kind of need those gifts: early learning and development gifts.”
Nigro said donors tend to favor elementary-school appropriate gifts.
“While we don’t represent a large number of older youth, there’s a need for things appealing to teenagers 13 and up,” he said.
Because of that the guardians often turn to giving youths gift cards. But Nigro said that’s a second choice. “Every kid likes to unwrap something,” he said.
There’s one thing the guardians don’t want holiday donors to drop off – clothing. Foster parents get clothing allowances from the state for the children in their care.
Nigro said the greatest holiday gift folks can give children is their time in 2019 and beyond. The program has about 350 volunteer guardians.
“On average our volunteers spend five to 10 hours a month,” Nigro said. “That’s visiting children in their homes. That’s court hearings.”
And it entails talking to the children’s parents, current caregivers, schools and others to get pictures of what they want and need.
“We try to keep our guardians at one to two cases,” Nigro explained. “We have some guardians who have four, five, six cases and some even more than that.”
Nigro said guardians are usually involved with the children they’re representing for about a year.
The 19th Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem Program office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Nicole Hughes is the recruiter. Nigro said she’s happy to talk with folks when they go by to get gift suggestions off the angel tree.
More about the Guardian ad Litem Program is at www. guardianadlitem.org.
