Legal needs of children.

• Author: Talenfeld, Howard
• Position: Annual Reports

Ten years ago, The Florida Bar Commission on the Legal Needs of Children was formed by Bar President Edith Osman to issue a report and recommendation on improving the legal representation for children in the state of Florida. In 2002, this commission, composed of leadership from the Guardian ad Litem Program, judges, legislators, and dependency experts, issued its report after hearing public testimony from national experts and debating this issue for three years. Six years ago, The Florida Bar's Board of Governors officially made the Legal Needs of Children Committee a standing, public service committee. The committee was created to find ways to implement the 2002 recommendations of the commission. Historically, the committee has sought to achieve this goal by emphasizing issues of representation, rules of court and judicial process, competency and confidentiality, and standards of practice. Florida Bar President Jesse Diner charged our committee with finishing the job. The committee ended its sixth year by approving a draft legislation that would provide for the legal representation of dependent children by fighting to pass this legislation while protecting the legislative funding of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, finalizing guidelines for representation in delinquency cases, and moving incrementally forward with its work to obtain certification for lawyers representing children.

Representation Legislation--This year, the committee achieved President Diner's goal by obtaining approval from the full committee, The Florida Bar Legislative Committee, and The Florida Bar Board of Governors of consensus draft legislation that would implement report of the Legal Needs of Children Commission to provide for the right of dependent children to have legal representation and state-funded representation of dependent children in critical categories. Our committee, composed of members of leadership from the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services, Florida Bar Foundation grantees from Legal Aid Programs, members of the judiciary, and dependency practitioners, participated in revising last year's draft legislation to forge a compromise. As part of the process, the committee worked with and considered input from many other persons and organizations including independent members of the state and federal judiciary, members of the Florida Legislature, Florida's Children's First, Florida Youth Shine, and...