As you requested, my staff has completed their review of the state's
Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) program. Utah's program can be improved if GALs
uniformly follow procedures required by recent legislation and national
standards. Recruiting more citizen volunteers to help GALs is also needed. As
you recall, as part of our recent audit of Utah's Child Welfare System (report
93-06) we were asked to review the effectiveness of the GAL program. During
that audit, GALs refused to allow us to review their records, citing
attorney-client privilege as the reason. An ensuing legislative subpoena was "quashed"
in court when the judge agreed with the attorney-client privilege argument.
However, while we were unable to get access to records, GALs did
agree to discuss the program, share statistical information and discuss some
cases with us. Some GALs met with us and discussed specific foster care cases
reviewed during the audit of Utah's Child Welfare System. Time constraints
during that audit prevented us from talking with additional GALs. Since that
time, we have reviewed the program further because we wanted to provide the
Legislature with as much information addressing their concerns as possible. We
have subsequently interviewed additional GALs, conducted more in-depth
discussions of previously interviewed GALs and further evaluated information
given us by the GALs and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Since
we were denied access to the GALs' records we were unable to verify what they
told us during interviews. The information in this report is based on
discussions with GALs, discussions with staff of the AOC, statistical
information provided by the GALs to the AOC, and information from DFS case
files. We were unable to verify the statistical information we were given
because we could not trace the summary data to individual case files. We also
conducted a literature review of recent articles in national periodicals.
Though we have identified some concerns with the program which are addressed
in this letter, we believe the guardians perform a very valuable and important
role in the state's child welfare system. Juvenile Court Judges interviewed
generally praised the guardian's work given their limited funding and limited
number of volunteers in the past. Also, during our audit of the state's child
welfare system, we found instances where the guardians took a very active role
in protecting the child. For example, in the DFS case files there are notations
indicating that some guardians filed motions to permanently deprive parents of
their parental rights when the parents proved incapable of parenting. Also,
interviews with caseworkers showed that some guardians were actively involved in
permanency planning decisions throughout the course of the child being in DFS'
custody.
During our review, the Legislature passed House Bill 396
which addresses many of our concerns. This statute increases funding for the
program and requires GALs to adhere to many Court Appointed Special Advocate
(CASA) standards. These standards have been developed by the National Court
Appointed Special Advocate Association which is a nationally recognized
professional association consisting of professionals involved in child advocacy
including judges, GALs, citizen volunteers, and GAL coordinators. These
standards are recognized nationally by child advocacy experts and are used by
many GAL programs across the country. Because many of our concerns were
addressed by recent legislation, we limited fieldwork in this area.
Following CASA standards as outlined in the new statute and other
recommendations by experts will help GALs better represent the "best
interests" of the child and provide more consistency statewide. The GAL is
an attorney hired by the court to represent the best interests of the child.
This attorney, often assisted by volunteers, is to make certain the child is
protected from further abuse or neglect, is receiving needed services, and will
receive a permanent home as soon as possible. The recently passed House Bill
396 and CASA standards are designed to help the GAL represent the child. These
standards require the GALs to have regular in-person contact with the child;
assess the appropriateness and safety of the child's environment in each
placement; attend all hearings and reviews; work actively with each case until
released by the court; and investigate independently each case by interviewing
the child, foster parents, case worker, and other parties and by reviewing DFS
and court records. Currently, these recommendations are not followed uniformly
among all GALs. Several GALs said they do not have time to visit foster
children in the foster home because of high case loads. Several GALs report
they do not attend administrative reviews because they are not always told when
the reviews are scheduled; however, DFS reports they notify the GALs. Other
GALs report that on occasion they have problems obtaining access to DFS records.
Finally, citing a high case load, one GAL closes some cases before being
released by the court.
Recent legislation and AOC action has
addressed these concerns. The state's GAL coordinator reports that legislation
passed during the 1994 session increased funding over three-fold from about
$400,000 in FY1994 to over $1.4 million for FY1995. Besides increasing funding,
legislation also further clarified duties by requiring GALs to be present at
shelter hearings and administrative reviews. AOC staff report they are
developing policies and additional training to implement this legislation. The
AOC is also in the process of recruiting and training volunteers statewide using
CASA standards. This legislation and action by AOC has either addressed or is
in the process of addressing most of our concerns. However, additional
procedures are needed to address some areas such as making sure children are
assigned a GAL when their case is transferred to another juvenile court
district. In addition, some practices such as following nationally recognized
permanency priorities and working cases until released by the court need further
emphasis.