I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate (67 page)

B
OOK
C
LUB
G
UIDE

M
OST COMMUNITIES HAVE A
CASA (
COURT APPOINTED
special advocate or Guardian ad Litem program). Some book clubs invite a volunteer or staff member to their meeting. Sometimes this leads to new volunteers from the group or gives additional insight into children’s needs and issues locally.

Discussion starters:

1. Do you think the author knew what she was getting into when she first became a volunteer?
   
2. Why did Gay clash with professional caseworkers so often?
   
3. Lydia Ryan ended up in juvenile detention without having committed a crime. What could have prevented this? Do you think this happens very often?
   
4. Do you think these volunteers make friends in the community? Why might their role be controversial? Who might oppose them?
   
5. Whose rights should prevail? The parents’? The child’s?
   
6. Can you recall a child abuse case that received a lot of press in your community? Do you think that child had an advocate?
   
7. Were you surprised by any of the outcomes in the author’s update on what happened after these young people grew up? What could have been done to change these?
   
8. Do you know anyone who has adopted from foster care? Do you know anyone who has adopted an older child or a teenager? Is it “easier” to adopt a small child or a teenager? What about a sibling group?
   
9. Have you ever known a foster family? What are some of the challenges they have faced?
   
10. Do you know families who are raising their relatives or grandchildren?
    
11. Have you ever known a family whose children were removed due to abuse or neglect?
    
12. Has your opinion about foster children changed after reading this book?
    
13. What are some adjectives that describe the author’s personality?
    
14. Are you curious to read her adoptive daughter’s book?
    
15. Were you inspired to make a difference for a child in your community?
    

Gay Courter participates in book club discussions by phone, when available. She is also a paid keynote speaker. Contact:
[email protected]

Index
(Searching Guide for E-books)

bold italics = pseudonyms

 

Adoption

     Closed

     open

Allen, Woody

Attachment disorders

Attorneys, as Guardians ad Litem

Baby Jessica.
See
DeBoer, Jessica

Baby M.

Baker Act (Fla.; 1970)

Black, Roy

Blair, Jerri

Bonding, parent-child

Bonito, Helen

CAPTA.
See
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act

CAS A.
See
Court appointed special advocate

Case histories

     
Colby
family

     
Lydia
Ryan

     
Sharonda James

     
Stevenson
family

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA; 1974)

Child abuse registry

Child advocate.
See
Court appointed special advocate; Guardians ad Litem

Children’s Defense Fund

Children’s rights

     Convention on the Rights of the Child

     legal precedents

     legal representation

     open adoption

     organizations/associations

     psychological vs. biological parents

     timely, appropriate case disposition

“Children’s Rights: A Legal Perspective” (Clinton)

“Children Under the Law” (Clinton)

Child Welfare League of America

Clinton, Hillary Rodham

Closed adoption

Colby
family case history

     
Buddy
(
Mervyn
; father)

     
Julie
(daughter)

     
Lottie
(mother)

     
Nicole
(daughter)

     
Simone
(daughter)

Confidentiality

Contempt of court

Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations

Corporal punishment

Court appointed special advocate (CASA)

(see also
Guardians ad Litem)

DeBoer, Jessica

Defense for Children International,

Edelman, Marian Wright

Elliott, Lillian

     
Colby
case

     
Ryan
case

     
Stevenson
case

Family preservation

     biological vs. psychological parents

Florida, Guardians ad Litem program

Foster care

     client population

     government costs/funding

     limit testing

     placement adjustment

     placement turnover

     training, licensing, payment

Friend of the court

GAL.
See
Guardians ad Litem

Gault decision (1967)

Gregory K.
See
Kingsley, Gregory

Guardian ad Litem Foundation

Guardians, legal

Guardians ad Litem (GALs)

     advocate privacy preservation

     advocate profile

     appointment mandates

     attorneys as

     case distribution

     caseloads

     client confidentiality

     criminal prosecutions

     investigation priorities

     legal protections

     privileged information access,

     as protectors of child’s best interests

     record keeping

     responsibilities

     state programs
(see also
Florida)

     supervision

     training

Hastedt, Nancy

     
Colby
case

     Kingsley case

     
Ryan
case

     
Stevenson
case

Health and Rehabilitative Services Department (HRS), Florida

Jackson, Jesse

James, Sharonda
, case history

Kelly, Gary F.

Kingsley, Gregory

Kingsley, Rachael

Kingsley, Ralph

Kirk, Thomas S. (Judge)

Kirkland
family

Legal Action Project (LAP

Legal guardianship

McGee, Bradley

Mary Ellen (child abuse case; 1894)

Mays, Kimberly

Mead, Margaret

Measure of Our Success, The
(Edelman)

Minimally sufficient care

National Committee for the Rights of the Child (NCRC)

National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (NCASAA)

National Evaluation of the Impact of Guardians ad Litem in Child Abuse or Neglect Judicial Proceedings
(1988)

NCASAA.
See
National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association

NCRC.
See
National Committee for the Rights of the Child

Open adoption

Paddling

Padgett v. Dept. of HRS
(Fla.; 1991)

Parental obligations

Parental rights termination

     Gregory Kingsley case

     and open adoption

Parents

     bonding

     psychological vs. biological

     surrogate motherhood

Party status

Poertner, John

Posttraumatic stress disorder

Press, Allan,

Primary parental rights

Privileged information

Protective supervision

Punishment, corporal

Richardson hearing procedure

Runaway children

Russ, George

Russ, Lizabeth

Ryan
case history

     
Audrey
(daughter)

     
Catherine
(mother)

     
Lydia
(
Did
i; daughter)

     
Mark
(brother)

     
Stuart
(stepfather)

Schorr, Lisbeth B.

Secondary parental rights

Self-esteem, promotion of

Smith, William Kennedy

Soukup, David

Stability, need for

Stern, William

Stevenson
family case history

     
Alicia
(daughter)

     
Cory
(son)

     
Jeremiah
(grandfather)

     
Red
(
Richard
; father)

     
Rich
(son)

     
Tammy
(mother)

     trial proceedings/aftermath

Surrogate motherhood

Thorndike, Kit
(
Thorn
)

     
Colby
case

     
Ryan
case

     
Stevenson
case

Twigg family

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect

Walsh, Adam

Whitehead, Mary Beth

Who Best Represents the Interests of the Child in Court?
(Poertner and Press; 1990)

Williams rule

Within Our Reach, Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage
(Schorr)

Writ of Replevin

About the Author

 

G
AY COURTER HAS WORKED CONTINUOUSLY IN FILM AND
television production since graduation from Antioch College and has produced more than 200 documentary and educational films. She is author of five bestselling novels with over three million copies in print worldwide including
The Midwife, The Midwife’s Advice, Code Ezra, River of Dreams
, and
Flowers in the Blood
. Her non-fiction works include
The Beansprout Book
and
I Speak For This Child
, and
How To Survive Your Husband’s Midlife Crisis
.

Gay has served as a volunteer in the Florida Guardian Ad Litem program since 1989 in which she acts as the court appointed advocate for neglected and abused children. Her book about her experiences
, I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate
, brought national attention to the cause. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Day One, NBC Weekend Edition, and in
Newsweek
, the
Los Angeles Times
,
Christian Science Monitor
and other national publications as an expert on these issues and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Gay has also received the Child Advocate of the Year award in Florida for her work as a Guardian Ad Litem, the Sharon Solomon Child Advocate Award from the Florida Center for Children and Youth, and special recognition from the Florida Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. for her work on
Where’s My Chance? The Case for Our Children
, which also won an Emmy. Gay received her second Emmy from the National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences, Suncoast Chapter, for a series of public service announcements called
Solutions for America’s Children
. She has been selected as one of the 10 most admired women in Citrus County twice—in the community service and arts categories. In 2004, Gay, her husband, Philip, and daughter, Ashley, jointly won the Angels in Adoption award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Gay is married to her collaborator in documentary films, Philip Courter. They have produced almost hundred films on child welfare topics and specialize in media about children’s issues and strengthening family. Clients include National CASA, the National Council of Family and Juvenile Judges, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

The Courters have two sons, Blake, a specialist in computer design development and engineer; and Joshua, an ethnographic filmmaker and builder/designer. In 1998, they adopted Ashley, then age 12, who spent 9 years of her life in Florida’s foster care system in 13 different placements. Ashley’s bestselling book about her experiences,
Three Little Words,
is in development as a feature film.

Together the Courters continue to work professionally and personally so that other children will not be lost in the system like their daughter was.