Some questions to ask your Guardian ad litem

Our court system has us believe that the role of Guardian ad litem is at least in theory a person who is the eyes and ears of the court offering a neutral and unbiased view of the divorcing family. In practice the person who operates in this role is anything but. The Guardian ad litem’s personal values and agenda clouds the process and as a result this can be a source of conflict with you.

Ask yourself this:

How well do you know this person?

What happens if your values differ from that of this court appointed official?

Our Family Court system markets the belief that in the roll of Guardian ad litem we have a person who we are to believe is an expert in determining – where your child should live, the impact of divorce or domestic violence, visitation, custody, law, psychology and social work to name a few areas. This expertise comes from just a few hours of training with little or no focus. There is no test to determine whether or not this Guardian ad litem understands the material. There is no mentoring program after the Guardian ad litem completes training. To make matters worse - there is no oversight or management of this person in this role. Doctors, lawyers, judges, electricians, plumbers, nurses, oil burner technicians, chiropractors, social workers and dental hygienists have more training and oversight. In addition to the training and oversight we can ask people in these professions questions without the fear of being reprimanded for doing so.

You – as a consumer – need to inform yourself about the person who is being thrust into your life and making decisions which you have no control over. They should be asked before any Guardian ad litem has become a part of your life - chances are the Guardian ad litem is already wreaking havoc in your divorce/ custody. It is not too late.

These questions are being presented in no particular order or grouping. In most cases the answers will have meaning for you and should be used as a tool to help in understanding the Guardian ad litem. In asking any of these questions if the Guardian ad litem refuses to answer or gives a non-answer answer – that is a behavioral message and a clue as to the makeup of the person. The questions and answers should be entered in as evidence or asked in court of the Guardian ad litem. It becomes part of the record.

After going through this list if you can think of questions that may be appropriate to ask we would encourage you to share. A link will be provided to voice those questions. 

Presented here are some basic questions (depending on the answer there may be follow up questions): 

1     Do you have experience as a law enforcement officer in conducting investigations?

2.       What is your actual field of professional expertise?

3.       What makes you an expert in determining what is good for other people’s children?

4.       What makes you an expert in determining how other people should conduct their lives?

5.       What is your child hood family background?

6.       What is your own family history as an adult?

7.       What is your own marital history as an adult?

8.       What is your own relationship history as an adult?

9.       Why do you want to be appointed to this case?

10.   What do you see your role in this case to be?

11.   How do you separate your underlying professional behaviors from your role as Guardian ad litem functions?

12.   As a Guardian ad litem going through training were you ever tested on what you learned?

       a.       YES – What was the score you received?

       b.      NO – How do we know that you understand the material taught/ discussed?

13.   As a Guardian ad litem you are tasked as being neutral and unbiased in conducting your investigation and in making recommendations.

       a.       How do you maintain neutrality during your investigation?

       b.      How do you keep your personal bias and agenda out of the cases?

       c.       Does the judge provide supervision and oversight when you are appointed to a case?

14.   As a child did you ever experience issues involving the absence of one or both parents?

        a.       YES – What was that experience like for you?

        b.      NO – How can you understand what the issues are?

15.   Do you have experience with research in dealing with child custody?

       a.       YES - What specific research can you sight?

       b.      NO – If not then please explain how you are able to conduct an investigation?

16.   Please describe what was/ is the relationship you had/ have with your Mother?

17.   Please describe what was/ is the relationship you had/ have with your Father?

18.   Are there any ongoing issues with either?

19.   Did you grow up in a divorced home?

20.   Do you have siblings?

21.   Do you have Grandparents?

22.   As a child did you have contact with your extended family?

23.   Do you come from a religious home?

       a.       YES – What is your religion currently?

24.   Did/ do you come from a particular ethnic background?

25.   We grow up with a belief system. It is a part of what defines us as a person.

       a.       Has your belief system ever interfered with an investigation?

       b.      Did/ will your belief system interfere with this case?

       c.       NO – How do we know?

26.   Do you apply your own values in making recommendations to the court?

       a.       YES – Can you describe what some of your personal values (political, social as example).

              i.   If my values are different than yours how will that affect your perception of me as a             parent?

       b.      YES – As a neutral observer – why are your values better than either parent?

       c.       NO – How can we be sure?

       d.      NO – As a neutral observer – are you saying that your investigation is neutral with regards to the values you have?

              i.   If so then what test do you use to verify this?

              ii.  How can we be sure your values will not influence how you view this divorce/ custody?

27.   In making your recommendations to this court please explain how you arrived at the following:

       a.       The visitation schedule?

       b.      Custody?

28.   Have you ever been married?

       a.       YES – How many times?

       b.      NO – How are you able to understand the dynamics of married life?

29.   Have you ever been divorced?

       a.       YES – How many times?

       b.      YES – Did you ever go through litigation?

              i.   YES – Did you have issues with child support?

              ii.  YES – Did you have issues with the custody agreement(s)?

       c.       NO – What experience do you draw upon in order to understand what a divorcing family goes through?

30.   Do you ever refer cases you are involved in to Child Protective services?

       a.       YES – What are your criteria for such a referral?

       b.      YES – Is the claim of child abuse always a criminal claim?

       c.       YES – Should criminal allegations be removed from Family Court to an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office?

31.   Which Judges do you frequently work with?

32.   Which lawyers do you work with on cases?

33.   How many of your cases have been appealed to a higher court?

34.   Have you ever been sanctioned:

       a.       By a Judge?

       b.      By a Higher Court?

       c.       The result of a complaint?

35.   How many cases have you been involved with as a Guardian ad litem?

36.  How do your clients respond to the work you do as a Guardian ad litem?

While these questions should be asked before the Guardian ad litem has been assigned by the judge - quite often it will not be until after you recognize there is a problem with the way this person operates. It is never to late to start asking. Make the questions and answers for the record. If you have any questions which you think may be appropriate we ask that you follow this [LINK] to submit. We will maintain a running list of questions.

MeGAL is working for reform in our Family Court system. This includes the role of Guardian ad litem, Parent Coordinator, Special Master and court evaluators. If you have issues we ask that you contact us at MeGALalert@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

FOUR QUESTIONS FOR MAINE’S FAMILY COURTS

Maine has four pressing very functional questions for Maine's family courts.  They have been raised repeatedly by many citizen users of these courts, and the absence of clear, understandable answers poses a significant intellectual barrier to justice in these courts.  At present the answers to these questions seem like a sort of lottery or, worse, a guessing game for the public.  We would insist that the intellectual challenge of answering them isn’t beyond the ability of the courts and also that it shouldn’t be a different answer every time the issues come up,

1. Education for Guardians ad litem (GALs), judges, lawyers and the public about the content of the rules for GALs  and how to use them is vital. While the court’s’ experience may be different, it is our impression and that of a good many others that Guardians ad litem, judges, lawyers frequently have only a “general knowledge” of these important rules. The public who dig into them assiduously are often better informed on details. Our opinion is that a “general knowledge ” of the rules is insufficient for court professionals, if the rules are serious and to be used both to define the role and the role boundaries of a GAL. In our opinion and that of many, knowledge of the rules is so essential that it should be taught in depth and tested and retested after some period of time. The essential question is: do these court professionals have an exact knowledge of the rules, as a  core “tool of their trade”?  How do we know?  A test would help confirm that teaching has sunk in.

2. In our experience the question often arises as to whether a Guardian ad litem is “commanding” a party to perform a certain action or merely alerting the party to a “suggestion” the GAL will subsequently make to a judge. This is particularly troublesome when a GAL is addressing actions that fall outside of the specified GAL role. As we are sure the courts must be aware, this is a point of huge contention and would benefit from clarification of the issue, along with teaching re-enforcement.

3. In virtually every occupation, there is a routine, regular, standard procedure for managerial correction and improvement of performance. No one is considered “perfect”; every human makes mistakes (major or minor). One of the problem that consumers feel about GALs is the apparent lack of a managerial mechanism for helping a faltering GAL to improve performance, such as focused education on a particular skill, special reading, following a mentor, personal counseling, etc. It would both help a GAL  and bolster public confidence that performance will improve.

4. Finally, we raise the very vexed question of Guardian ad litem actions outside of the role boundaries defined by rules. In virtually every other profession in the world this would be considered unacceptable, and a range of in house sanctions would be applied ranging from severe warning , to loss of job, to legal action. This area is in enormous need of clarification, unless one is granting GALs a degree of near infallibility that even the Pope doesn’t claim!

It is long overdue for the court to give those who use family courts answers to these  simple questions.

For further information and support please contact us at MeGALalert@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.


For related postings:
Would you want a Guardian ad litem with this kind of training?

The Ethics of My Cousin Vinny - Is this Really Guardian ad litem training?

Guardians ad litem praised for doing a poor job… and a pat on the back



Child Custody - An appeal to Maine's Supreme Court: Dalton Vs. Dalton CUM-13-521

Bomb Threats and Secrecy – How the Overseers Handle Discipline of Lawyers

Recently, there have been two lawyers who have faced significant complaints before the Overseers of the Bar. We ask: Did the bar provide the oversight and management that the public expects?

One of the lawyers,  Ron Hoffman, was brought before the board because he called in two bomb threats to Academy Hill and G.D. Cushing elementary schools within two minutes of each other and saying that "there is a bomb in your school!". The calls resulted in the evacuation of over 350 children and worried countless teachers and parents as a result. The calls produced anger and confusion amongst both children and adults in the community as school officials testified.

Ron Hoffman had lied to the police when confronted about the bomb threat calls. Your average person on the street calling in a bomb threat would find themselves incarcerated and facing the loss of a job. Ron Hoffman told the board that there were medical conditions he was suffering from, and that the treatment from his doctors was not proper. It was bad medical treatment; not his bad judgment that caused the alarming behavior. The board felt that Ron's newly revised regimen of counseling and medications should allow him to continue practicing law.

Another lawyer, Charles Bean Esq, has been before the board four times in nine years. The first time before the board was back in 2006. Then again in 2006, 2011 and finally in 2013. In 2013 the board appears to have had enough and ordered that his resignation be given to Justice Andrew Mead. There is no public reason given why Bean resigned. The records are sealed and will only be made public should Bean decide he should seek reinstatement to the Bar.  Yes, "Reinstatement to the Bar" he may still return to serve the public at some future time.

If one visits the Overseers of the Bar web site and searches for the latest on Charles R. Bean, Esq. one can find his case dated October 29, 2013. Clicking the link brings the reader to a very brief background on Charles Bean Esq. Then refers to Maine Bar 7.3(g) which is "Disciplinary Proceedings: Other Provisions" and subsection refers to "Resignations by Attorneys Under Disciplinary Investigation". Basically what Maine Bar 7.3(g) says is that the lawyer is guilty of the crimes he has been accused of doing. It does not go into other areas where the lawyer may have violated the Maine Bar Rules. We are left with the feeling that what Charles Bean Esq. has done must truly be horrendous. Compare THIS  to the relative slap on the wrist that Ron Hoffman Esq received for calling in a bomb threat.

Is the Overseers of the Bar, as a private not for profit organization, able to police those they are entrusted to license and provide oversight for? Can they hand out a fair and equitable disciplinary action that is in the public interest Think about this - in these two cases has the legal standard of Maine lawyers been improved by this process? What about those who complained about these two lawyers - are they pleased by the outcome?

If you have any thoughts on the Overseers of the Bar we would encourage your comments here or on our Facebook page. You may also email us at MeGALalert@gmail.com

Further Reading - Is this Really Oversight? How the Overseers of the Bar Operates.

Women wage campaign to impeach New Jersey judge Paul Escandon

It begs the question of who is providing oversight of the judges - in any state? The public and consumers of any state Judicial Branch are fed the same hash that everything is under control. Or is it? How do we know as a people, as a society that those who should be doling out justice are doing so in a way that is fair and by the law. How do we know that judges have oversight and accountability. That they are being managed? We don't. We have been brought up to trust a system that in many areas is corrupt and has no interest in making sure the system is working the way it is supposed to.

These women are proving just that. One of the women was upset and vented which led to other women connecting. Patterns start to emerge. While this case does not directly relate to a Guardian ad litem it does make one think about whether or not the people who are "managing" Guardians ad litem are themselves being managed. If there is no management of anyone in our courts then how do we know that there are no problems? We don't and neither do our courts.

ABC News

 MONMOUTH CO., N.J. (WABC) -- A group of women who say they've been discriminated against by a judge in Monmouth County, New Jersey are now trying to get him impeached. They've filed a petition with the state assembly to have the judge removed.

What's interesting is the role that social media has had in bringing these women together to share their stories. It started with one mother who thought she was alone in her legal battle with Judge Paul Escandon, but she discovered there are dozens with similar experiences.

"All of a sudden, one day I was his mother and the next day I had fewer rights than a babysitter on the street," Rachel Alitoff said.

Full story and video: ABC News

Rachel Alitoff blog on Judge Paul Escandon


If you have had issues with a Guardian ad litem we would encourage you to contact us at MeGALalert.com or comment here. We can also be found on Facebook.

Because there is no oversight of the Guardian ad litem system - we are conducting two surveys on the cost and performance of Guardians ad litem. We encourage anyone who has worked with a Guardian ad litem to take one or both.

LD872 An Act To Improve the Quality of Guardian ad Litem Services for the Children and Families of Maine

Has passed and is waiting to be signed into law by Governor Paul LePage

For the first time in almost 40 years there is going to be some measure of oversight of Guardians ad litem in the state of Maine. Since the late 90's bills have been sponsored that have strengthened the hand of Guardians ad litem. This often came at the expense of families and ultimately the children these 'professionals' were helping. With no oversight, accountability or management Guardians ad litem have become free spirits and operated outside of the boundaries of their original role.

In 2013 with the help of Sen David Dutremble and Rep Lisa Villa - bills were sponsored that attempted to correct the imbalance that had taken over. Out of four bills LD872 survived.

Today we are on the verge of having some measure of oversight. Where hard data on what is going on with Guardians ad litem will be generated and used instead of stuffed away in the card board boxes the system currently uses.

Please thank Sen David Dutremble, Rep Lisa Villa and the Judiciary Committee for all of the hard work and personal sacrifice that has been given to make this happen.

Sen. David Dutremble can be reached at:  ddutrem1@gmail.com
Rep. Lisa Villa can be reached at:  villa98staterep@gmail.com

For continued insight please email MeGALalert@gmail.com or like us on Facebook.

What do we mean by Guardian ad litem "oversight"?

In the simplest terms, oversight means knowing what they do, how they spend their time. At the present no one in authority  actually knows the full details. No one in the higher levels of the Judicial Branch has a complete picture of "time spent" on your case, my case, the hundreds of cases that pass through Maine's family courts. No authority knows how many cases a Guardian ad litem is handling, which courts/judges use the most Guardians ad litem. Or what is the grand total amount of every rostered Guardian ad litem's billable hours for, say, the month of May? No one knows.  There is no oversight.

In a word, no one has administrative or managerial oversight of Maine's Guardian ad litem program. No one has program numbers. And ... without numbers, data, statistics, it is impossible to describe the scope and size of Guardian ad litem program problems rationally.  It is impossible, to have a rational conversation between the public and various branches of government and impossible to seek rational solutions to a program that cries out for "oversight".

We would suggest that there are two kinds of "oversight", (a) oversight of ongoing cases in a divorce, which is sometimes called "case supervision", and (b) programmatic oversight, also called "programmatic administration or management".   Supervision, though desirable is costly and would require a large, expensive cadre of supervisors to monitor and correct the work of Guardians ad litem.  There is also the question of who would supervise the supervisors?  Where would they fit in a bureaucratic chain of command?

To keep the complexities of an  first-ever, Maine, oversight program relatively simple at the start, LD 872 has focused on program supervision, administrative supervision.  Essentially it seeks answers to the questions about: "What are the numbers?" How is Guardian ad litem time spent?  What are the billable hours?  How do district courts differ in their use of Guardians ad litem? And ... are there significant differences in the profiles of individual Guardian ad litem activities?  These are questions of huge interest to Maine children and families who pay dearly for this program.

UNIT OF MEASUREMENT THE Guardian ad litem's BILL:  LD 872 already calls for standardization of all Maine Guardian ad litem's bills.  Bills should be done monthly and should follow the itemization format used by lawyers: date, type of service, time spent, fee charged.  It would cover such topics as reading e-mails, phone conversations, report writing, time spent with parties, time spent with child, collateral contacts, travel, court appearances, etc.  We maintain that a standardized bill is a snapshot of what the Guardian ad litem claims to have done in any given month.  It is a work activity profile.  It is a record.  It will be mandatory.  There is minimal cost for this change.

COPIES OF ALL Guardian ad litem BILLS TO ADMINISTRATOR OF COURTS:  We are strongly recommending that it should also be mandatory for all 280  rostered Maine Guardians ad litem to send electronic copies of their standardized monthly bills to the Administrators of the Courts at no charge to anyone.  It would immediately, for the first time give the Judicial Branch massive amounts of hard, Guardian ad litem program  data, which is currently totally lacking.  It would give the necessary data for  first-ever program oversight of Maine's 280 Guardians ad litem.  It should prove interesting and useful to the legislature, the public and the Judicial Branch.  It will help to guide beneficial program changes for Maine's Guardian ad litem program.  It will be capable of answering many important program questions.

OVERSIGHT QUESTIONS FOR NEW Guardian ad litem DATA: We believe that inasmuch as the proposed oversight data is a tool, the Judicial Branch should have a primary interest in deciding how to use this new tool.  They should suggest their own questions for which they want answers from the data.

But in addition to the Judicial Branch we have our own questions too.

OUR QUESTIONS:  How many Guardians ad litem are at work in Maine courts each month?  How many separate cases are Guardians ad litem carrying?  How much time is spent in reading e-mails?  Doing reports?  Making phone calls?  Seeing the child in the case?  Travel?  Court time?  Which courts use Guardians ad litem the most?  How do Guardian ad litem activity profiles differ?  What is the range of monthly billable hours for Guardians ad litem?  What is the total amount for all Guardian ad litem bills in each month?  In a year?  Are there associations between certain Guardians ad litem, certain lawyers and/or certain judges?

This is for starters, as a "warm-up".

WHO WOULD WORK WITH THIS DATA AND COSTING THIS ACTIVITY?  We suggest that the Administrator of the courts would be the proper locus for this activity, and that it should be attached to the component already doing administrative statistics.  By our reckoning the costs ought to be minimal.  Billing is already being done by Guardians ad litem at no cost to the legislature, changing to a standardized billing format should not add to cost.  Sending an electronic  copy of all monthly Guardian ad litem's bills to the Judicial Branch should be a no cost event.  There is the need for a clerk to organize the data in such a manner as to answer previously defined questions.  There is the need for an existing administrative statistician to provide supervision and direction.

We would suggest that all of this could be done for $75,000.00 or less, including overhead.  The $200,000.00 fiscal estimate currently attached to this bill for unspecified oversight functions seems expensive.  We offer a competitive idea.

For more information on Guardian ad litem reform please contact us at MeGALalert@gmail.com or like us on Facebook for up to date information. In addition Me GAL alert is conducting an informal survey on the cost and performance of Guardians ad litem. If you have 5 minutes we would encourage you to take one or both surveys. The data collected is being published and will be updated live in the future.


Guardian ad litem Cost Survey

Guardian ad litem Performance Survey

Report on GAL reform and oversight in Maine

The Bad Sports Report

For the full report that can be downloaded and saved. Please note that unless the file is saved the internal links do not appear to work. Please feel free to pass this document along to others that may be interested.

We hope that badly needed change to GAL oversight will come about as a result of the concerns addressed in the report. It is a crime that the Judicial Branch has let the issue of oversight and accountability be ignored for so long. From our research there has been a recognized need for some kind of GAL management since 1995. 17 years is a long time to wait and allow for damage to Maine families.

If you have been experiencing issues in Family Court or with a Guardian ad litem please contact us at MeGALalert@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.