Someone recently asked me if I felt that the work I do as a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) actually “saved” any children. I asked them to define “saved”. They responded that they would define it as taking children out of a bad situation and returning them to a healthy one, either with their healed family or a new family. Then they added, “And these kids grow up ok and become productive, healthy members of society.”
They had me nodding yes until we got to that last part. Children in state custody often don’t arrive there until an awful lot of