$600,000 shifted to aid guardian program

At a press conference held by the Greenville County Medical Society Alliance Wednesday in downtown Greenville, Jane Bottsford, president of the South Carolina Medical Society Alliance introduces the book, Hearts are Meant to be Happy. The book, written by Greenville guardian ad litem Lisa Stamm and illustrated by Greenville artist Gray Goodfleisch, will be given to foster children in South Carolina. Staff/Owen Riley Jr. e-mail this story Related Related Web site • South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program

The program represents the interests of children who are taken from their homes in cases where abuse or neglect is suspected.

During the past three years the state has withdrawn nearly three-fourths of the money it had been putting into the program and replaced it with a category of federal money that the federal government now says can't be used for that purpose.

The program, which has relied on federal grants to operate, has enough money to operate through the current fiscal year, but must find new sources of income next year. Last year, 8,657 children were served by the program.

"We are mentors, we are spokespersons, we are confidants of these children," said Gerolyn Allen, a volunteer guardian in Oconee County.

In 1999, the agency received $1.2 million in state money, said Betsy Chapman, a spokeswoman for the program. When the economy worsened the next year, state funding was cut to $1 million, then to $655,000 in 2001 and this year to $318,000, she said.

The state has paid for the program with money from a federal program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. But federal rules say the money can be used only for training volunteers and not for operations and salaries of the Guardian ad Litem Program.

Steve Barber, a spokesman for the federal Administration for Children and Families, said the state may be able to find long-term money from other federal sources.

"We are working with the state to provide any assistance we can to help them try to find a funding source for the program," he said.

Uncertainty about the cash flow that's needed to keep offices open and to pay salaries of the staff people who coordinate the program could cause a major setback, Allen said.

"The coordinators are going to find other jobs, the volunteers are going to find other volunteer opportunities and they're going to have to retrain everybody," said Allen, a volunteer there for 10 years.

If there were no one to serve as liaison between volunteers and the courts and social service agencies, state law requires that attorneys be appointed to serve as guardians ad litem. They would be paid $40 per hour through a fund that's meant to help indigent defendants in criminal cases, said Ann Miner, a lawyer for the guardian program in Pickens County.

Kim Aydlette, director of the state Department of Social Services, said she's confident the program will continue.

"It's a question right now of how best to make that happen," she said.