(Published October 10‚ 2003)
Gov. Mark Sanford needs to make funding for the state's volunteer guardian ad litem program a top priority.
The program, which is administered by the governor's office, is in dire straits with only enough money to continue operating through January. Unless the governor can earmark other sources of funding, the duty of serving as guardians for children involved in abuse and neglect cases could fall to private lawyers.
The state is required to provide guardians for these children -- 8,657 of them last year -- and this program trains volunteers for that job. (Another guardian ad litem program for children embroiled in custody disputes uses paid guardians.)
Although the volunteers aren't paid, the program has paid administrative staff and pays for volunteer training in all of the state's 16 judicial circuits. In York County, 68 volunteers handled 366 cases in 2002, but the paid staff slots in York, Chester and Lancaster counties all are vacant after recent resignations.
Failing to fund the volunteer program would not save the state money. With no volunteer guardians, attorneys would have to be paid by the hour -- at about $40 an hour -- to serve as guardians.
Sanford has asked his staff to look for alternative funding sources that could keep the program going after January. We hope that was an order, not just a request.
As state Rep. Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill, noted this week, this program is not a luxury, it's a necessity.
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Governor needs to find another source of funding for guardian ad litem program. |
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