COLUMBIA--South Carolina's attorney general says he's dedicated to making the guardian ad litem program work, despite concerns from children's advocates.
The guardian program assigns volunteers to advocate for children in abuse and neglect court cases. It would get as much as 60 percent less than the $3 million it got last year in the $5.3 billion state budget that cleared the House last week.
Attorney General Henry McMaster, who has been a guardian ad litem, doesn't know if the budget includes enough money for his office to manage the 1,500-volunteer program.
McMaster said he might consolidate some of the program's 30 regional offices and reorganize.
"It's too important for us not to do all we can to make the guardian ad litem program work and work well," McMaster said.
House members moved the program from the governor's office to the attorney general, but the Senate could make more changes when it takes up the issue this spring.
State Rep. Jim McGee, R-Florence, who first asked McMaster to take on the guardian ad litem program, said the attorney general's office is the best agency to oversee the program.
He said the guardians ad litem he has talked to are unhappy with their situation, tied to the Foster Care Review Board under the governor's Division of Children's Services. McGee said everyone he has talked to in the program favors the move to the attorney general's office.
Children's advocates worry housing guardians ad litem under the state attorney general could create a conflict of interest, making a guardian ad litem hesitant to argue what he or she thinks is best for a child.
"The guardians ad litem are supposed to offer independent legal representation -- independent of the state of South Carolina or the parents," said Jay Elliott, a children's lawyer who helped write the law creating guardian ad litem. "It's an unavoidable conflict."
McMaster said conflicts won't be a problem, and that he will run the program well.
Gov. Mark Sanford proposed moving the guardian ad litem program to the University of South Carolina Children's Law Office, which advocates say is a more neutral home. Others would favor a structure similar to North Carolina's program, which is under court administrators.
