Voices for Children Print Newsletters

• Holiday 2008 • Summer '08 • Winter '08 • Summer '07 • Spring '07 • Winter '07 •
• Fall '06 • Summer '06 • Spring '06 • Fall '05 • Spring '05 • Initial Newsletter 2005 •

Pam Iorio, Major Paul Davis, and Teresa Stinson enjoyed the successful turn-out downtown at this year’s Charlotte P. Reed Memorial Q for Kids event.

Nearly 1000 People Turnout at Q for Kids

What a fabulous turnout on April 24th for our 4th annual Charlotte P. Reed Memorial Q for Kids Barbeque lunch at Gaslight Park Downtown Tampa. Some of you might remember last year’s Q for Kids during the “April Showers” and I can’t tell you how nice it was of Mayor Pam Iorio to come out in the pouring rain to proclaim “Voices for Children – Guardian ad Litem Day.” I’m sure she was much happier this year on a beautifully sunny “Chamber of Commerce” day. Thank you so much, Mayor Iorio, for supporting our efforts year after year, whether it’s rain or shine!

We served almost 1000 barbeque lunches and you should have heard the praises for the delicious bbq chicken and pork! A huge thank you to Shane’s Rib Shack and its owner, Trent Schofield. We’d also like to thank Manager Dave Rodenfels, who personally helped serve the masses. What a great partner and we hope they join us next year since it was such a great success!

David Reed (in chef’s hat) and volunteers from Shane’s Barbeque and the YMCA.

The Sheriff’s Office was there again this year to help support the efforts of Voices and to help educate the audience on how they can help the children in our community. They do a wonderful job and we appreciate all their efforts in protecting the abused and neglected children of Hillsborough County. A special thanks to Major Paul Davis for doing an excellent job representing the Sheriff’s Office.

It’s always a pleasure to see the “Reed Clan” at our annual event. Q for Kids was named after Charlotte P. Reed, one of the greatest advocates ever for children in our community. Her memory is an inspiration to those of us who try to help the children who need it the most. Her loving family continues to be our greatest partner and we can never thank them enough for all that they have done to support our organization.

If you were there, you also heard the great sounds of the fine musicians from Rampello Downtown Partnership School. I believe we have some future American Idols right here in our community. A huge thanks to Principal Anthony Perrone and the teachers and students at Rampello for providing such great entertainment!

We host this event annually during Child Abuse Awareness Month to spread the word on the importance of a Guardian in the life of a child who is in dependency court. A volunteer Guardian can occasionally mean the difference between life and death, but they always give every child an opportunity to thrive and have the quality of life that they deserve. No one fights harder to protect them! We hope you find the time to volunteer or donate!

Major Craig Latimer

Major Craig Latimer joined the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in 1972 as a crime scene detective. He now commands the Child Protective Investigations Division, a 163-member team of child protective investigators and supervisors. The division’s motto is “Committed To Protecting Our Children.”

The following is the speech that Major Latimer gave at the Q-for-Kids event:

Children are a blessing and should be loved, cared for, educated and taught right from wrong, rather than abused, neglected and hurt by those entrusted with their care.

We constantly hear statistics about the number of children abused in our community...how many children were removed from their home.... how many children currently in foster care....how many children are currently in the court process. All of us process this information in our own way. I often look at these cases a little bit differently. Many of these reports cross my desk. That abused child with the burns on his body has a name and the photos attached to his case file give me a sense of who that child is. The 10 year old, who was sexually abused by a friend of the family, not only has a name - but I have graphic reports on the process. To me, these are not just numbers or statistics. These are precious children who have a right to be loved, cared for, educated and appreciated. I have had a neighbor question me as to my profession and my specialty of investigating child abuse. I shared with him what a mentor explained to me many years ago. We are the voice of the victim, the victim can not go out and investigate their own crime, and they do not have the expertise and the resources to bring the accused person to a court of law. They and their families depend on us to help them through this situation. But I have found out there is more to this story. Because where I and my fellow investigators leave off...there is often an angel that steps into the picture. This angel is called a Guardian Ad Litem. It is the Guardian ad Litem that is the Voice for the Children. It is that unselfish volunteer who can make a dramatic difference in the lives of these children by assuring that these children have the opportunity to be loved, cared for, educated and taught right from wrong, rather than abused, neglected and hurt by those entrusted with their care. I would recommend to all of you today, if you know someone who is strong-hearted, loves children, and believes in advocating for what is right for them, then that person would be an asset to the Guardian ad Litem Program and should be encouraged to work as a volunteer. Carry this message to your neighborhood, your church and your communities. As a community, we need to insure that when one of our children experience this darkness in their lives, that there will be a Guardian ad Litem that will be the glowing light to lead them from that darkness - to blue skies, sunshine and happiness and love! STEP UP AND PAY IT FORWARD!

Reel Heros! CHARITY EVENT

Trial Lawyers are “Hooked” on Hope for Our Kids

The Tampa Bay Trial Lawyers Association sponsored its 3rd Annual TBTL Kingfish Fishing Tournament on April 21, 2007. This year’s tournament was based out of John’s Pass and culminated with a party at the Green Iguana St. Pete Tiki Bar. Once again, Anthony “Nino” Martino chaired this very fun and successful event with the proceeds benefiting VFC and the GAL Program.

Grant Funds for Psychological Evaluations: An important tool for Guardian ad Litem advocates in their fight to promote the best interests of our children

The Ralph & Eileen Swett Foundation has awarded Voices for Children a matching grant for $30,000 toward psychological evaluations that will become an important tool in determining the best interests of our GAL kids. Being able to obtain these evaluations when needed is a giant step forward in bringing Guardian ad Litem advocacy to new levels for these child victims. This valuable tool will help ensure the success of adoptive placements for these formerly abused and neglected children.

A case in point: the GAL Program is currently completing an investigation and forming recommendations for the court in a case where five siblings are awaiting foster placement adoptions – but three of the children are living with one set of foster parents and the other two with another. The situation between the two sets of foster parents is such that if they are adopted into the homes where they are now living, the siblings will not be able to see each other.

Psychological evaluations will be able to provide the Guardian ad Litem advocacy team with essential information that must be considered in regard to how bonded the siblings are with each other and the potential impact that each possible adoptive scenario would have on them. The generosity of The Ralph & Eileen Swett Foundation will likely have a profound effect on these children, as well as many other abused and neglected children represented by a guardian ad litem.

Join us in thanking them for this very important grant funding by donating towards this matching opportunity!

Voices for Children Matches Hillsborough County Grant Funds to Launch Major Guardian ad Litem Volunteer Recruitment Campaign

Before being elected to the Florida Legislature, former Hillsborough County Commission Ronda Storms chaired the Healing Hillsborough Task Force. The task force was charged with the responsibility of deciding how to allocate $500,000 Hillsborough County dollars to make a positive impact on our local child welfare system. The Guardian ad Litem Program was the recipient of $100,000 of those available funds – earmarked specifically for a marketing campaign to recruit new Guardian ad Litem volunteers. Representatives from Voices for Children and the Guardian ad Litem Program sat down to discuss the possibilities that these county dollars presented and how to make the most of this valuable opportunity. In turn, Voices for Children allocated matching these funds, in the amount of $100,000, to maximize the marketing effort. As a result, this pooling of resources has allowed us to aggressively saturate the market to educate the public about the Guardian ad Litem Program and to successfully recruit new volunteers. The number of potential volunteers calling in to learn more has increased dramatically already and the GAL Program has reallocated staff resources to successfully transform this additional interest into new volunteers.

National Advocacy Group Provides Funding to Rev up Recruitment Efforts

Voices for Children Receives Grant from Jewelers through the National CASA Association to benefit the Guardian ad Litem Program.

Voices for Children was recently awarded a $22,000 grant from Jewelers for Children (JFC), the leading charity of the U.S. jewelry industry. The grant will be used to expand volunteer- based advocacy services for abused and neglected children in Hillsborough County.

“We are excited to award local program grants that support advocacy to change the lives of abused and neglected children around the country,” says David Rocha, Executive Director of Jewelers for Children. “It is indeed a privilege to recognize Voices for Children and the Guardian ad Litem Program for their dedication and service to help change the lives of vulnerable children in their community.”

Since 2003, JFC has funded advocacy services for abused and neglected children in over 300 communities nationwide. More than 75 local GAL programs will receive funds this year from a $1,000,000 national grant by Jewelers for Children, administered by the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association.