When foster children go to court, the state of Florida provides them with helpful grownups, including a Guardian Ad Litem volunteer. But there are far more female than male volunteers in the system. North Florida's Guardian Ad Litem program is working to address the disparity.
The Second Judicial Circuit program covers 6 counties, including Leon. Executive Director Deborah Moore noted it has nearly 300 volunteers on call. And most of these are women.
"It's been a little tougher to bring males on and join us."
Right now, men make up less than a quarter of the circuit's Guardian force to serve kids who are evenly split between girls and boys. So volunteer Ken DeCerchio has organized a recruitment event to bring more men into the fold.
"It'll hopefully inspire some folks to want to learn more about volunteer opportunities to consider becoming a volunteer and going through the training program."
That event happens at MOMO's Pizza on Market Square the evening of Thursday, January 16th.
