In family courts in Colorado, a guardian ad litem (GAL) is used in cases that begin as actions to assign parental rights and responsibilities when paternity is in question or has not yet been fully determined.
At Children First Family Law, we are tenacious about protecting children, and we understand the factors that can negatively impact them in ways parents do not anticipate. Because of our extensive experience representing children’s interests in legal matters, we know how to advocate effectively as a GAL in a wide array of situations. We aim to enable children and their families to flourish in the future, and we work to develop creative solutions that keep children first in the planning process.
A guardian ad litem or GAL in the family law courts actively promotes a child’s interests like a child’s legal representative or CLR. These roles are quite similar with a few legal differences. However, the GAL and CLR roles differ substantially from the role of a child and family investigator or CFI. The court may appoint an attorney to serve in any of these roles in a custody case or other family law matter, but they serve in different ways.
A CFI is an appointed expert making recommendations in a written report and can be called as a witness. By contrast, a GAL must be a licensed attorney, trained in child advocacy, and serves as the attorney appointed to represent the child’s best interests throughout a legal matter. The effective CLR still talks to the children and parents and other third parties helpful to understand and advocate for the child’s best interests, such as therapists, but the best-practices-focused CLR then takes that information and should use it to help parents settle cases and find solutions. Only if those efforts fail should a good CLR have to go to court to advocate for the judge to make decisions for the best interests of the children.
Advocacy for the Child’s Best Interests
As an attorney working to protect a child’s best interests, a GAL in domestic courts cannot always advocate for what a child wants in the short term. Young children would often choose to eat candy all day if they could, but those with more awareness of the human body know that would be harmful for them, so responsible parents and guardians do not always give in to a child’s wishes when it comes to sugary foods.
The same is sometimes true with parenting time decisions and other areas of conflict that occur for kids in divided parenting situations. A minor child may say they want to remain in or be put into a situation that they believe will be good for that child, but that decision could be very harmful in the long run. A GAL in the family court system must exercise judgment based on years of dedicated experience to know when to advocatefor what a child wants and when to set limits or propose a different option. At Children First Family Law, we have a unique depth of experience in this type of analysis that enables us to effectively balance a child’s wants and needs to advocate advantageously for their best interests.
In contrast, a child might really want to be with a parent, but it might not be safe for the child if there are abuse or addiction issues occurring. The best interests of the child is the standard in Colorado, and navigating that analysis is complex.
Children First Understands How to Advocate Effectively as a GAL
Whether the legal situation calls for a GAL or CLR, Children First Family Law is prepared to protect the interests of the child in a way that few attorneys can match.
Because a GAL is focused on the child’s needs rather than the needs of either parent, we do not do substantive consultations about your case as we value staying in as neutral a role as possible between parents. If you reach out, we will talk only generally about how the CLR role works, not specifically about your situation. Alternatively, you may have your counsel contact us.
Please note as well that Children First Family Law does not function in the dependency and neglect courts; if you are in that situation, the Office of the Child’s Representative will assign a GAL to your child. While we contract with OCR, we do so only in the family courts, not the dependency and neglect courts as there are many resources available to families in the D&N world but few resources in the divorce/family courts, thus we isolate our practice to this specialty.