Staff Writer
As the legislative session winds down and budget talks loom as the dominant discussion among House and Senate members, the pressure is on for legislators to move their bills through the process before it’s too late.
Coming into session, one of State Rep. Mike Weinstein’s focal points was a measure, HB 1383, that would offer additional assistance to pregnant children and youth in out-of-home care through a specialty Guardian ad Litem pilot program in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
While he’s been optimistic about its chances the past two months, he realizes time is running out on the opportunity for it to be heard on the floor.
“I’m less optimistic than I was last week,” said Weinstein.
His optimism fades because of the lack of traction for the measure’s Senate companion bill, which was picked up by State Sen. Thad Altman of Melbourne, but has yet to be placed on the Senate’s Children, Family and Elder Affairs committee.
The bill would provide a $55,000 appropriation in recurring revenue from the General Revenue Fund toward the State Guardian ad Litem, which would then implement the program locally in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. The measure would require courts to appoint a pro bono attorney or guardian ad litem for pregnant children in the program. Guardian ad Litem program staff and volunteers represent abused, abandoned and neglected children in the dependency system by making independent investigations that lead to court recommendations in the best interest of the children.
During the bill’s vetting process in the House, Weinstein said the issue of abortion as it applied to the program
was broached, with the worry by some members that pregnant children in the system under the program would be advised on their pregnancy. While resolved, it delayed the process.
“I really had never thought of that,” said Weinstein. “It was never a pro-choice or pro-life issue, it was about providing additional assistance to those children who need it.”
At both the state and local level, officials of the Guardian ad Litem program support the measure and have worked with Weinstein.
“We’re happy Rep. Weinstein has recognized and taken and elevated the issue,” said Hilary Creary, supervising attorney for the Guardian ad Litem program in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. “We think it’s a laudable piece of legislation.”
Creary said her office, along with the state’s, would support whatever effort Weinstein needed to push the measure. The assistance falls in line with the local circuit’s independent living project, said Creary, which works with teenagers who are aging out of the foster care system. It ensures teens stay in school and provides a support structure needed to succeed, she said, including those pregnant and with children.
“It’s going to be wonderful,” she said.
Weinstein said most of the issues he’s tackled affect children, including this one, but even so, it’s a numbers game when it comes to successfully pushing through measures, with only 300 or so of the 1,300 bills worked on by members actually reaching the floor.
If time were to run out this session, the issue is one Weinstein said he’d come back with next session, as it is one he believes isn’t going away. But he hasn’t given up this year.
“You never know,” he said.
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