Bills would provide lawyers for special-needs kids.

With the crucial support of Statewide Guardian ad Litem Director Alan Abramowitz, bills in both the House and Senate are moving forward to provide state-paid attorneys for dependent children with special needs.

"It's the first time in history we have a director of the GAL supportive of attorneys representing children," said Howard Talenfeld, a Ft. Lauderdale attorney who serves as president of Florida's Children First, an advocacy group pushing the proposed legislation.

When Talenfeld was president of The Florida Bar's Legal Needs of Children Committee in 2009, he fought unsuccessfully to persuade the former GAL director to support legislation that would provide attorneys for dependent children, a key recommendation of the predecessor 2002 Legal Needs of Children Commission. He referred to the child advocates' clashing views on representation over the years as "the Crusades."

"It's very important to signal to the guardians of the world that the Crusades are over," Talenfeld said the day before CS/SB 972, sponsored by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 1.

Abramowitz was there to support the bill, as was Steve Metz, chief legislative counsel for The Florida Bar. The bill now heads for its third stop in the Appropriations Committee.

A companion bill in the House, CS/ HB 561, sponsored by Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, passed unanimously out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on April 2, and next goes to its third stop in the Judiciary Committee.

When pro bono attorneys are not available, the court-appointed attorneys would be paid through a new and specific line item in the Justice Administrative Commission budget, and would not negatively impact the GAL budget, Abramowitz said. Attorneys' fees would be capped at $3,000 per child, per year.

"The GAL's 'best interest' attorneys and volunteers, working with attorneys created by this new legislative proposal on these complex cases, will be a formidable advocacy team to get children permanency," Abramowitz said.

"I have never seen it as an either/or issue. I think each child needs a guardian, clearly, because that's what the law says. Guardians do a lot more than legal. They mentor for the child and work in the educational system. They work with the child in group homes and with foster parents. A lot of stuff doesn't even get to court that we can fix."

But, Abramowitz said, there is clearly a need for attorneys, too, for five...