Should all children in court be represented?

It's important that every child have a voice in court. But should every child have an attorney to make sure his or her voice is heard loud and clear?

That question remains a sticky wicket for members of The Florida Bar Commission on the Legal Needs of Children, chaired by 11th Circuit Judge Sandy Karlan, as they grapple with making final recommendations at the first of the year.

What kind of representation children should have in dependency court -- guardians ad litem, attorneys ad litem or some combination -- is a debate that continued to rage on among members of the Representation Subcommittee at the October 5-6 meeting of the commission held at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center in Ft. Lauderdale.

"I feel that kids taken from their parents should have lawyers. I'm not willing to concede," said Sharon Langer, vice chair of the commission and member of' the Board of Governors, who advocates an attorney-driven model of representation for children in dependency court.

But Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson called the attorney-driven model "harmful to children," unnecessary, and too expensive to be feasible.

"Every child does not need an attorney ad litem, only a small percent. We can accomplish more with less lawyers," said Dawson, who is heading up a legislature-funded pilot project in Osceola County that uses guardians ad litem as the first line of representation for children in dependency cases. The other half of the three-year pilot project in nearby Orange County uses the attorney ad litem model -- and an attorney is appointed only to those children in which the court finds it necessary.

"How can you say attorneys are harmful to kids?" Langer asked.

Dawson explained: "It's philosophically dangerous to have attorneys for every child. I have parents' attorneys who come before me. And because they are skilled in the law, they do things that are bad for children."

"I'm not proposing a lawyer for every child in every case. I'm proposing an attorney-driven model," Langer said. "I'm proposing that children be raised to the same level as adults."

"Children are not adults," Dawson responded. "Attorneys violate their ethics every day. What happens when a client says, 'My dad sexually abuses me, but don't tell'?"

As Dawson explained, a lawyer is bound by the attorney-client privilege to keep the secret as the client wishes.

But a guardian ad litem can tell the child's secret without violating any ethical canons -- and...