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Bar News - October 1, 2000

New GAL Board Created - Oversight of GALs Shifts Away From Courts

CERTIFICATION, TRAINING and supervision of guardians ad Litem is shifting from the judicial branch to a Guardian ad Litem Board created by legislation earlier this year.

In the interim, the courts continue to administer the GAL program. (The Superior Court recently posted an updated list of certified GALs on its Web site at http://www.state.nh.us/courts/superior.htm.)

The new board, administratively attached to the Department of Administrative Services, has been appointed but has not met yet, according to Nina Gardner, executive director of the NH Judicial Council and a member of the Guardian ad Litem Board. The GAL Board received $10,000 for each of two years of startup funding shifted from unspent funds from the judicial branch.

The legislation, SB 448, initially sponsored by Sen. Ned Gordon (R-Bristol), was based on the work of a study committee that met during the summer of 1999. Gordon said the board would centralize the oversight of GALs and provide processes where none exist for training and evaluating GALs. The board can provide an “objective buffer” in situations where a litigant complains about a GAL’s fees or services and risks offending the GAL, who is someone “who has the ability to influence major decisions” in that individual’s life, such as deciding on the custody of his or her children. Also, Gordon said, the current GAL list provides no guidance as to the quality of particular GALs. “Experienced attorneys know who the good GALs are, but pro se litigants are at a disadvantage and often can end up with someone who doesn’t do as good a job,” Gordon said.

The legislation, amending RSA 463:33-38, charges the Guardian ad Litem Board with duties including developing or supervising:

training and continuing education requirements for certified GALs;
a list of specific duties to be performed by GALs;
dissemination of an updated list of GALs that are certified and in good standing;
reviewing fee and cost structures;
a complaint and disciplinary process.

The new board is composed of representatives from the Supreme Court and social service agencies, guardians ad Litem and members of the public, who are to be appointed by the governor or designated by the specified agencies or entities. Members named to the board are: NH Supreme Court Associate Justice Linda S. Dalianis; Gardner, representing the Judicial Council (which administers state funding for GALs); Marcia Sink, of the Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) organization; Nancy Rollins, director of the state Division of Children, Youth & Families; and Lawrence A. MacLeod, a Lebanon attorney representing GALs. The public members are Linda Griebsch, of the NH Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, and Cherie Whitcomb, of Concord.

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