Dozens of new guardians ad litem certified by the state Guardian ad litem Board have been approved for appointment by the various courts.

These GALs attended general and court-specific training sessions (required for them to be appointed for district, probate, family division or superior court) held last fall, and then underwent background checks.

Linda Griebsch, chair of the GAL Board that was created by statute in 2000, said the Board began working on a comprehensive overhaul of the long-neglected area of training and certifying GALs. After writing its rules of operation (a process not yet complete), the Board set up a training targeted at adding to the ranks of practicing GALs. Griebsch said the Board now is approving about 10 new GALs at each of its meetings as it works its way through the applications of more than 140 candidates who attended the training programs and then were subject to background checks.

These Board-certified GALs supplement the list of 205 court-certified GALs that had been available for appointment. The court's list has become depleted over the years, since no new training sessions had been held for a decade, legislators said, in supporting the creation of a state board.

The GAL Board is making changes in the certification training, Griebsch said. A second series of certification training programs, set for this spring, has been postponed until next fall to refine the new curriculum.

Griebsch said, enrollment in the second training will be open on a first-come, first-served basis, to new or existing GALs seeking state certification. (The first sessions gave new GALs the enrollment priority to allow for an expansion in the number of GALs eligible for appointment.)

According to Griebsch, court-certified GALs will have until 2007 to become certified under the state Board process.

The GAL Board is also currently preparing a proposed code of ethics and discipline process for certified GALs. A public hearing will be scheduled on those rules (and announced in Bar News) before the rules are submitted for review by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR), Griebsch said.

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