OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee Kiwanis Club had the pleasure of hearing from Vickie Stromak with Heather Parker from the Florida Guardian ad Litem Office of the Treasure Coast on Thursday, Nov. 14.

Stromak spoke passionately about how they represent abused, abandoned, neglected children in the foster care system. There are 86 children in foster care in Okeechobee and they only have 12 volunteers. There are 700 foster children with only 200 volunteers total in the district of the surrounding area. Their hope is to have one volunteer for each child so the children can get the thorough advocacy that they need.

They use a multi-disciplinary team approach where their sole purpose is to make recommendations in the best interest of the children to the courts.

They have staff Attorneys, child advocate managers and volunteers. Volunteers build relationships and observe the children to help with the recommendations. The organization is appointed by a judge so no one can take them off of a case until the case closes so the children have someone advocating on their behalf throughout the process. Vickie says time and passion makes a good volunteer. Consistency is needed.

It's common to spend 10 or more hours a month visiting to get to know the child, their teacher, parents, coaches, etc They also need volunteer attorneys and mentors for older kids and they accept donations.