VIDEO: A Former Georgia State Child Advocate Explains His Work Helping Kids in Guatemala

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The Georgia Juvenile Services Association (GJSA) recently wrapped its 2012 Training Summit in Savannah, Ga., an annual chance for juvenile court workers from across the state to share knowledge, network and blow off steam away from the daily pressures and demands of their often stressful work. GJSA members include employees at all levels of the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice, juvenile courts, county departments of family and children services and other organizations dedicated to helping children. Giving the keynote address Aug. 22 was Georgia’s former Child Advocate, Tom Rawlings, who spoke about lessons he has learned from his current job as Director of International Justice Mission’s Guatemala field office. There, Rawlings manages “a multidisciplinary team of attorneys, investigators, social works and psychiatrists which essentially acts as a combination district attorney’s office and child advocacy center,” he said.

One Couple Fights to Reunite Family Despite Immigration Status

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One family in Dalton, Ga. is fighting to be reunited after the mother and father were stripped of their parental rights. The juvenile court judge ruled that Ovidio and Domitina Mendez were unable to care adequately for their five children, all of whom have complicated medical needs, according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press. But advocates working on behalf of the Mendez family argue the parents’ inability to speak English and illegal immigration status were the deciding factors in the case. The five Mendez children, aged three through seven, are currently living with a foster family who is trying to adopt them.