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Pitch Works Well At Courthouse

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By JOE O'NEILL Tribune Correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2008

The United States allows more jury trials than any other country in the world. Its local impact: About 130,000 jury members are needed each year in Hillsborough County.

Periodically, your number is up and you're called. Many of you know the routine. Few relish the opportunity to decide another's fate. And nobody likes the more likely scenario of sheer boredom that waiting around induces.

The time-hangs-heavy ambience of the jury auditorium at downtown Tampa's George E. Edgecomb Courthouse is no exception. After Channel 28's Brendan McLaughlin overviews it all for you on video, lots of down time ensues. That means lots of reading - occasionally interspersed with toneless announcements that cull more voir dire prospects.

And then came a different voice with a different message.

It was decidedly unbureaucratic and belonged to an amiable blonde in a blue business suit, Yvonne Marrone. She is the volunteer recruiter and community outreach coordinator for the Guardian ad Litem Program for the 13th Judicial Circuit. A Guardian ad Litem is appointed by the court to advocate for a child, most of whom have been removed from their homes because of alleged abuse, abandonment or neglect.

Marrone was making her rounds, but she was also making an impassioned pitch. The need is critical, she underscored, for more volunteers to be the voices for Florida's neediest children.

Now there, I thought, was smart marketing.

Excluding the incarcerated, this had to be the ultimate captive audience. And yet this was also an eclectic cross section of folks that couldn't or didn't try to get out of jury duty. And while this room of several hundred wasn't necessarily the embodiment of civic idealism, it was a venue where the theme of community awareness and responsibility was ever present.

Marrone recruits "anywhere and everywhere," she said. Among her most successful venues is the courthouse.

"Overall, our presentations at jury pool give us amazing exposure and create some dialogue," explained Marrone.

She takes a recruiting dip in the jury pool twice a week every week. The results have been encouraging. She averages 15 to 20 prospects - who take information and fill out forms - a month. On average, two or three sign up for training classes and become official Guardian ad Litem volunteers.

Right now there are 370 active volunteers to spread among some 1,400 children. About 400 children are now awaiting a volunteer. Hillsborough County's per-capita needs are more acute than any other county in Florida, lamented Marrone. And who knows what may happen if across-the-board budget cuts are enacted in Tallahassee.

"We have that many cases," she said. "It's kind of sad."

And frustrating, even for the buoyant Marrone.

"It's easy to stand on the outside and criticize the system," she pointed out. "But our children are our future. When you volunteer, you're saying to a child, 'I care about you.'

"And these children see that. They see people who don't have to care, who care anyhow. Often the Guardian ad Litem volunteer is the most consistent person in their life."

This day about a dozen jury poolers filed back to a small anteroom to meet with Marrone.

She explained that the Guardian ad Litem program was not a "field-trip organization." Indeed, it was about juvenile dependency cases and protecting the rights of children and advocating in their best interest. The volunteer Guardian ad Litem makes independent recommendations to the court - based on a child's history, environment, relationships and, ultimately, needs. The volunteer also monitors the situation - to verify whether the orders of the court - and the plans of the Department of Children and Families - are being carried out.

"Their input is invaluable," emphasized Marrone. "Our guardians are respected by the judges."

The guardians put in between eight and 12 hours a month on average, estimated Marrone. That includes visitations, reports and (participation in) court hearings.

For those who opt to sign on, 30 hours of certification training await. That means 10 three-hour (6- to 9 p.m.) sessions - next available from Jan. 8 to Feb. 10. They are held at Christ the King Catholic Church in South Tampa. After that, volunteers are assigned to a supervisor. Provisions for volunteer requests - for example, a specific age or age range - can be accommodated.

And not that Marrone doesn't have enough challenges. One more. Jan. 8 is the BCS National Championship Game between Florida and Oklahoma. "We promise to have you out as quickly as possible that first night," Marrone assured all her listeners.

For information, contact Marrone at (813) 272-5110 or at Yvonne.Marrone@gal.fl.gov. There's also a Web site, www.guardianadlitem.org, which includes an on-line application.

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www .opinionstogoonline.com.

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