Customer Reviews

I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate

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This chronicle of the author's experiences as a Guardian Ad Litem in Florida will alternately enlighten you, frustrate you, inspire you, and make you angry. Much, I would expect, like being a Guardian. Besides giving others a blueprint on "how to help," and serving as an education on some of society's problems that most people wish they could ignore, this book is great reading, chock full of emotionally-involving, often heart-rending stories. Prepare to be engrossed.

As a freshman in college, I stumbled upon this book in the library, and soon after dedicated myself to improving the child welfare system. Courter's account is incredibly inspiring, emphasizing the responsibility we all have to speak up for kids who have been wronged by our systems. I have now been a court appointed special advocate myself, and it is the most heartbreaking (but rewarding!) volunteer experience of my life.

If you're looking for a book that will be difficult to put down, and stories of kids who are difficult to turn your back on, then this book is for you.

I picked up the book by Gay Courter and could not put it down. Inspiring! I can't say enough about it!

This is the best book I have ever read by a child advocate. Our system does not do right by abused children. If we don't get our system in better shape all these foster children will be in our prison system. And did you know it cost more to pay for prison than it does college!!

Thanks Gay and keep up the great undying work you do!!!

P.S. Everyone in the GAL office in Putnam County is reading your book and Ashley's

I Speak for This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate Having been a child advocate, this book is more than the journey of one child advocate. From beginning to end, the author informs the reader of how she dealt with certain challenges, and how a child advocate can do more for a child in foster care than they realize.

I am a CASA, and as such, was hoping that this book would have promoted that role a bit more (as the sample and forward mentioned the author was also in that role). Instead, I found this book to exagerate it, and be more from the standpoint of a legal GAL, and a "look what I did, I'm a saint" story.

Maybe the role of a CASA is different in the authors state, but in Michigan we cannot file motions or be parties to lawsuits - the GAL does that if necessary. In Michigan, we do form a relationship with the child and write court reports and make recommendations based on what the child wants, but it is very informal. We do not "throw our role around" like the author does in this book. We are privy to the confidential court files and do run into roadblocks from people who dont understand this but we can handle it without trouble. We work as a team with the caseworkers and GAL. Th author acts like any good that happened was because of her alone and that she deserves an award or something. Quite self serving

Although the foster care system has room for vast improvement and there are some bad caseworkers out there I know what a difficult job they have. The author seems to use this book as a means to bash them when the ones I have dealt with truly care about the kids but have an overload of cases which is why there are CASAs.

What bothers me about many books on this subject is that the childs experience after disclosing is so horrible that Im afraid it willl deter some from telling what is happening to them. I wish more people would become CASAs but this book makes it sound like our role is so difficult and time consuming and that we are fought every step of the way when thats not true. It takes a few hours a month to help a child in foster care as a CASA.

A must read for anyone who is a foster or adoptive parent, or interested in becoming one, or anyone who works in the system. A few years after writing this book, Gay adopted Ashley Rhodes-Courter, who is well known for her advocacy of foster children and wrote "Three Little Words" based on her experience. Both books are must-reads.

Gay Courter tells an all-too-real story of children in foster care. Although her book talks about kids in Texas, it would be applicable to children in any state in this nation.

I thought the book was informative but also self-promoting.