This is Foster Care: Bill Ellis

With so many aspects to the foster care system—the lawyers, therapists, CASAs, foster parents, biological family, etc.—it’s easy to get confused when trying to understand all a child goes through in foster care. That’s why we sat down with Bill Ellis, Thirteenth Circuit Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) in Missouri, to discuss his role in the lives of children in foster care.

A GAL is responsible for the child’s case through the court system. Bill and other GALs are working to advocate for timely hearings, provision of necessary services, and compliance of court orders.

“I am tasked with advocating for the child’s best interest,” said Bill. “That puts me in a unique situation where I may have to recommend to the court something the juvenile is not in agreement with.”

Many of the children Bill advocates for are too young to understand why they have been moved into foster care—some are infants. For children who are older, Bill works hard to build trust. “When I have the opportunity to meet with kids, I have to relate to them and build a report with them pretty quickly.”

Bill reflected on the very first child he was assigned. “I got to watch her grow up. I got to go to her high school graduation. She was the first kid in her family to graduate from high school,” he said. “For her to know that somebody was there in the audience supporting her—and that she wasn’t the only child who didn’t have a family or close friend there—I think it really made her happy, and it made me happy to be able to do that for her.”

As we talked, Bill discussed many misconceptions he commonly sees when it comes to people working to understand foster care. He pointed to one regarding the children. “What many people don’t understand is that kids continue to love their parents after they’ve been removed. They want nothing more than to come back.” He continued, “The happiest moment that anybody in the child welfare system experiences is when a child is reunified with his or her parents and the case is over.”

He believes there’s no doubt that “children in foster care are normal children from extraordinary circumstances.”

“Working with the kids and families as a Guardian Ad Litem has been the most rewarding part of my career,” Bill concluded.

For more stories about the reality of foster care, visit coyotehill.org/this-is-foster-care.

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