Understanding Culture, Background, and Family Dynamics as a Conscientious GAL

When a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) is appointed in a family law case, our primary responsibility is to investigate, evaluate, and make recommendations on the best interests of the child or children involved in litigation. However, making a fair and well-informed recommendation requires more than just assessing living arrangements and having a cursory understanding of parental capabilities. The most effective and thorough GALs remain cognizant of the multitude of factors that come together to create a specific family dynamic, and the unique needs that creates in the children. This involves taking into account cultural background, family dynamics, and individual histories to ensure the child’s best interests are genuinely served.

The Role of Culture in Family Law Cases

Cultural background plays a crucial role in shaping family relationships, parenting styles, and expectations. What may be considered standard in one culture may differ significantly in another. Recognizing and respecting these differences is essential for a GAL to avoid misinterpretations and ensure that a child’s well-being is assessed within an appropriate cultural context. Understanding diverse parenting practices and disciplinary approaches is an essential step to more objectively assessing a child and family's needs. Recognizing cultural attitudes toward extended family involvement is also crucial--as a native Caribbean, this is something intrinsically important to me. Ultimately, the most imperative thing we can go as GALs is recognize and avoid biases and beliefs that we may have that may unfairly impact families from different backgrounds.

The Influence of Family Dynamics

Each family operates with its unique structure and dynamics, which can significantly affect the child’s emotional and psychological well-being. A GAL must take the time to observe interactions, assess communication styles, and determine how conflict resolution is handled within the household. Understanding how this particular family operates, the structure of the household, the responsibilities of the members of the household, and the routines they have are all extremely important to being a more effective investigator. Some common factors that influence these dynamics are the presence of extended family as primary caregivers, the impact of sibling relationships on the child’s stability, and the role of stepparents and blended family structures. Depending on the family, one or both of the parents may be financially supporting everyone, leaving the childcare to older siblings, grandparents, or aunts and uncles. Perhaps one of the parents is the disciplinarian and the other is the "fun" parent. Whatever the circumstances may be, it's important for us to be non-judgmental and consider how these dynamics affect the child and create the environment we are evaluating. 

Background and Its Effect on Case Assessment

A parent's and child's personal histories also play an essential role in determining what environment best serves the child’s interests. Issues such as past trauma, prior legal involvement, socioeconomic challenges, educational levels, and community involvement must be carefully evaluated with empathy and without prejudice. Understanding how economic stability affects caregiving ability provides a very valuable insight into the investigation. Perhaps a parent does not utilize the entirety of their timesharing because they are desperately working to provide for their and their children's basic needs. Perhaps in one home, the children do not have a room to themselves overflowing with toys, or a dresser packed full of clothes. Rushing to make a negative assessment with blinders on could be a tremendous pitfall.

If there is any history of domestic violence, substance abuse, or mental health concerns, it is essential for the GAL to dive in and understand the core issues, the repercussions of these issues, and what change has occurred over time, if any. Similarly, it is essential to consider past involvement with DCF, any child welfare investigations outside of the state of Florida, being involved in dependency proceedings or actions, sheltering, or concerns expressed by collaterals.

Avoiding One-Size-Fits-All Recommendations

Given the complexity of family law cases, it is imperative for GALs to avoid making assumptions based on personal beliefs or generalized societal norms. Instead, each case must be assessed individually, with recommendations tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of the child and their family. Although it might be our initial instinct to jump to conclusions or judge a situation in a certain way, we must have a broader understanding of all of the circumstances that affect the family and then make a determination. 

Conducting in-depth interviews with all involved parties is one of the simplest yet essential steps in avoiding a robotic application to analysis and recommendations. Listening to the words that are spoken is only part of the process--we must listen to the tone, beliefs, goals, experiences, emotions, struggles, challenges, victories, and successes beneath. In order to ensure that all recommendations we make as GALs reflect the unique needs of the child, we have to check ourselves to make sure they are not tainted by our preconceived notions. In some cases, it might be helpful to consult cultural experts or community representatives when necessary to ensure that all recommendations reflect the unique needs of these child in this family.

The Takeaway

The role of a GAL is not just to collect disjointed facts and spit out monochromatic recommendations into a dusty report. Our role is to truly understand the child’s life within the context of their culture, background, and family dynamics and in so doing come to a conclusion about their best interests so that we can advise the Court. By being more conscientious lawyers and taking a holistic and culturally, socially, and family-specific competent approach, GALs can make recommendations that genuinely reflect the child’s best interests and promote long-term stability in their lives.