2025 3-hour Guardian ad Litem training

2025’s 3-hour GAL training is made up of talks originally given in 2024 by GAL professionals at the Missouri Bar’s Family Law Conference and Solo and Small Firm Conference. Together, these talks focus on the complex theme of differentiating a child’s stated desires from what is in their best interest. Andrea Pate leads the way with perspectives on childhood development, touching on the developmental context of children’s perceptions of the world. Cassidy Johnston and Cassie Bugalski then share interlocking perspectives on unfounded claims and parent manipulation. What evidence can be used to rebut a child’s description of their own experiences? How does one advocate for such a child’s interests without disrupting the child’s relationship to a parent-manipulator or the child’s own self-perception as reinforced by therapists and reports to the court or law enforcement? There are no easy answers, but these programs aim to help GAL practitioners frame and confront the space between what a child wants and what a child needs.

9-9:50 a.m. | Overview of child development
Originally presented at our 2024 Annual Family Law Conference
In this program, Andrea Pate overviews major paradigms for child development. She provides instruction on how to apply knowledge of child development to communicating with children in legal settings and developing parenting plans. This program addresses GAL competencies 3.0, 4.0, 9.0, and 10.0.
Speaker: Andrea Pate, Law Office of the Ozarks, Springfield

9:50-9:55 a.m. | Break

9:55-10:49 a.m. | Unfounded claims: What to do when a child believes something that is not real
Originally presented at our 2024 MOSOLO Small Firm Conference
"Unfounded Claims" discusses gathering and weighing evidence when investigating abuse and neglect claims.  Cassidy Johnston provides several useful thought exercises for considering when claims are unfounded and how to present those claims to the court. This program relates to GAL standards 3.0, 4.0, 12.0, and 13.0.
Speaker: Cassidy Johnston, Gump, Faiella & Bugalski, LLC, Moberly

10:49-10:54 a.m. | Break
 
10:54-11:41 a.m. | Parent manipulation: How to properly represent the child
Originally presented at our 2024 MOSOLO Small Firm Conference
GAL's have the confusing responsibility of representing the child's 'best interests', rather than representing the child themselves or any other litigant. In this talk, Cassie Bugalski walks through the ways a child's stated desires may line more closely with the perspective of one parent rather than the child's own best interests. She discusses in detail how to discover and present evidence of parent manipulation. "Parent manipulation" addresses GAL standards 3.0, 4.0, and 6.0.
Speaker: Cassie J. Bugalski, Gump, Faiella & Bugalski, LLC, Moberly

11:41 a.m. | Adjourn

Opinions and positions stated by presenters of MoBarCLE programs are those of the presenters and not necessarily those of The Missouri Bar. This program is intended as information for lawyers in Missouri, in conjunction with other research they deem necessary, in the exercise of their independent judgment.