David Marousch, a special advocate
with Voices for Children, was impressed
by its structure and organization.
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David Marousch, a contracts administrator with RD Instruments and Voices volunteer, has been a special advocate since June 1997. Assigned to only one child's case during that time, his role has been to become familiar with the child, the mother, the case, the social worker and the lawyers. The overall effort involves a lot of time and dedication.
"There's a lot of activities I’ve done in terms working with my child, the case, going to court, writing reports, taking the child out to get to know him, taking him to Voices for Children functions, the Children's Museum or the park, and interviewing foster parents," Marousch explains. Because the judge, social workers and lawyers on the case must work with many children at once, Marousch's job is to give individual attention.
"All these people have a lot of things going on in their lives and it’s hard for them to focus on the one child per se," Marousch says. "I specifically find out what’s going on with this child and have no other cases. It’s a dynamic case and it’s really very interesting." Marousch says the Voices cause initially sparked his interest through its extensive training program.
"The training session was a great benefit because it was very thorough, and I learned a lot about myself," he says. "The need is there, and the training was a plus. I knew I could apply it through the work that I'd be doing." Other children's efforts Marousch volunteered with offered little to no preparation beforehand. "Voices for Children was very structured and well-organized, and I knew what to expect."
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