Our mission is to provide advocacy and support to abused, abandoned or neglected children in the Guardian ad Litem Program of

Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

We envision a world where every child has a safe and permanent home with the opportunity to thrive.

We hope that you are enjoying a wonderful start to the summer! For so many of the children we serve and their caretakers, summer can be a time of transition and challenge, as our school-aged children are not going to school all day and this has an impact on both the child and the caregiver. We are pleased to have been able to support 52 children with funding for camp and other recreational activities this summer and many more are receiving tutoring throughout the summer. With the generous support of our partners, Wells Fargo, Junior Achievement and the UF/IFAS Extension, we have also been delighted to provide Life Skills Training to more than 60 teens this year, through Financial Literacy, JA Career Success and Cooking Matters. We have also purchased life start kits for 9 youth who have aged out with the generous help and financial support of Aripeka Elks (Pasco) and the White Family Foundation.

Even though our days are long and hot here in Tampa Bay, however, we at the Foundation are already gearing up for the fall and winter – Back to School and the Holidays!  You can help us celebrate Christmas in July by dropping off new toys (a list of popular items can be found here:   http://a.co/iEW0f5Z ), new school uniforms and new school supplies. Perhaps you are a part of or know a civic group or faith community who would like to help conduct a toy, uniform or school supplies drive? We want to be able to provide our children with the best possible start to the new school year. We recognize that many people have gently used items that they would like to donate to our children, but unfortunately we are only able to accept NEW items. If you would like to donate any new items other than toys, school uniforms or school supplies, please reach out to us prior to dropping anything off at our offices by contacting us at iamforthechild@galf6.org.

Our Back Pack pickup days this year, will be Wed, Aug 1 from 4:30 pm-6:30 pm at our ICOT office and Thur, Aug 2 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm at our New Port Richey office (more details can be found below).

Thank you for all that you continue to do for our children! We couldn’t do any of it without YOU!

CHAMPIONS FOR OUR CHILDREN

Thank you to Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg for their $13,000 grant to help Guardian ad Litem Foundation of Tampa Bay increase our organizational sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency to better deliver on the promise of our mission and vision for abused and neglected children.  We will be using the funds to implement an online portal for grant requests to streamline the children’s needs request process; to develop processes for data collect ion and impact measurement; to provide the Developmental Relationships Framework training for GAL staff, volunteers and other child welfare and youth development professionals and lastly to create a lending library that includes resources, training and other tools for GALs and staff.

A BIG thank you to Raymond James for supporting our Write Start Program for the past 4 years by providing backpacks in the fall and tutoring all year long!

And to J unior League St. Petersburg for providing back packs and school supplies this year to help children in Pinellas County have the tools they need to succeed.

Thanks for all you do to help our children and youth start the school year off right! 

Our generous donors are our biggest resource. We can't do it without you. So far in 2018, our financial commitment for children's needs has increased 28% . Here are our current numbers for how your dollars help: 42 children have received clothing gift cards; 181 ch ildren have been provided normalcy resources and activities-i.e. dance classes, football, or summer camp; 39 children have received laptops, tutoring, or other educational support; 220 ch ildren have received birthday bags to celebrate their special day; and 57 ch ildren have received emergency needs such as bedding or medical testing. We are proud that 91 cents for every dollar donated goes directly to support the children we serve. To donate or learn more about how you can help , visit us here .