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YourObserver.com
EAST COUNTY Observer
THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013
YOUR NEIGHBOR | Linda Suereth
Call Karen Blondin to Move Forward 941-365-1926
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Josh Siegel
“I feel like I make a difference in a child’s life,” Rosedale resident Linda Suereth says of why she volunteers with the Guardian ad Litem program.
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114686
etired elementary school teacher Linda Suereth used to lead classrooms of children from varied backgrounds; many of them came from Neighborhood: broken homes. Rosedale Now, in her 11th year as a volunteer Neighbor in Florida’s Guardian since: 2000 ad Litem Program, Suereth sometimes attends parent-teacher conferences, at which she learns more about the lives of abused and neglected children. She helps at-risk children navigate the complex court system, all the way to finding each child a permanent, safe home. After taking on a case, Suereth first gets to know the child in his environment. Inside the home, Suereth is often not alone: in uncomfortable situations, her husband, Skip, also a volunteer guardian, will accompany her for support.
IN HER OWN WORDS: On developing trust with an abused child: “I don’t ask a lot of questions. I try to develop a relationship. I play games with them. Sometimes, the child will teach me a game.” Suereth seldom asks the children questions. She just listens for as long as it takes the courts to find a child a permanent home, which is often one year. Most cases — Suereth has worked on 16 of them involving 36 children — end happily, and Suereth’s relationship continues thereafter. Suereth regularly Facebook chats with a girl she once helped carry to permanency. The girl is a woman now and she is pregnant with a child of her own. — Josh Siegel
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