I'd like to get everyone's opinion of this.

Parents are disputing physical custody; the child has been in therapy since a placement change a year ago and is doing well in their new environment. The guardian ad litem has been assigned to the case for 4+ months but has not contacted the child's therapist, teachers, etc. Doesn't say much to either parent or their attorneys, very closed off.

What's your take on that? Would you feel the GAL isn't doing a proper job? My opinion would be that the therapist would want to be one of the FIRST people to speak with, seeing as the child can come in and express their own feelings in private without the influence of either parent.

My gut feeling is that it seems the GAL is there for nothing. Why hasn't this been resolved in 4 months? What is expected of the GAL in this case? Are they the ones making the recommendations for placement? Then they have exceeded their time limit. It shouldn't take forever.

PS: Didn't see this earlier or I would have responded sooner.

The GAL was assigned 4 months ago; there was a hearing scheduled 2 months after their assignment. At the hearing, the GAL stated they would need 45 more days to complete their report, which pushed the due date to this month.

When one of the parents called to set up an appointment to bring the children to meet the GAL, the secretary made the appointment on the same day that the report was due. The parent asked about this and the secretary responded, "Oh, [the GAL] never has those done on time anyway."

The GAL "studies" the situation and makes a recommendation. However, the family court commissioner stated at the last hearing that they did not want to see the GAL's recommendation until the trial which isn't until next month - this also is confusing to me. I mean, why assign a GAL to do a case study if you don't want their opinion on the situation? I don't know if the commissioner doesn't want to be influenced and wants to base their ruling on just facts, or what the deal is.

That's why I figured I'd get someone else's view on it :)

By rights. You (both parties) should receive the report well before any trial. That way you can dispute it or make changes to it if needed. Or in the case of someone who was incompetent have it thrown out.