Project ACE

Florida Guardian ad Litem Office at the 2026 Florida Children and Families Summit!

Last week, child welfare professionals from across the state, including staff and volunteers from the Florida Guardian ad Litem Office, came together at the 2026 Florida Children and Families Summit to share knowledge, best practices and ideas for continuing to help Florida’s children. Our team appreciated the opportunity to learn from others while also sharing information about the Office and how we represent the legal interests of children who have experienced abuse, abandonment and neglect.

A highlight of the Summit was seeing members of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Office’s CHAMPIONS take the stage to share their perspectives, insights and ideas during several workshops. CHAMPIONS draw from their own experiences in Florida’s child welfare system to help inform conversations about policies, practices and the support provided to children and young adults across our state.

During the Summit, CHAMPIONS spoke about the importance of sibling relationships and shared advice with child welfare professionals who are helping teens prepare for their next chapter. We are incredibly grateful to our CHAMPIONS for sharing their experiences and continuing to make an impact.

Other members of our team also shared their knowledge, including Assistant Director Wendy Rodriguez and Child Advocate Manager Supervisor Paige Cueto from Circuit 19, who presented “Engaging Families in Meaningful Change.” Opportunities like the Summit allow us to learn from one another, share what we know and continue working toward our shared purpose of helping Florida’s children thrive.

Follow our page to learn more about the CHAMPIONS and how their experiences are helping shape the work we do for Florida’s children. Visit www.guardianadlitem.org to learn how you can get involved.

MALE MENTOR NEEDED
A 17-year-old teen is looking for a positive, supportive male mentor who can provide encouragement, guidance, and a consistent presence as he prepares for adulthood.
He enjoys basketball, video games, and spending time with family and would benefit from connecting with a mentor who shares some of his interests and is interested in building a positive relationship over time.
Mentoring is about listening, encouraging, and being a consistent, supportive adult through everyday moments, challenges, and accomplishments.
Could you be that person for him?
Learn more about becoming a Mentor at guardianadlitem.org.

Can’t wait to drop these items off to group homes in Circuit 10 next week!

Thank you so much to Ember's Spark for looking for ways to support youth in care in our community and to Brooke McDermott for coordinating and connecting us. It takes a village 🖤💚

Ember had a doctor's apt today, so we skipped the whole day of school. While we were in Highlands County, we dropped off a carload of toiletry items for the ACE Project, which will distribute the items to teens transitioning out of foster care. We also dropped off a box of items for Beauty Fit For a Queen, including tons of new make up. Thank you Brooke McDermott for being our middle man to get the items where they need to go!!

This project is personal. For this we’d like to share a (long) story from the founder. Excuse the essay, in advance.

“My Da and Nana were my parents. I had a hard time accepting this until very close to their death. I still catch myself saying “my grandparents” and then repeating “my parents” right after because there’s conflict in my subconscious as to who they were to me. But when I actually sit and actively think of it, there’s no question as to who they were to me.

There was a time when Da and Nana were just Da and Nana. I’d spend some weekends at their house at a very young age when my bio mom was still somewhat cognizant (taking her meds). Christmas was usually a fun time, they spoiled me and made me feel very “normal”. Santa didn’t really show up at my bio mom’s house- but he showed up at Da and Nana’s.

It wasn’t until around age 5-6 that my bio mom stopped letting them see me. They’d show up at our mobile home that THEY bought so we’d have a home while my bio mother was out doing who knows what and I was home alone. I would hide even though I wanted to see them because my bio mom would tell me they’d take me away again if they knew I was home alone. (I had been in and out of foster care after being given back to her).

When the big 04-05 hurricanes hit south Florida, we found ourselves homeless- our mobile home was destroyed by Jeanne (with us in it, right before my 6th birthday). We were living behind a dumpster when I turned 6 and my bio mom still waited to reach out to them for help.

When she finally did, my Da and Nana immediately got us an apartment to live in. Then they were cut off again. Then Wilma hit in late October of 2005, right after “the big 7 birthday party” my bio mother threw for me to make up for the missed year 6. She really did go all out for that, and it was probably one of the most loved moments I felt from her in my memory. My Da and Nana weren’t invited though and I found out later that gifts they had sent had been thrown away.

I say all of this because my “grandparents” went through hell to try to stay involved in my life and make sure I was at least somewhat okay. My Dad watched his biological daughter, my bio mom fail time and time again. He loved her dearly but I think ultimately he knew he had to be there for me, not her- Cathy was reaching the point of no return. I can’t imagine the pain that puts on a parent’s mind, to watch a loved one succumb to mental illness that no one really fully understands.

When my Da and Nana knew they were moving to Sebring, away from South Florida- they requested a random check in by our case worker.

I was lucky to actually be at school that day, at recess with my 1st grade classmates I rarely saw. That request to do a random check on our apartment was one of the most integral turning points in my life to date.

The random check in found over an oz of ma*****na in the home- which was the first thing they could book my bio mom on (these were 2005 ma*****na laws). Upon further review, they found there was no food in the house and that the only bath in the home had the ceiling caved into it from damage caused by hurricane Wilma (no one really knew this at the time, but that ceiling caved in on me while I was taking a bath).

Secondarily, this random check led to a child neglect charge.

I was picked up by police at recess that day and hours later was met by my “grandparents” who took me home. I’ll never forget the first night I spent with them.

Most of their house was already packed for their move. I don’t remember crying at all really. I was bathed for the first time in about a month. I sat on the floor, criss cross apple sauce in the empty living room while my hair was brushed out by my Dad. We watched “Rocky and Bullwinkle” while he worked thru tangles and my Mom made us dinner. The tv was the last thing to be packed lol, they had to have their nightly entertainment routine.

It wasn’t until bedtime that they referenced Cathy and how I wouldn’t see her for a very long long time. I tossed and turned a lot that night on the hideaway bed they hadn’t packed because they weren’t expecting on moving it to the new house. Sometimes things work out like that. They ended up bringing it to Sebring because I’d need a place to sleep.

It’s almost 20 years later and I haven’t seen my bio mother since that day. She pops up now and then online thru the years, but they were right. And I don’t know if I ever really want to *see* her again. My real parents… I’d do anything to see them again one more time.

My parents moved me from Margate, Florida within the next couple of days, all the way up to Sebring. We stayed at the Kenilworth Lodge, a place that seemed magically large and exquisite to me at seven, living in the conditions I had lived in to that point. The realtor who was finalizing the sale of the house to my parents was touched by our story and gave me a Christmas tree- since all this happened right before Christmas 2005.

This random stranger made me feel seen and loved too. I’ve found more often in life how kind strangers can be, versus unkind, which is how I feel we’re modernly programmed to believe.

I spent my first Christmas with my PARENTS that year. They spoiled me, they got me all the necessities to move me into our new home and then also got me gifts. My aunt Sheryll and Uncle Gary came to visit the new home. Everyone was so flexible that there was an unexpected seven year old around now. I was surrounded by safe people who loved me and showed their love for me for the first time in life that I could remember. I think back on that time fondly now- though I spent much of my teen years into early adulthood forgetting, completely blocking out this time, or the days “you were best friends with your grandparents back then you know?”

Through the years there were a lot of hiccups in the relationship with my parents. I was a traumatized child who didn’t know how to deal with a lot of the emotions I had. In fact, I’m still learning how to deal with some of the emotions to this day. They certainly didn’t know how to handle what I was dealing with. Even then, I would do this thing where outwardly I seemed “fine” but then one thing would happen, or I’d become overwhelmed and my mental would crumble. My parents didn’t know how to handle that, but they did the best they could. They didn’t know what “triggers” are or that a childhood like mine would definitely have effects that could only begin to be managed with extensive therapy.

That said- thru all the good and bad days of my youth + teen years they instilled in me the value of education, kindness to others, the value of friendships, and the satisfaction of hard work paying off.

They offered me safety and consistency in a young life that had experienced anything but.

My “grandparents” were more parents than a lot of traditional parents I feel. Not knocking on traditional parents- but they had to be. My Nana and Da, Mom and Dad were pivotal and essential to who I became. They had a lot of scary things to deal with, and a child who didn’t know how express how messed up things were feeling.

They are why I am able to start something like “Project ACE”, and have the dreams of giving back and helping others who are experiencing similar and worse outcomes from the foster care system. They are why I was able to go to school to pursue my passions in film and writing. They are why I have so much to look forward to today.

Just a year or so before they passed away, we were sitting at the dinner table during a visit. My mom said “We wish we could have gotten you sooner. I hope you know we did our best, even when it didn’t seem like it and things were hard”.

Hearing them say this changed my entire outlook on our relationship- which had gotten a lot better upon me moving out and going to college.

On my Mom’s deathbed, I whispered to her in solitude that she had been the best mother I could have asked for. I had never called her mom before, and believe me it felt much too late. I also told her that because she was my mom, because SHE had raised me to be strong willed, Da and I would be okay- she didn’t need to hold on for us any more. She passed just moments later.

I found extreme closure in accepting my grandparents as my parents- I only wish it had happened much sooner. The next couple of months my Father and I were closer than ever before. I learned things about him that made me realize just how similar we were.

I don’t think either of us had ever felt so seen before those last months of his life. I am so grateful I had that time with him, fully accepting that he was indeed my DAD.

Shoutout to all the grandparents who were far more than that- and heavily influenced the lives of their grandkids in positive ways.

“Project ACE” is largely dedicated to my parents, William and Suzanne Brauer- the people who raised me and did their best to break the cycle I likely would have been in if it hadn’t been for them. They weren’t just my grandparents. They were far more.

Happy National Grandparents Day, if you’re still reading 🖤💚 (and thanks for reading)”

-Grace

If you are interested in having a collection box for our Spooktacular collection drive, please let us know! DM us or comment below ⬇️