TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Today, Governor DeSantis’ team announced that Dennis Moore – a longtime advocate for children and experienced attorney – will lead the state’s Guardian ad Litem office.
Dennis Moore has served as the Interim Executive Director of the agency since July 2021. Under his leadership, child representation has greatly expanded in Florida and the GAL office has secured record funding.
In December 2020, it was estimated that the GAL office represented approximately 67 percent of abused and neglected children in court, while in June 2022 that number spiked to over 90 percent.
Florida now leads the ten most populous states across several important metrics, such as the lowest average length of time in foster care; the lowest percentage of children in foster care over five years; the lowest average length of stay for children waiting to be adopted; and the highest percentage of children adopted from foster care by relatives.
“As Executive Director, Dennis will be responsible for ensuring Florida’s representation of vulnerable children remains the national model for keeping children safe while supporting their long-term success,” the governor’s office said in a statement.