When Carolyn Thurston was first approached to volunteer as a court advocate for children, she thought it would be temporary.

But her volunteering developed into a full-time career.

"I always noticed that the volunteer work that made me the happiest got my fingernails dirty. I was out there on the streets working with the problem, not just trying to work around the problem in an administrative way. I like the one-on-one contact that I always got here.''

As a guardian ad litem for Child Advocates, a nonprofit agency funded by private donations and the United Way, Thurston represents in court children who have been abused or neglected by their parents.

"I usually don't have much to do with the parents or their home or how they're taken care of in their home. I'm all about the child and where they are, where he or she is living.''

As of Sept. 30, 2,757 children in Marion County had been served by Child Advocates this year.

Child Advocates has an advocate in each of the four juvenile courtrooms, plus three advocates in courtrooms that hear divorce and custody issues. Working with each advocate are volunteers who interview everybody who might give insight into a child's situation -- school officials, ministers, therapists, family members -- and report their findings to the advocate.

Advocates, who have college degrees in child-related fields, are appointed by a judge to a case. Volunteers must be 21 and undergo about 30 hours of training on how the child welfare system works.

Thurston describes her job as two parts: "to be the child's voice in court'' and to say what she thinks is in the best interest of the child.

"Once I am appointed to a case, I am at every hearing that is held on that child's behalf,'' she said. "I will see the disposition, which is the kind of sentencing of the parents. That's when the parents find out what they need to do to get their children back.''

She and her volunteers begin the process by speaking with the children about their friends, activities and what's going on in their lives.

"I always ask them where they most want to live,'' Thurston said.

She fights hard to gain a secure home and family for the child but doesn't like to tear families apart.

"Families, for better or for worse, love one another, and they need to be back with one another. It's terrible to see a family torn apart.''

If a judge rules that a child should be taken from the home, there are a variety of places where children go.

Younger children usually go to emergency shelter care, while older ones go to the Children's Guardian Home. Others can be placed in a foster home, with a relative, or in another residential setting.

Despite the difficult situations she deals with every day, Thurston loves her job.

"If one child has had their message carried to the court, it is important to that child and can change their life.''

ASSISTANT EDITORS: David Lasker, 16, and Carly Decker, 14.

REPORTERS: Sarah Wenzel, 11, and Kristin Drouin, 10.