Supplied photo courtesy of Helen Marotto Helen Marotto was recently recognized as a finalist for a Realtor Magazine Good Neighbor Award for her work with abused and neglected children.

 

After a decade of advocating for neglected children in court and hunting for the long-lost relatives of abandoned children, Helen Marotto has been recognized for her countless hours of volunteer work with the Cape Fear Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) Association.

Marotto, a Realtor with EXIT Homeplace Realty in Hampstead, N.C., is one of 10 finalists for the Realtor Magazine Good Neighbor Awards, an annual acknowledgement that recognizes Realtors that have devoted spare time to help people who need assistance.

Marotto said she has been a GAL since landing in Wilmington in 1999. In April of that year, Marotto said she was attending a newcomers meeting when a woman approached her and asked if she wanted to become a volunteer with the GAL Association.

GAL volunteers serve as a voice for children in the foster care system by helping the judges make decisions that will hopefully lead to a permanent plan for each child.

The volunteers achieve this goal by working to reunite children with their parents or relatives, placing them with a caregiver or making them available for adoption.

The Cape Fear GAL Association, a separate yet connected organization, funds enrichment activities for children while they are in foster care, striving to help kids be kids even though they are ensnared in the system.

Marotto, thinking she was about to retire, was searching for an activity that would be meaningful and important.

"Realtors are responsible citizens with good people skills and they are detail oriented," she said. "They also like kids, it’s a perfect fit."

Marotto said she joined the GAL and with the help of fellow volunteers, finished her training and moved quickly towards helping abused, neglected and abandoned children.

"Guardians are really caring people," she said during a telephone interview on Thursday, Aug. 20. "They help each other tremendously and they always find time for one another.

"So when I would have a problem, there were several guardians that I could go to and talk it out to make things more clear."

Marotto said she didn’t retire, but kept working as a Realtor while finding time to advocate for the children in need.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) made specific reference to Marotto’s work on obtaining high-quality medical care for disabled children and locating children’s long-lost relatives by searching phone books and cemetery records.

Marotto, while stressing the importance of finding lost relatives, said each child who enters the foster care system usually has a family somewhere, but many times the parents are estranged or the child doesn’t know who the family is.

"Well that family has the right to know that their kids are in trouble," she said, "and so trying to find the extended family that will be capable and willing to take care of the children is very important."

When asked how she managed her schedule to allow room for GAL volunteer work while employed in the realty market, she said: "You make the time...each child motivates me for the next one."

"And if you really know how to make lists and schedule yourself, none of this is impossible," she added.

The NAR announced the finalists of the Good Neighbor Awards on Aug. 19.

In November, five winners will be selected and receive travel expenses to the 2009 Realtors Conference and Expo in San Diego, CA.

The winners will receive media exposure and a $10,000 grant for their charity, said NAR spokeswoman Sara Weis. Five honorable mentions will also receive a grant in the amount of $2,500.