PORTLAND – A Bangor attorney was honored Friday for her work representing children in the state’s legal system by Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine.

Carolyn Adams, 44, is the second recipient of the award. Attorney Wayne Doane of Exeter received it last year.

“I enjoy being a strong voice for children in the courtroom,” Adams said last week, “but I’m not unique in that. There are a lot of wonderful people who work in child welfare and there are many others who deserve this award.”

Adams, who grew up in Bangor, was honored for her work as a guardian ad litem.

Guardians ad litem are the “eyes and ears” of the court, according to the Penobscot County Bar Association. They report directly to judges on behalf of children or incapacitated adults.

“Those GALs who are most actively involved in all aspects of the case promote the best outcomes for children and their adoptive, foster, kinship and biological families,” AFFM President Barbara Ford said in announcing the award. “Carolyn’s commitment to her responsibilities as a GAL was outstanding.

Adams said that she finds her work on behalf of children “personally satisfying.”

“If you do what you love, you end up being really good at what you do,” she said. “It’s easy to do something that comes from your heart. What’s better than standing up for children who’ve had a rougher start than most?”

The PCBA congratulated Adams on the award.

“We join with the AFFM in recognizing Carolyn’s efforts as a GAL,” president April Bentley of Bangor said. “We are so proud that a member of our bar association has been selected for this award. It points to the level of commitment many of our bar members have to improving the quality of life and access to justice for the vulnerable, the poor and the under-represented.”

The mother of a 4-year-old daughter, Adams said she has hope that the children she has represented may as adults “raise the first generation in their family free of abuse.”

“If we improve a child’s life,” she said, “then, perhaps, abuse in the microcosm of the family, and violence or war in the macrocosm of the world, will no longer exist.”

While she is hopeful, Adams also tries to be realistic about her clients’ futures, especially the parents and juveniles she represents.

“Rehabilitation is complicated,” she said. “Some are unable to do it and continue to pass abuse on from one generation to the next. Although I see this ripple effect on the faces of our educators, who fear a Columbine-style act, the parent who loses custody of a child, the child who doesn’t understand [what is happening at home] or the teenager who is taken away in handcuffs to Mountain View Youth Development Center, continuing to try [to end the cycle of abuse] is important to us all.”

Adams is a member of the board of directors of the PCBA. She also is on the board of directors of Shaw House, a Bangor nonprofit that assists homeless youth. Adams has served as a tribal prosecutor for the Penobscot Nation since 2002. Before attending law school, she was as a child protective caseworker for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Adams graduated from Bangor High School in 1982 and earned her bachelor’s degree at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles a decade later. Adams graduated in 1998 from the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. She set up her practice in Bangor the next year.

AFFM is a nonprofit Maine organization based in Old Town that provides education, training, support, legislative advocacy and other collaborative efforts on behalf of adoptive, foster and kinship families and the children in their care.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

990-8207