The child Gomez speaks of is not a family member, a pupil or even a friend's child. In fact, it's not any one particular child, but a host of children she has represented as a volunteer court-appointed advocate.

Gomez volunteers for Child Advocates, a Houston-based organization that trains individuals to work with children who have been removed from abusive homes and placed in the foster care system.

She is one of a small number of Hispanic, bilingual advocates needed to work with families that speak little or no English. Child Advocates is currently seeking such volunteers to serve the large number of Spanish-speaking individuals in the system.

"In all of my cases so far, the families have been Spanish speaking. It's important to have someone who can bridge the gap between the child, the family and the caseworker," Gomez said.

When Gomez became involved with Child Advocates in 1996, it was not because she knew of the need for bilingual volunteers.

She had just graduated from college with a business degree and was interested in giving back to the community. A survivor of childhood emotional abuse, she knew Child Advocates would provide an opportunity to do that, but she didn't realize what else she would gain from the experience.

"Once you start volunteering, you see the need, and you never want to stop. I never thought I'd get this involved, but now it's something I see myself doing for the rest of my life," Gomez said.

The process of becoming an advocate begins with a week of intensive training, followed by a thorough background check and interview.

Advocates are told the history of a child's case and then given the option to accept the case or not. Some instances involve emergency cases, in which the child is in a troubling situation and needs more support from his or her advocate.

Other cases entail a lesser but just as important level of commitment from the advocate, as Gomez has learned in her eight years' experience.

The advocate may be responsible for reading a child's case to Child Protective Services, accompanying the child to court dates, visiting with the child to learn about his or her needs and speaking with others who have close contact with the child.

"It takes a bit of investigative work sometimes. You might talk to their teacher, their school counselor or their doctor to find out how they're doing, because the more information you have, the better," Gomez said.

The advocate may also make recommendations in court, and those recommendations may sometimes disagree with what the child's caseworker suggests.

The idea of appearing in court and handling as sensitive a subject as child abuse once frightened Gomez, and she is not surprised when others tell her they are hesitant to become advocates for that reason.

However, she maintains that the training provided by Child Advocates is sufficient to equip a volunteer with the knowledge he or she needs.

"And even when you have questions, you have a team of professionals there to guide you," she said. "People are afraid, but someone has to help. If we all let our fears take over, nobody will be there for these children."

Over the past several years, Gomez has learned that her role not only as an advocate, but as a bilingual Hispanic individual, has created a sense of stability for the children she works with.

She believes a child benefits from having an advocate who is sensitive to and understands his or her culture, and the Houston area's large Hispanic population has created a need for more volunteers like Gomez.

However, volunteers from all backgrounds are needed and appreciated, as Child Advocates serves about 1,500 children every year.

An advocate works with one family at a time, although some families are assigned two advocates. Gomez said the majority of cases she has worked on lasted no more than one year.

Her commitment to the program is about 10 hours a month, but she contends there are opportunities to devote more or less time in various capacities.

"If you can't be an advocate, you can volunteer in other ways. There is fund raising that needs to be done, and help is always needed for the different events," Gomez said.

Individuals who are interested in becoming Child Advocates can register for the upcoming Advocacy University training session. Individual orientation sessions will take place Tuesday through Thursday; Advocacy University begins Saturday.

Another Advocacy University will follow in April, with orientation dates in February and March. For more information or to register, call (713) 529-1396 ext. 242.