Welcoming Kids into Court

It's possible, unless you don't want to do it.

I’m heading to Orlando to present at the Advance Education Program hosted by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. I’m excited to co-teach with Miami’s Judge Jason Dimitris and the amazing trauma therapist Kelly Plouffe. Our topic is reducing trauma for kids in court using the protections of due process. Main point: the tools are there, you just have to use them.

I don’t want to give away the presentation and ruin it for anyone who attends. Instead, here are some public resources you might find useful.

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and OJJDP put out technical assistance back in 2012 on the importance and mechanics of getting kids into court. It’s called Seen, Heard, and Engaged. It has a section on common concerns that I really like. This is one:

Concern: Children will become upset during court hearings because hearings raise emotional and upsetting issues that children shouldn’t be subjected to and they may hear alarming things about their parents.

Solution: Children are the first to remind stakeholders that they have lived through and are well aware of the issues that brought them into foster care. As long as they are appropriately prepared for the hearing, discussions in court will not likely cause them additional trauma or harm. Moreover, excluding children from court can be equally (if not more) upsetting, because it strips children of the opportunity to come to terms with their past and move on and precludes children from having a sense of involvement in and control over planning their future.

It also addresses adult objections like “we don’t have anyone to transport the child!” and “they shouldn’t miss school!” and “it might upset them if the judge doesn’t do what they want!”

Those are good faith concerns. There is also the truth that kids talk when they come to court. Some adults don’t like that. When only adults appear in court, judges get a one-sided, incomplete idea of what is going on. When adults tell the stories, the kids get Baker Acted or suspended only for what they did. The adults don’t write status reports with all the ways they contributed to the problem. In some cases, adults outright lie about what happened and assume nobody will believe any different.

I’m reminded of the “cock fight” that happened in a group home in Miami. The person in charge of the home had the boys physically fight instead of helping them work through their problems. She then, according to public reports, lied to police when they were called and had one boy Baker Acted. If the boy hadn’t been in court to receive a Christmas gift and the judge somehow asked the right question and received a video of the fight, the worker’s story would have been the only story known. Watch for the people who strongly object to kids in court. They may protest too much.

Our job as children’s lawyers is to make court safe, accessible, and understandable. That’s the main point of Louisiana Judge Ernestine Gray and Brenda Robinson’s 2021 article on making court meaningful for kids. It takes work and planning, but it is possible to create a courtroom culture where kids are welcome to exist and participate in ways that are empowering to the child and impactful on the outcomes. It can also make the system better if adults know that how they treat kids may come back to haunt them.