This summer I worked at the Office of the Child Advocate at Fulton County Juvenile Court with Mary Hermann and Chris Yokom. During the course of my internship, I had the opportunity to observe court, prepare cases for court, handle client inquiries, research legal issues, attend meetings with various child welfare organizations, and serve on the National Adoption Day Committee.

What impressed me most this summer were the Model Court meetings. At these meetings representatives from key child welfare organizations came together to discuss the juvenile court proceedings. They participated in troubleshooting, discussion of ideas and the progress of initiatives. The monthly meeting of these key players was not just your typical discussion of ideas and theories; they actually implemented ideas and got things done. Child welfare is such a multi-disciplinary field that meetings of the minds should occur more often and in every arena, not just in the area of judicial proceedings.

Another aspect that impressed upon me was the complete lack of resources - lack of funding, lack of good foster families, and lack of personnel. Working at the courthouse, I associated most with the attorneys representing parents, representing children, and representing the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS); DFCS caseworkers; parents; and, of course, the children. First, DFCS officials play such an intricate role in making the system work. They are responsible for providing oversight, making sure needs are met, and working with parents to ensure that they get services to get their children back. On top of all this responsibility, they have substantial caseloads. We need either more workers or fewer cases. Unfortunately, we also have a lack of good foster homes. I met and spoke with many foster parents this summer. Some were excellent, but others were not as supportive. One problem I found was that foster parents who want to adopt are less supportive of parental reunification. While I'm glad the foster parents love the children, when they take this to the point where they are presenting barriers to reunification, the system is put in a tough place. There is a definite shortage of foster families, but we also don't want inappropriate action going on. Also, I was able to see the foster parents utilize their opportunity to speak at the hearings. From what I saw, they prepared statements about a range of topics including updates on how the child is doing, updates on how the parents are doing, intentions of the foster parents (i.e.: desire to adopt), and, a popular one, financial needs.

Another impression that stayed with me was the inability of the Child Advocate to spend significant time with the child. The Child Advocate is the one that speaks for the child in court, but it is hard to speak for someone when you don't even get to speak to them. The children are not always brought to court, but I think they should be. One judge made an excellent point - maybe Terrell Peterson would not have died if they had SEEN him in court. I got to speak with many of the children this summer. Some of them were very open about what they knew and what was going on, but some of them were much more reserved. My guess would be that they needed time to get to know me before they wanted to open up. Some didn't even know they had an attorney representing them. At a minimum, the children should at least know that they have someone speaking on their behalf AND have the contact information for that person. This past summer, two clients called Mary Hermann and had requests. We were able to get a review of the cases and produce positive results for both of these children. Some children would have a much more positive experience if they knew of this resource and utilized it.

Another impression was the number of cases involving drug problems. St. Jude's (a drug treatment center) seemed to be a permanent fixture in the court. The children in drug cases come into custody mostly by the mother giving birth to a drug-positive child. All hospitals should test both the mother and child for drugs at all births; I got the impression that not all hospitals did this. Unfortunately, unless the mother gives birth to a drug-positive child, or is arrested, this problem seems to go largely undetected. I heard about the drug court initiative that Fulton County Juvenile Court is involved in, but I'm not sure how it works. I would be interested to learn more about it.

A more positive impression left on me was National Adoption Day. The light at the end of the tunnel for us at Juvenile Court was reunification of the child and parent and closing the case with DFCS or adoption. Either one meant finalization and permanency for the child. National Adoption Day represents a celebration of permanency for children.