The opportunity through Barton Child Policy and Law Clinic has offered me invaluable experience and insight into Georgia child welfare and juvenile court. This summer I was placed in the Middle Judicial Circuit working under the supervision of Judge Tom Rawlings. He is a juvenile court judge appointed for a four-year term by Superior Court Judge McMillan.

It has been a challenging and exciting opportunity to work for Judge Rawlings. He is a very energetic, young judge who is interested in changing and improving the child welfare system during his term. Judge Rawlings is open to suggestions and ideas. He holds a very chaotic schedule and is a part of numerous committees. In order to give you a picture of this internship and a juvenile court judge's hectic schedule, what follows is a list and description of opportunities I was offered this summer.

To begin, the Middle Judicial Circuit is in south central Georgia. The Middle Judicial Circuit is comprised of five counties: Toombs, Washington, Jefferson, Emanuel and Candler. The counties are designated as rural. The most striking difference for me, as a person coming from New York City, is the amount of open space and therefore the amount of driving time that is required to cover this five county circuit.

During my internship, I spent a day with each of the five county Division of Children and Family Services (DFCS) Offices. I accompanied child protection specialists (CPS) and foster care workers on home visits, attended meetings between caseworkers and parents, viewed an interview of an alleged victim of sexual abuse, reviewed paperwork and discussed the county needs with the services supervisor. I toured a Regional Youth Detention Center in Sandersville and Youth Detention Center in Swainsboro. I also went on a tour of Broken Shackle, which is a residential placement. Broken Shackle Ranch accepts boys ages 15-17 referred from DFCS or the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

I was also responsible to accompany Judge Rawlings to many of his committee meetings and speaking engagements. Judge Rawlings is interested in community involvement and awareness. This summer he has given many speeches to civic organizations in the Middle Judicial Circuit. I have attended a number of the speeches he has given at Rotary and Kiwanis Club meetings. At each presentation, he encourages the members to become mentors or foster parents; if nothing else, Judge Rawlings brings awareness to the community of the plight of children in the system.

In accordance with this objective Judge Rawlings would like to begin a Mentoring Program. He assigned me the task of researching and putting together a proposal. I began the research and drafted a proposal. I then met with interested community members from the School Board, DFCS and DJJ. I believe that the proposal lays the groundwork for a mentoring program for youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice system. The proposal discusses grants/funding, structure, evaluation process, training and recruitment. The committee will continue to meet and apply for grants and hopefully begin within a year.

I attended numerous other committee meetings: a steering committee meeting for a residential facility for girls, Stone House, a Child Placement Project Meeting and an educational seminar for judges regarding education/health needs presented by Georgia Advocates Office (GAO). Judge Rawlings' busy schedule allowed me to attend many different types of meetings. During these meetings, I noticed that they are highly politicized and bureaucratic. I did not realize that even service providers in the juvenile justice and child welfare feel and respond to the political pressure.

Aside from all the organizations Judge Rawlings is affiliated with his official duty is to preside over juvenile matters. I frequently observed court. After court I was able to discuss the cases with the judge, the special appointed attorney general (SAAG), the guardian ad litem (GAL), caseworkers and DJJ probation officers. In these rural communities it is more likely that involved parties seem to take action as a community. In addition, the attorneys and agencies approached providing services for the child and/or family in best interests standard. It appeared to me that everyone worked as a community in the interest of keeping the family intact. This dynamic seemed to be beneficial for the families and children involved.

In addition to all the travel and court observation, I worked on research project regarding status offenders. I reviewed the current legislation in Georgia and then looked to the other fifty states to see if a better model existed. The research will be given to the Southern Juvenile Defender Center in use for a possible proposal to Georgia state legislature on reforms to the current status offenders' designations.

I thought that this internship perfectly suited my career aspirations. I had worked in the foster care system in New York and Chicago. After becoming frustrated with "the system", the bureaucracy and ineffective policies, I thought law school would allow me the opportunity to make the greatest difference. I was very excited by the offer to work in a rural area, especially a southern community. My belief was that this experience would make me a well-rounded policy maker. This internship has certainly exceeded my expectation and has allowed me to gain insights in many aspects of the child welfare and juvenile justice system.