School: Emory University School of Law

I had the privilege of working for Bob Grayson and the other Cobb County Juvenile Court SAAGs this summer. I could not have asked for a better placement. Not only did I have the experience of working alongside phenomenal attorneys, but my placement permitted me to have a bird's eye view of juvenile court processes in Cobb County. I was able to observe juvenile court proceedings several days a week with the added benefit of being allowed to listen in on the conversations between the case managers and attorneys that took place outside of the courtroom (as well as several conversations that occurred in the judge's chambers!). I was also given the opportunity to draft court pleadings including petitions, complaints, and court orders. Equally exciting was that I presented my first case to the court under the third year practice act. My placement was unique because I am the first ESCAP intern to work for a SAAG in Cobb County. My placement was also unique in that my boss, Mr. Grayson, has been affiliated with Cobb County DFCS longer than anyone else in Cobb County (including all of the DFCS employees!). The attorneys I worked with were extremely committed to making sure that I got everything that I wanted from my summer experience, and were generous enough to give me hours of their time as mentors. Coming into my placement I had some fairly specific goals in mind for my summer. I spent my first two weeks observing in court, sitting in on Citizen Panel Reviews, learning how to draft pleadings, doing legal research in preparation for a deprivation hearing, and asking a ton of questions. As part of my introduction to DFCS work I was given the opportunity to review Mr. Grayson's massive binder containing photographs from cases that he has worked on throughout the course of his thirty plus year tenure as a representative of Cobb County DFCS. There were photographs of homes that were filthy beyond anything you could ever imagine along with photographs of children who had been burned, beaten, bruised, and broken by the people who should have been willing to lay down their lives to protect them from such horrors.

After my first two weeks I sent a memo to my supervisors letting them know what my other specific goals for the summer were. They were more than willing to use their connections to make it possible for me to meet my goals. In the weeks that followed I was able to spend a day with case workers going on home visits, go on a tour of the three emergency shelters here in Cobb County, and meet with a DJJ official and tour the Marietta RYDC. In addition I was able to observe a Superior Court trial involving one of Mr. Grayson's clients and sit in on a mediation session. I also spent numerous hours reviewing SAAG training materials and outlining many of the specific state and federal statutes that spell out the procedures to be used in abuse and neglect proceedings. I paid particular attention to provisions related to qualification for Federal IV-E funding for foster children. I was also given the opportunity to review the 1400+ pages of DFCS records pertaining to children in custody whose sibling was murdered by their parents. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the case worker's documentation as well as all of the home evaluations and health assessments that were done. Finally, I was able to spend a day in Bartow County Juvenile Court with Judge Tilley. Judge Tilley is the current Vice President of the Council of Juvenile Court Judges and she has a well deserved reputation for running a model court.

The thing that impressed me most about my summer experience was the caliber of the DFCS case managers and of the attorneys who advocate on their behalf in court. The commitment, competence, and compassion that they exhibited day in and day out amazed me. The case load in Cobb County is high (about 160 cases a month), but the SAAGs and the DFCS personnel are committed to using every available resource to preserve families whenever possible and to do whatever it takes to protect the children when it is not. They are committed to working long hours and giving their best in spite of the low pay and the negative public perception. These case workers genuinely want the parents to succeed at their case plans. I have seen their frustration when the parents refuse to even attend their drug treatment and I have listened to them plead with the parents to get it together for the sake of their children. Equally impressive is the competence level of the DFCS case managers and attorneys. I think of case workers like Brynne Plant. She has a degree from Vanderbilt and she could easily be doing something else that would pay more and make it easier for her to support her husband through grad school (did I mention that she is fluent in Spanish?) -- yet she chooses to do something that she feels is meaningful with her Ivy League degree. She outlines her case histories to the point of listing the individual strengths and weaknesses of the parents, visits scheduled vs. visits made, etc. and she literally pours over her notes before every court appearance. I think of DFCS attorney Sandy Deen. He has a law degree from UGA and he is amazing at trial. He can file motions and handle objections with the best of them, and I have literally seen him single-handedly hold his own against a room full of high-priced, big firm hospital attorneys. He could easily be practicing in Superior Court or at a big firm downtown making a lot more money and enjoying greater prestige, but he devotes his practice solely to juvenile court work -- and no one in juvenile court exhibits more enthusiasm for their work than Mr. Deen. I think of DFCS attorney Betty Blass. She raised three amazing children as a stay at home mom before going back to law school, AND she paid Emory tuition (I always think about all the shopping and cruises she could have taken instead . . . ) because she wanted to use her time, talent, and energy to protect abused and neglected. And finally, I have had opportunities to witness the compassion that the child advocates in Cobb County have for the children that they interact with. I have seen panel review members give heartfelt encouragement and praise to children and foster parents. I have gone with case workers during their visits with kids staying at the emergency shelter. I have seen the SAAGs go out of their way to visit with the children and foster families and to answer any questions they might have. And I have seen some of the judges come to court seemingly as familiar with the case histories of the children as their case workers!