School: Emory University School of Law

I enjoyed my internship with the Fulton County Office of the Child Advocate a great deal because it paired my interest in the inter-workings of a juvenile court with the hands on experience of the every day activities of the child advocate attorneys. I was paired with two attorneys, but spent the majority of my time with one in particular. I spent my days going to court and assisting her in tracking down the various parties to a particular case, interviewing people and doing any other task that she required at the moment. That task could vary from running to the office to grab a file to standing with five teenage girl witnesses.

Another one of my duties also included preparing files the day before court. This entailed organizing the file and updating it with every pleading that had been filed with the court. I also had the opportunity to accompany attorneys on home visits, which was interesting because children are quite a bit different when they are comfortable in their own homes rather than sitting in the court's waiting area. It seemed as though children would open up more at home. I found this interesting because the cases where the child seemed to get the most of what they needed was when they were open with their child advocate. I always felt discouraged when I interviewed a child who would not give an opinion of what they really wanted or were not specific. Therefore, it seemed to me that home visits were the best option, especially with a quiet child.

I really enjoyed observing Drug Court on Wednesdays. Drug Court is a grant-funded program designed to give parents support to become drug-free, and in turn get their children out of the system. It was the only chance to really hear about what parents were struggling with in order to get their children back in their homes. I was impressed by how hard some of these women tried to kick drugs and how much support they gave one another. It was great to see a mom when she started to feel good about herself. However, it was obvious how difficult this process was for these women and I really admired their courage to push forward with their treatment.

During my court observations, I was shocked at how heavy the Department of Family and Children Services case workers' case loads were, I was impressed that they could dedicate so much time to court and continue to stay on top of their files. I was impressed at how knowledgeable they were on every case, considering their time constraints.

The cases that were the most disturbing were the cases involving physical abuse. This was especially so with instances when the children came in with visible scars on their bodies. I was amazed at how often children that suffered physical abuse had what appeared to be cord marks on their necks. Often these children seemed less upset about the instances of abuse. Rather, they seemed to be upset about their parent not protecting them from the abuse (often the mother not protecting them from the boyfriend.) It is hard to imagine the types of trust issues those children will have for the rest of their lives.

Finally, I enjoyed the interactions with the judges, child advocate attorneys, special advocate attorney generals and parent attorneys. All the parties involved in the juvenile court deprivation process were dedicated and knowledgeable regarding the issues surrounding children in the system. I was amazed at how much they cared and how seriously they took their jobs. In many cases, it seemed as though they went above and beyond what was expected of them in order to help a particular child in need. Because each situation is different, I was also impressed by the vast legal knowledge of each judge and attorney.

In conclusion, before I started this internship, I thought it would be depressing to meet so many children in such terrible situations. However, I was instead amazed at how positive many of the cases were. I think it may be because I saw the case at the resolution stage, where people were getting involved to help these children. At that level, my experience was instead incredibly uplifting.