School: Mercer University School of Law

This internship has truly been a wonderful experience. Unlike some internships that strongly compare to secretarial work, this internship placed me in the center of action from the very beginning and was always hands on. I was rarely ever bored, if ever, because there was always something to do. Judge Beam was outstanding in letting me experience and observe the different roles in and perspectives of child advocacy, and I am greatly appreciative for that opportunity.

Sadly enough, anyone interested by daily soap operas and talk shows would love to observe almost any juvenile courtroom proceeding. I observed a lot of court in the courtrooms of Judge Beam, Judge Burke, and Judge Stone, the three juvenile court judges in Chatham County. Courtroom observation helped me learn a lot about the juvenile court system. I learned first hand about the two tiers within juvenile court, the deprivation tier and the delinquent tier, and the different types of hearings that take place within each tier. Trying to learn about the two tiers by reading information was somewhat helpful, but it made much more sense when I was able to observe it.

Also, it was extremely interesting to see how juvenile court operates because it is an adversarial system in which several advocates work toward the same goals. In each case, all parties involved work to protect the child(s)'s best interests, and it was amazing to see how this goal is ultimately accomplished despite the court's adversarial nature. Analogizing to sociological concepts, it is most like the functionalist model where every person plays a vital role in the grand outcome of our society. In the delinquent tier, district attorneys purport to make minors appreciate the magnitude of delinquent actions through retribution, rehabilitation, restitution, deterrence, or a combination of such. Public defenders and child attorneys endeavor to ensure that the minors receive fair treatment and fair consequences. Finally, judges put it all together and rule in the best interests of the minors. In the deprivation tier, Special Assistant Attorney Generals (SAAGs) represent the Department of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) and aim to illustrate that deprived children's best interests are sometimes to be placed in DFCS's custody (so that the children can be removed into a more stable environments) or children can remain in the home but it would be in their best interests for DFCS to provide services to families and children while monitoring the situation. Parent attorneys protect the rights of the parents and promote what the parents think are the best interests on their children. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) /Guardian Ad Litems (GAL) work extensively with the children and make recommendations to the court on what they believed to be in the best interests of the children. Finally, the big wigs (judges) put all of the pieces together and rule in what they deem to be the best interests of the children. Everybody has the common goal of advocating for children's best interest and it is just amazing to see how every ones has a different role in achieving that goal.

During my fabulous internship, not only did I observe the different roles in court, I participated in the advocacy and gained a ton of experience. On the first day of my internship, I went on a home inspection with a DFCS worker to do a home inspection. The back ground of case was two children a two year old and a four year old, were observed by an officer walking down the street unattended. The officer picked up the children and returned them to their mother. However, when he arrived at the home he witnessed clothes, food, and feces on the floor. The officer then made the determination that the house was not fit for the children to remain there and notified DFCS to remove the children. Judge Beam asked me to accompany the DFCS worker on the home inspection and report back to him the results of the inspection before he made the decision on whether the children could be returned. Talk about responsibility! It was a very bittersweet experience. On one hand, my heart went out to the mother and her circumstances- two young boys, a husband that is deployed, a full time worker, a full time student, and caring for her disabled mother; she was really doing the best that she could do and it was evident that she was not a bad mother. However, on the other hand, she had so much on her plate that part of me was worried that she did not have the time to adequately take care of two young children. When I got to the home, I was definitely hit by the reality that my circumstances and standards that are present in my life are not always universal. The home was not the worst, but it was far from the best. I could tell that she had made great efforts to clean the entire home before the inspection, however, by my personal standards it was a mess. There were bugs everywhere, some dead, some alive, on the walls, floors, counters, and just about any place you turned. Trash was piled in the yard, clothes and food pieces were on the counters, yet I could tell that she had really cleaned her home. I had to really force myself to not judge her and not make her live up to my living standards. The bottom line was there was food in the refrigerator, her utilities worked, the children had beds to sleep in; this mother had gone through great lengths to make sure that her children would be safe. She had placed locks on the doors, sprayed the house for pests, and she had cleaned up her home. In the end, her effort is what was important. She loved her children and she was doing the best she could while trying to better herself. After a "Safety Care Plan" was completed by the social worker and mother, I made a recommendation that the children be returned to the mother.

I also accompanied a DFCS worker in an Ex Parte (emergency removal) when a routine home inspection turned out not to be so routine. We went to visit the home under the premise that it would be ok for the child to remain there while in the mother's custody. This was far from what happened when we got there. Three pit bulls roamed loose in the front yard. The house had no adequate ventilation system and people were smoking in the house. The air was hot, thick, and smoky which was of serious concern since the child was a premature 4 month old with respiratory problems. Also, there was no place for the child to sleep. Per the testimony of the mother, the mother, grandmother, grandfather, and baby all slept in the same bed which was elevated very high off of the floor and no larger than a queen sized bed. I had concerns that the baby could fall of the elevated bed and be seriously injured or hurt if someone rolled over on the baby. The most alarming thing of all was the bottle with contained baby food (mashed carrots). The mother was feeding the baby mashed carrots, which is very dangerous to the healthy development of the baby's digestive system. These things, as well as the unsanitary conditions of the home prompted an ex-parte order, and the child was removed. However, the judge was at lunch and the police did not show up immediately. The family was really upset that we were taking the child, and we were in an unsafe neighborhood. This meant that I and the DFCS worker were in a dangerous situation (at least in my opinion) for a brief period of time, for which, we remained in the car. This was very scary for me. I quickly grew a great appreciation for the work in the trenches that DFCS workers and CASA volunteers do in our court system.

Later into the internship, I had the honor of spending the day with a DFCS worker who did home investigations all day long. Wow, what an experience! Once again, I was reminded that my standards of living and circumstances are not universally employed. However, remembering that home inspections are necessary for good child advocacy makes the experiences tolerable and worthwhile. Working with DFCS gave me a greater sense of respect for the department's work and a better sense of what it is that the department does. It also helped me make some very important decisions in life. Prior to this internship, I wanted to invest more time and money into school to obtain a Master's of Social Work. Since the internship, I have changed my mind.

I was also fortunate enough to work as a Guardian Ad Litem for a number of cases. This was a very rewarding experience and is something that I would definitely like to do after I receive my JD. I got to do more home inspections, interview, and make recommendations to the court of what I thought was in the children's best. This experience made me so conscious; this was not a mock trial or a class hypothetical, this was real life. My recommendations were going to influence the decisions that the judges made about people's lives. I was over anxious when I was preparing my recommendation reports; turning in a document with typos to a professor may lower my grade, however turning in a document with typos to a judge may land me in contempt of court! All and all however, it was a really good experience.

Unfortunately, there were times when working as a guardian I felt like I cared more about the children than some of the parents did. I really enjoyed spending a lot of time with the children. I was able to sit down and talk about how they felt and what they wanted to happen. I was able to add volume to their little voices that had been unheard for so long. This was extremely satisfying. It was worth more than all of the money in the world. I was able to invest my heart and soul into these children and advocate for their best interests. It was so rewarding. Certain aspects of it were also very disappointing at times because the parents would not cooperate and broke promises to the children. It made me so frustrated because I really cared about these children, and I became so upset when the parents did not seem like they were even willing to match my passion.

I was also able to spend time with public defenders and child attorneys. This provided me with another perspective. I was able to accompany public defenders to the detention center a couple of times. This gave me an opportunity to get personal with the children and hear their stories from their point of view. It is seldom that the child actually testifies in court (from my observations anyway). I enjoyed hearing their stories. Of course, some of the things that said I did not believe, but some of it I actually did. I also got to accompany child attorneys on several client interviews. This was also very interesting because I was able to better understand why child attorneys advocate for certain things.

Many of the decisions that the judges rendered were reviewed by different members of the community during the community panel reviews. I was able to observe many panel review hearings and I went through a range of different emotions. I witnessed all of the different players working together to get children reunited with their families under safer conditions and in better environments. There were also reviews that displeased me. In some of the reviews I witnessed the disconnection between older generations and younger generations. In some cases, I felt like the older generations were a bit too harsh and unable to realize that we are living in a different time. In my generation, there are a lot of young, unmarried, immature mothers. Most of the time, these pregnancies are unplanned, unlike earlier times when more children were born into two parent homes to parents that were financially stable, mature, and had support systems. Unfortunately, this is not the norm today. In my opinion, most young mothers do not know how to parent. This does not necessarily mean that the young mother is a bad person; it means that she is an inadequate parent, and she needs help on learning how to parent. A lot of frustration and misunderstanding about this issue seemingly results from the disconnection between the generations.

The worst of the reviews almost made me cry. There were five children by two different fathers. The three oldest children are mostly likely going to end up with their father while the youngest two children, both under the age of 2, will most likely get adopted. The children were allowed to attend the panel review as a way to clear up misunderstanding caused by blame shifting. After hearing the permanency plans, the oldest child (who was extremely bright) voiced her concern that is was not fair because if her younger siblings were adopted, they would not be considered family anymore. This broke my heart. To make matters even worse, the youngest siblings did not recognize the older siblings, which made the older siblings cry. This really made me upset with the mother in this case. I have no problem with parents causing pain in their own lives, but it upsets me when parents cause their children pain. It took a lot for me not to cry, but I did not. This was just another reality check I received while working this internship.

This internship was Heaven sent. I really appreciate Emory's Summer Child Advocacy Program, Judge Beam, Mrs. Rhonda Ancrum, and the entire Chatham County Juvenile Court for providing me with this wonderful opportunity. I learned so much and had so much fun this summer. The juvenile court staff immediately welcomed me into the court and were instrumental in providing me with a wonderful summer experience. Everyone was open to helping me learn the internal working of the juvenile court system.

I learned several important things while working at the juvenile court this summer. Firstly, I learned that child advocacy is not for the faint hearted and to work in this area effectively can be analogized to walking a tight rope. It requires a lot of skill as well as a lot of feeling your way, and most importantly, leaning to either side too much can be extremely dangerous. Secondly, I learned that no one person can determine the best interests of children. It takes a lot of different people that care about children to make the system effective. I have become convinced that working in the area of child advocacy has to be a calling from God. It takes a lot of patience, time, and skill to make a difference in these children's lives and the people that invest all of these things do not have the salaries of corporate lawyers. Instead, they have the satisfaction on knowing that they are changing lives and doing God's work. Third, this internship really put my life back into perspective. During my first year of law school, everyday I questioned what I was doing with my life, and I questioned my ability. Being here has helped me regain my focus and my confidence. Also, I'm learned so much and gained so much experience that I was able to develop a child advocacy career plan. I observed court, participated in court, filed documents with court, interviewed people, investigated homes, toured places, shadowed various workers, and been a part of panel reviews. I am so thankful for this experience and I encourage anyone interested in child advocacy to apply for the judicial internship with Judge John Beam at the Chatham County Juvenile Court through the Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program.