Sharon Hill is the Executive Director of Georgia Appelseed.
The Mission of Georgia Appleseed: To listen to the unheard voices of the poor, the children, the marginalized; to uncover and end the injustices that we would not endure ourselves; to win the battles for our constituency in the courts of public opinion or in the halls of justice that no one else is willing or able to fight.
To further this mission, Georgia Appleseed has partnered with The Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic of the Emory University School of Law, Voices for Georgia’s Children and others to form JUST Georgia. JUST Georgia has two primary objectives: 1) To work for the passage of a new Juvenile Code that reflects the scientific findings and best practices in the child development field; and 2) To identify and change policies in Georgia’s underlying social services system that can prevent detention and sustain healthy behaviors outside the juvenile justice system.
To educate and inform Georgians about these efforts, JUST Georgia has planned a series of town hall meetings in October and November in various locations including Savannah, Conyers, Rome, Albany, Columbus, Atlanta, Gainesville, Augusta, Griffen and Milledgeville.
If you have never had to appear in Juvenile Court, you are indeed fortunate. I haven’t been there much myself, even as a lawyer, but when I have been, it was one of the scariest places on earth, full of the unknown. It is even more so for the parent or a child who finds themselves there for the first time. This is by no means a criticism of our juvenile court system, but more a recognition that in Juvenile Court the stakes are always high: the well-being of a child. Juvenile Court Judges generally have the responsibility of cleaning up someone’s mess and no matter what remedies are available, there will be a big impact on the child. Sometime the choices are not good and more than any other category of judges, juvenile judges have to have the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon to fashion a just remedy from a very unjust situation.
It seems undeniable that our juvenile laws need to be updated so they work as well as possible and hopefully provide judges and case workers with the tools and flexibility they need to truly do justice to the child and the family.
If you know a Juvenile Judge, take a moment and say “Thanks,” even if you aren’t sure why!
Comments