A Leisurely Walk to Juvenile Court
By Judge Patricia Clark
Since this month’s theme is lawyers and leisure, I ask that you take your leisure time and mentally walk with me up the hill from the downtown courthouse to Juvenile Court at 1211 East Alder.
At 7:30 in the morning the lobby is quiet, but not totally empty. A few staff arriving for the day filter through security. The coffee shop is just opening. Usually there is at least one family sitting in the lobby who traveled from the far edges of King County to address some issue related to a child and that child’s well being. Court events will not begin before 8:30 but nerves, concerns about transportation, anxiety about the outcome of the proceeding, anger at being in Juvenile Court for any reason, has this family here well ahead of schedule.
The 12th and Alder site houses a variety of agencies that work with the court to provide resources and services in the best interest of children.
The King County Prosecutors Office for Juvenile Court is on the fifth floor. Deputy prosecutors, paralegals, staff and domestic violence advocates call the recently remodeled fifth floor home.
Juvenile Court administration, a number of Juvenile Probation Counselors (supervisors for adjudicated youth who are on probation) and Reclaiming Youth management staff, occupy the fourth floor.
The third floor houses the clerks’ office, Office of Public Defense screening unit, Drug court-Judge Inveen and staff, and Commissioner Seller’s BECCA court (At Risk Youth, Children In Need Services, and Truancy petitions).
The main floor (floor 2) has four courts for offender/criminal trials, Judges McCullough, Barnett, Mariane Spearman, and Clark preside; one court for dependency cases, (abused and neglected children) Commissioner Holman presides; Department of Social and Health Services court liaison unit, defense attorney room, interview rooms and an open lobby area.
Juvenile Detention is on the first floor. That facility spreads out behind the “court tower.”
This very busy court is worlds away from the downtown courthouse. By 8:30, the lobby swirls with people and sound. The sounds of children (infants, toddlers, young children and adolescents) are in the air. Staff at the information desk are busily directing people to various locations and simultaneously answering their questions. Lawyers call out their clients’ names and courts begin their first matters of the morning.
Now back to that leisure thing. Stop for a minute and look around the facility. The County Department of Facilities Management, in cooperation with Judge McCullough’s Parent Orientation Committee, are quickly turning this sometimes neglected building into a very pleasant family friendly environment. New signage and information kiosks will assist the families in navigating juvenile court. Artwork by the kids in detention will soon adorn the walls of the lobby.
Juvenile Court is receiving national attention for its innovative and effective programming for children. King County Superior Court continues to take a leadership role in delinquency prevention by actively addressing truancy and at-risk youth behavior in our community.
Currently the Court’s efforts are focused on saving the Truancy program from budget cuts that will eliminate them. Norm Maleng, the courts and the schools have joined forces to save this program that has proven to reduce dropout rates, increase school attendance, and reduce recidivism.
King County Superior Court received a Robert Wood Johnson $1.5 million grant to make system changes that result in positive outcomes for children with substance abuse and/or mental illness issues. The first year of the grant was devoted to planning the intervention strategy. This involved intense work and collaboration across systems and within the community. A primary focus of the grant is to deliver services to African American` youth who are over-represented in the Juvenile detention population.
We’ve now begun the second year, and this is our year of implementation for the grant. A project called Reclaiming Futures is designed to return offender youth to their communities with the necessary support to ensure that they do not return to the juvenile justice system. We have great hopes that this will have a significant impact on all children, but especially on children of color.
The final major project that I’d like to discuss with you is the Family Dependency Drug Court that will address the needs of families in the dependency system. The same intervention strategies that have been successful with criminal adults and with juveniles have been shown to have dramatic impact on reuniting children with healthy families.
Well, enough of our trip today. I hope you have enjoyed your leisure time. If you have more leisure time, please consider volunteering as a CASA or mentor at juvenile court.
Judge Patricia Clark has served as Chief Judge of King County Juvenile Court since November of 2002. This article is dedicated to the memory of Rosie Oreskovich, Assistant Secretary for Department of Social and Health Services and Barbara Harris, Juvenile Court Probation Officer for 25 years. They lived their lives for the children.
