A View From the Bench by Judge H. Christopher Wickham

A View from the Bench on Dependency Cases

Many of you do not work in the area of Family and Juvenile Court that hears child abuse and neglect (“dependency”) cases.  Those of you who do often do so out of a choice to try to help these most vulnerable of children and their parents.  For judicial officers, the cases present particular challenges.  All judges and commissioners draw on their life and professional skills to try to best serve as a juvenile court judge, and so we all do so a little differently.  These are just my thoughts on how I approach these cases.

In Washington, the State and the parents are well represented.  Children are given either a CASA or a GAL who advises the court as to what they think is in the child’s best interest.  Occasionally, the court will appoint an attorney for an older child, but more often than not the children are unrepresented.  As a result, you have a discussion about a person and their needs including everyone but the person who is the subject of the discussion.

Through training and experience, I have learned to try to draw the young person into the discussion if they are adolescents.  Often she is uncertain of  her future and may be distracted by her parents’ drama.   She has often been in several placements by the time I see her.

I like to focus on the area of education and goals.  In this way I hope to get her attention on her own choices and her own future.  I emphasize school because I consider that the most important activity for young people.  I talk to them about who they want to be and how they might get there.  I try to empower them to define and set their own goals.  Not every young person needs to go to college.  All need to be self-supporting and will need to be able to have satisfying adult relationships and, hopefully, successful children.  I try to talk to these young people as if they were my own, which in some sense they are.  I am a parent who has always wanted my children to find their passion in life and pursue it; to set high goals for themselves and find their own way to reach those goals.

I truly believe our young people in foster homes have great opportunity.   Their path is not easy, but we have skilled and caring social workers and other professionals who can help.  I’m grateful to have been able to support all those who are trying to make a difference for this group of children.  I hope that if you are so inclined you will find a way to lend your talents to their success as well, either as a child’s attorney or a CASA.  In that regard, I expect we will be fortunate enough to have some excellent training opportunities in the next 6 months for attorneys who want to represent children in dependency cases.  I can guarantee that even though you won’t make much money on these assignments, you will gain enormous satisfaction and might just recall why it is you decided to become a lawyer!

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