Yesterday was Leadership Longview class day. This session was our Criminal Justice and Public Safety Day. I'll admit, I wasn't really looking forward to it. Snooze fest is what I thought it would be. Boy was I wrong! I enjoyed it so much. Well, I don't know if enjoy is the correct term, I learned so much, but I definitely discovered that I am not cut out for this field. So much sadness and heartache!
We started at the police station and had our usual leadership training first thing. Then, we heard from the new police chief and learned about all the workings of the Longview Police Department. It's quite the operation. A highlight was getting to meet one of the police dogs (they have three)...his name was Youst (not sure on the spelling). They get their dogs from Holland. Youst was a beautiful german shepherd. We then quickly made a walk through the call center before heading to the Gregg County Courthouse.
At the courthhouse, we got to hear from several of the judges from the different courts as well as the district and county clerks. I'm still somewhat confused as to the breakdown of county and district courts, but I do know that when we hopefully reach adoption time, we will be going to the 307th district court and will be seeing Judge Tim Womack. So much of what we heard was so sad and depressing...the dealings with all of this bad stuff. I smiled though when someone asked, 'how can you work here day in and day out with all of this depressing stuff?' Everyone there throughout the day responded with, 'Yes, it's hard, but the good is the times you get to witness an adoption and see those happy families and children.' Oh, I can't wait! I hope we get to be one of their happy moments!
We then quickly made a dash over to the partnership for lunch and a presentation from the district attorney. Interesting, and again, sad, stuff!
Then, it was time to rush back to the courthouse to sit in on Judge Simpson's Juvenile Court proceedings. This was where the REALLY heavy stuff hit me! Ugh! It's just so hard to see smart, talented kids get on the wrong path and make bad decisions. Afterwards, the judge, lawyers, and parol officers stayed in the room for us to ask questions. It just hit me hard because they start seeing kids in there at age 10...the same age as my girls and they kept saying that so many of these kids are smart...like my girls. Unfortunately, many times these kids have no real family unit, no structure, discipline, nurturing, father figures, etc. It just gave me an even bigger sense of burden...well, not burden because I truly WANT to do anything possible for these girls so I don't view it as a chore, but perhaps it just scared me more and I feel somewhat hopeless and unsure of what to do for them, to teach them. And it's frustrating. I get 45 min. on a good day with them, once a week. This includes the walk to lunch and eating, and walking back to class. I just wish I had more time! I wish I could do things with them outside of school. The public is allowed to sit in on those court proceedings and I would love to take them one time to witness the severity and sadness of it. I know I am not their parents and that I am merely a spec in their lives, but I still want the world for them. I guess I feel burdened to not let them let themselves and others down.
After juvenile court we then went on a brief tour of the jail facility. They showed us things that the inmates would make with the limited things they could get their hands on, scary and amazing! Too bad they can't use those talents for good rather than evil, ha!
It was a long, thought-provoking day. I know we are going to be faced with a lot of this sadness as we enter the foster world. It's a little scary, but these children need us. I hope I can find a pair of strong, big-girl panties before then because I was tearing up yesterday over cases that I had no involvement in.
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