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Through our Idea Incubator (I˛), we support community change to reduce the underlying systemic issues that put children at risk of being abused, abandoned, or neglected. The I˛ concept allows individual stakeholders to come together to create community change. Project Patchwork provides meeting space and facilitation to help groups develop and implement innovative solutions to these community problems.
Preparing Dependent Youth for Court Participation
Idea Incubator 2007-2008 Focus
Many adults fear the courtroom, and yet on a daily basis, children and youth are expected to participate in the judicial process. Although there are some children who have tremendous support during this process, there are numerous other children who feel left out or are scared of the court room process. On the other hand, some children are too used to being in court. They may have had a bad example set on how to behave or they may just feel “over” being in court so they don’t care how they act.
Children in foster care often feel disempowered and therefore do not advocate for being part of the process or for appearing in court. Further, the system may be bogged down and either the children do not receive notice of court hearings in time to be prepared or they are never notified at all.
Guiding Principles:
1. Youth in dependency need to participate in court proceedings. The level of participation will vary by age and circumstance, but at its core, dependency proceedings are about the children and they need to be seen and heard.
2. Youth need assistance in understanding the importance of court, getting prepared to participate meaningfully in court and in physically getting to court.
Our Team
Project Patchwork
Florida’s Children First
Safe Children Coalition
Guardian Ad Litem
Community Law Program
State Attorney’s Office
Public Defender’s Office
Unified Family Court
Department of Children and Families
Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association
Youth in Foster Care
Youth Aged out of Foster Care
Private Attorneys
Stetson University College of Law
Brookwood
Other Community Representatives
Our Projects: All projects are focused on dependent youth age 13 to 19, but some projects may include only a specific subset of this group in order to test out our ideas.
Project Patchwork
Florida’s Children First
Safe Children Coalition
Guardian Ad Litem
Community Law Program
State Attorney’s Office
Public Defender’s Office
Unified Family Court
Department of Children and Families
Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association
Youth in Foster Care
Youth Aged out of Foster Care
Private Attorneys
Stetson University College of Law
Brookwood
Other Community Representatives
1. Collecting and creating worksheets, questionnaires, and training materials to help the youth be better prepared for court - MATERIALS
2. Developing a pilot program to address transportation issues - TRANSPORTATION
3. Organizing an open house at court for the youth and families to meet the judge and others involved in the process – OPEN HOUSE
4. Identifying ways to have more privacy for youth and families at the court house such as a separate waiting room – WAITING ROOM
5. Piloting a program for scheduling court in shorter blocks of time - SCHEDULING
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Maria Bates at (727) 824-0863 or maria@projectpatchwork.org
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