When the Garrity family was sent to truancy diversion due to the absences and tardies of their autistic son, it was an eye opening experience for them.
Although
she was upset about her son having to participate in diversion, even though his
absences were due to mental health issues covered in an I.E.P., Michelle Garrity
was even more troubled by what she witnessed in the diversion sessions. Here is her account.
“There
were approximately 25 to 30 families at the April 25th diversion
session, which was held in a courtroom at the Douglas County Hall of Justice. A good majority of the families
needed a Spanish speaking interpreter, so those families were moved to the
other side of the room. All the families
sit in rows of chairs and the assistant county attorneys sit at two tables in
the front of the room. They come around
with a list and you give them your name.
They check you off the list, and then you sit and wait for your name to
be called. When your name is called, you
go up to the table and stand in front of the county attorneys. Nothing is private, you can hear
everything. Every personal issue
regarding your child and your family is discussed in front of all those
strangers.
“Some
of the children are sent out of the room to have a drug test. When I asked the Region VI representative why
some kids were submitted to drug tests, she said it was to confirm if they
needed drug counseling.
“All of the
assistant county attorneys are very young.
The one assigned to our case, Sarah Graham, was particularly young and
she was brand new, so she had another attorney standing behind her, coaching her
on what to say. She asked my son what
his summer activity plans were, which I thought was crazy. That is personal family business and has
nothing to do with diversion. But I just
told her that he was taking guitar lessons and continuing with his
counseling. Ms. Graham clearly didn’t
know what to do with our situation and I can see why—my son doesn’t belong in
truancy diversion. He has mental health
issues, he’s not truant.
“During this same
session, one of the young prosecutors, Cara Stirts, asked a family what activities they were
planning to put their children in during the summer. When the family responded that they didn’t
have anything lined up, the prosecutor ordered them to get their kids signed up
for activities such as the Boys and Girls Club, and report back to her in June
about those activities. She also ordered
the child to get his grades up.
“Even more disturbing
was the treatment of a Mexican family who was there that day. This family had a young daughter who appeared
to be about 12 or 13 years old. The
mother brought her own interpreter since she spoke no English. Initially, the child was praised by the
prosecutor because she was doing so much better. She hadn’t missed anymore school and her
grades had improved. However, when the
prosecutor, Ms. Stirts, asked the mother what their plans were for the summer, and the mother
responded that they were going to Mexico to visit family, the prosecutor
informed her that they would have to cancel their trip because the daughter has
to attend summer school. The prosecutor
ordered the family to report back in June. This order effectively put a halt to the family’s
summer plans because the diversion contract, which each family is required to sign before leaving, states if the
contract is broken, the County Attorney can choose to file against the family
in Juvenile Court.
“I was so
disturbed by the way these families were treated. It was as if the young prosecutors
thought their job was to parent these kids. But these children already have parents! I didn’t know assistant county attorneys had
the power to order a family to cancel their summer vacation, to put their child
in summer school, to sign up their children for summer activities and to get
better grades. I thought those were
parental decisions. I am afraid that
pretty soon these assistant county attorneys will be trying to dictate the personal
decisions in our family, even though they have no idea the challenges our
family faces every day with an autistic child.
That’s why I decided I needed to tell someone about what’s really going on
in diversion court.”
Wow. Sounds like a police state. That is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI'm horrified!
ReplyDeleteThis needs to be shared with every state senator in the Nebraska Legislature. They need to right this horrific wrong, because each is responsible for unleashing this monster on Nebraska families and children.
ReplyDelete