Youth Justice Barbecue Celebrates Juvenile Code Rewrite Progress

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Advocates, youth and members of the public gathered this weekend at Exchange Park in Decatur, Ga. to celebrate a year of progress toward juvenile code reform in Georgia. VOX Teen Communications hosted the barbecue along with a coalition of youth-focused non-profits that have concentrated on making proposed changes to Georgia’s Juvenile Code a reality. JUSTGeorgia, EmpowerMEnt, the Sapelo Foundation and VOX Teen Communications have formed a mesh of alliances to give youth a voice in matters that affect them and advocate for the first changes in the Children’s Code in more than four decades. An initiative started by Giovan Bazan and Octavia Fugerson at VOX Teen Communications more than a year ago sought to collect the voices of youth from around the state who were directly affected by the juvenile or foster care systems. The series generated such a positive response it was pursued by EmpowerMEnt and spearheaded by Bazan and other youth leaders after the founders aged-out of work at VOX.

Governor Deal, Lawmakers Commit To Juvenile Code Rewrite Vote In 2012

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Georgia’s Juvenile Code Rewrite — a sweeping revision of the state’s 40-year-old juvenile law — will likely be ready for a vote in the next legislative session thanks to support from Gov. Nathan Deal and some in the Georgia House and Senate leadership, according to two non-profits involved in the drafting of the legislation. “The time has come for us to rethink how our state is responding to children who have found themselves in trouble with the law,” said Gov. Deal in a news release.  “I applaud the careful thinking and inclusive engagement that has gone into developing the Child Protection and Public Safety Act.”

Representatives from the Barton Child Law and Policy Center of the Emory School of Law and Voices for Georgia’s Children, said, this week that the Act, Senate Bill 127, received commitments from Gov. Deal and Georgia House and Senate leadership “to ready the measure for a vote in 2012.” Voices lists the legislation's current status as "in the Senate Judiciary Committee" with "general support from the Governor's office as well as the office of the Speaker." “From the beginning, this process has been a great example of how to build good, thoughtful and effective legislation,” said sponsor Senator Bill Hamrick (R- Carrollton), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC). “We have had buy-in from all the players: from the courts to the prosecutors, defense attorneys, service providers, youth and families; pretty much every interested party.”

JUSTGeorgia, a coalition that includes Voices and Barton along with non-profit Georgia Appleseed, has led the rewrite effort as a vehicle to improve Georgia’s juvenile laws and the underlying social service systems. Barton’s Policy Director Kirsten Widner and Voices Advocacy Director Polly McKinney contend that the rewrite is the culmination of more than four years of research and consensus building to solve dilemmas faced by children, families, courts, detention facilities and taxpayers. SB 127, they said, is based on data-driven “best practices,” with an eye to timeliness and fiscal responsibility.

Children Fighting Deportation

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Raphael was just seven years old when his mother brought him from Mexico to Gainesville, Georgia for a good education and better opportunities.  But by the time he was 16 his mother was arrested for drugs and deported. He dropped out of school and was working in a factory to support himself and his sister. Because he was brought here illegally, he constantly faced the threat of deportation to a country he knew only as a little boy. Now his mother’s dream for her children is about to be fulfilled. The Division of Family and Children Services learned of his situation and he was referred to Catholic Charities for legal help.

GA Children Trapped by Immigration Debate

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While the battle over immigration plays out across the country, children of immigrants in Georgia face fear, anxiety and stress-related health problems, according to a report from the Sapelo Foundation.  Children who are U.S. citizens by birth, are getting separated from their families more often as local police agencies arrest illegal immigrants under the expanding 287 (g) program.  The study also found women and children  who are victims of assault and domestic abuse are afraid to call police because they fear getting deported.  In Immigration Enforcement and its Impact on Latino Children in the State of Georgia, author Elise Shore spells out long-term, traumatic consequences for children.   Among the recommendations:

Prohibit checkpoints and road blocks near schools, churches and day care centers
Local police should adopt ICE humanitarian guidelines for sole caregivers
The foster care system needs bilingual and bicultural workers to understand the needs of immigrants

Long road to new Juvenile Code

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The next session of the Georgia General Assembly is months away but advocates are busy polishing a major bill that could affect children and their families across the state. In fact, they’ve been working on this legislation—a complete revamp of the state’s juvenile code—since 2004. A new code, the first in four decades, was introduced in 2009 as The Child Protection and Public Safety Act but failed to make it to the floor for a vote by the end of the two-year legislative term. To be considered in the term that begins next January, it must be reintroduced.   Its supporters want to make sure it’s in good shape.  “Our goal is to work through the 2009 bill as a draft,” said Kirsten Widner, director of policy and advocacy at the Barton Child Law & Policy Center at Emory University, “and to have an edited version for the next legislative session.”

“We’re going to take the opportunity to make some technical changes and changes all the stakeholders can agree to,” said Mindy Binderman, director of government affairs and advocacy of Voices for Georgia’s Children, a policy advocacy group. A hearing on the proposed code is set for June 28 at the Capitol.  More meetings and hearings are expected over the summer.