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Yep. That about sizes it up.
I'm trying to envision the world in which dragging a 17 year old into court and, without even having his judge talk to him first, getting him to drop urine for a drug test (that was only mentioned by his GAL to staff as a possible concern because of his defiant behavior and repeatedly missed curfews and tanking grades) is a good thing. I'm having a really hard time with thinking such a world is a good place. Oh, wait a minute! That's our world. Darn it!
Somehow a special set hearing became all about a drug test (which was negative). That would be the drug test that was less of a concern to me than the fact he still has no driver's license in his legal name (kind of a bigger issue for someone breaking curfew in his municipality, too...) but a greater concern than the fact that his foster parent keeps saying that his foster care management agency still owes her $242 from the summer program that finished in June. Oh yeah, and all of it went down against the backdrop of my having to leave before the hearing for my fecking neurology appointment. And hey, I get to feel horrible because the case manager who had to drag the kid in canceled her dental appointment. I got to go to my appointment but she didn't get to go to hers. Nope, instead a mangled message and priority list awaited.
However it happened, I know a 17 year old young man who was stripped of his dignity with little if any explanation as to why this was happening and without even having a judge ordering him to be, on the basis of any concerns of the Court. A young man who says he doesn't believe anything anyone is telling him about why this was done. And suddenly, five and a half years of knowing someone and trying to gain their trust feels like it's totally.. down the drain.
© Bright Nepenthe, 2011
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