As a young attorney fresh out of law school, I was looking for ways to get experience and to serve vulnerable youth and promote stable families, something that would end up being my life’s passion. While in law school I never imagined I would end up practicing in this area, but I quickly became devoted to involving myself in matters where I could make a difference.
When I signed up to be a guardian ad litem for minors who seek to marry in North Carolina, I did not know what to expect. Looking back, with the knowledge I have now about the coercive circumstances many minors who seek to marry are facing, their perceived lack of other options for safety, support or independence, and the devastating lifelong consequences, I wish I had been given more guidance, more time, and more information. If I had, I think some things may have turned out differently.
The 6-year-old dangled his legs above the floor as he sat at the table with his defense attorney, before a North Carolina judge.
He was accused of picking a tulip from a yard at his bus stop, his attorney Julie Boyer said, and he was on trial in juvenile court for injury to real property.
The boy s attention span was too short to follow the proceedings, Boyer said, so she handed him crayons and a coloring book. I asked him to color a picture, she said, so he did.
He didn t know it, but no matter what the judge decided, the experience could change the boy s life, experts say, from how he sees the court system to increasing his chance of getting into trouble again and being sent to alternative school.