judge mary beth bonaventura has learned in her 26 years in juvenile justice, it s that there s never a playbook when parents and kids face off in court. you can sentence someone to death. you can sentence someone for life imprisonment. but to try to figure out how to put a family back together in about 30 minutes after you read the report of a certain pattern of behavior that has probably gone on for years is a very tricky thing to do, very important thing to do, and wow, the impact we can have if we get it right. kymyada is charged with running away, and although she s told the judge her side of the story, her mother has yet to establish why she turned her daughter over to the police. she chose to go and be with her god mother. okay. so she didn t leave the house without your permission, did she?
we re going to see what we re going. i love you. mom! unlike her mother, kymyada s stepfather believes that placement outside the home may not be in kymyada s best interest. the fosters have been taking care of their granddaughter while kymyada s been locked up. but attorney don ruck knows some tough decisions need to be made. there s two options really. as of 4:00 today kymyada is going to go to a home, where obviously there s a lot of structure like you were talking about. or she could go home, be released to you guys today, with the list of interventions and services that the court said. we re still at odds. on that view. they re talking about it now. and i know deep inside with my dad s help that i ll be going home and be placed on house arrest. as her mother, what s best for her? best for her? yeah.
disrespectful, cussing you out, when we get into it, i know i do it. everybody does it. but this time i really have changed. yes, i slipped up, but it s not like i m continuing to do the same things i was doing when i was 14 years old. so i have been making progress. okay. judge, that s all i have. kymyada, where had you been with the baby all night? over at my cousin s house. we spent the night over there because it was late. is that a habit of yours to take this baby and drop it off different places? no, that is not a habit. no. huh-uh. and how old s your boyfriend? he s 18. is he in school? no, ma am. are you seeing a pattern here? you re not detecting a pattern of doing things in your life that isn t in your best interest? but i can t look at what he s doing.
attending for the past six months. kevin, take care. best of luck to you. my little brother has been there since january. hopefully my mom is there for me when i get out this time and she ll come visit me in placement and all that. all right. take care. good luck to you, kevin. kevin definitely has potential if he can really search his heart and want to make the changes, i believe he can do so. but it s truly up to him. i hope he s successful. that s all i can say. while kevin is excited to go to placement, for kymyada being sent to a placement facility means separation from her daughter. but her story does not end here. that statement that you said hurt me really bad because what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you re not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms
i got to do for me. yeah, we going together but people going to do what they want to do. i have no further questions, judge. kymyada, you may have a seat back there. next witness. judge, i m going to call kim foster to the stand, please. ms. foster, so the court can get at least better understanding of who kymyada is, tell us about your daughter. she s always had issues. i ve always tried to address those issues. doing and being the best mom i possibly could. unfortunately for kymyada she needs more attention than i can give her because me and my husband both work. to the point where we are now it started with being disrespectful