talk to me about it? all right? put the blanket around you. i m just waiting for that day to get out of here. i just want to leave. family involvement from one case to another can vary greatly in the juvenile justice system. while kevin struggles with what lies ahead, kymyada finally has her day in court where she s convinced she ll set the record straight with her mom. if you re standing to the side of somebody, you re not in line. i m not nervous at all. because it was just a misunderstanding. the judge is going to listen to my mom, but once she hear my side of the story and she ll know where i m coming from she ll understand too and so will everybody in the courtroom. i need kymyada gehr. good morning, kymyada. how are you doing? ready for court? right this way, please.
that s why it s a misunderstanding. i don t understand why you re arrested. i ve been doing good for a year now. and after i had my baby it s the first time i slipped up. but i didn t do anything wrong. it was just lack of communication. we re going to go ahead and call your mother from here. are you going to want to talk to her? you do want to talk to her? decades of research shows peer pressure and family turmoil are the two biggest factors that lead to juvenile delinquency. for kymyada and her mom the relationship never seems to live up to what either of them expects. hi, kimberly, this is someone from lake county juvenile center. i should have called someone, let y all know it was okay. but i m doing good. y all doing good but you re not doing good when you re running in the streets and you partying and not coming back. now because you re locked up you
she s always had issues. i ve always tried to address those issues. through 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 with me. after that we laid down the law. either you abide by our rules or you need to go somewhere else. she chose to go and be with her godmother. that s fine. i know where you re at. you re safe. we ll work this out. and you were okay with that. in fact, you presented her with that as an option. exactly. because i trusted that person and i knew she would be safe with that person. okay. so she didn t leave the house with your permission, did she? today the court is considering two difficult cases. there s kevin, a repeat offender who s been incarcerated for
start over again because i know i can see. that s what i want to add. i just want kymyada to understand my concern is always for the baby. she s a helpless individual. if you re acting out of her concern first and foremost, that s the only thing i want to see happen. so if even my comments make you do that, then i ve accomplished what i want. mr. ruck, anything else? judge, i think kymyada has done what we hope happens when someone is not released home to their parent and that s that they think not just about what they did but what the people in this courtroom told her. the structure s in place at home. kymyada s ready to take responsibility for herself and her child. and the court should reconsider at this point releasing her to her mother today. i think for her and for a lot of kids her age it s growing pains and we just have to figure out how to help her get through that. today what the court will do is grant your request and order that she be released and returned to your
okay. how do we explain when the judge asks kymyada, now we re here again, what s different this time? it was a misunderstanding because at this time i don t stay with my mom. i stay with my godmom. so that s why i was hurt and confused, because why would she make this as a runaway and i m not a runaway? i just needed some time to myself because being a teen mother, that s hard. i told the police, i m like, it was getting late and she was getting cranky. she would get irritated. i didn t know what to do and i thought i was going to lose it. so i just took her to a safe place, to her grandmother s house. i just dealt with it s best way i could, so i won t do anything stupid. i slip up. teenagers slip up, you know. but i m not a bad child anymore. okay. so we not only have to convince the judge. we have to convince your mother. and my hope is a lot of the love