December 1, 2008 Jan Pudlow Senior Editor Regular News Independent Living Docket SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT JUDGE NIKKI CLARK arrives at the first Independent Living Docket at the Leon County Courthouse, where she gave aging-out foster kids special attention, helping them prepare for life on their own. Before taking up the first case, Clark chats with, from the left, DCF Secretary George Sheldon, Florence Rivas, and Justice Barbara Pariente. Helping foster kids transition into adulthood Senior Editor“Look at these grades! Straight A’s!” Second Judicial Circuit Judge Nikki Clark exclaims, as 17-year-old Ashley stands before her at the inaugural Independent Living Docket for aging-out foster kids.Applause erupts in the courtroom.“Ashley, I am so incredibly proud of you. Are you proud of you?” the judge asks.Ashley smiles, surrounded by lawyers on her case who rattle off the latest details of her progressing life: Two sons, ages 3 and 21 months, go to day care, while Ashley works to get her high school diploma at Tallahassee’s Teenage Parent Program, where she has been selected to mentor other girls.For now, she still wants to live with nurturing foster parents who took her and her kids into their loving home in September 2007.“We’re like a family now. I would hate to leave them, but I really feel like I want to be on my own,” Ashley said shortly before it was her turn to step up to the bench. “Then, again, I want to be with them.”Traveling on this uncertain road to independence, Ashley is receiving help finding an apartment and encouragement to go to college, and she says she may want to become a lawyer.“Girl, that’s wonderful!” Judge Clark says. “As well as you’re doing, you’ll be able to go to college anywhere you want to.”The judge makes sure Ashley has all her important documents — driver’s license or state ID, Medicaid card, birth certificate, Social Security card, banking and scholarship info, and even voter registration material, because voting is a responsibility of adulthood, too.After checking whether Ashley is current on her medical and dental exams, Clark appoints an attorney ad litem. Ashley then takes a seat in the back of the courtroom to huddle with her guardian ad litem, Jim Kallinger, who also serves as the governor’s chief child advocate.Ashley’s was one of seven cases called October 30, at the first Independent Living Docket in the Second Circuit. Here, at this monthly, separate, small docket, Judge Clark will dedicate quality time to several of Leon County’s 25 foster children when they are 16 and 17, become pregnant, or have children — so they can work on a plan before they are flung out into the world on their own at age 18 or 19.The mission, Clark said, is “to make sure they understand their rights as foster children and to make sure they have educational and life skills to be able to make it on their own. This docket will allow the youth a better opportunity to be fully engaged in their independent living case plans and will empower them to take control of their lives.”After researching a similar program in the Sixth Judicial Circuit in St. Petersburg, Clark worked to bring the concept to Tallahassee.“We could not have put this docket together had it not been for the enthusiasm and absolute dedication and commitment of Department of Children and Families lawyers, case managers, the guardian ad litem, the school board, and Big Bend Community Based Care,” Judge Clark said. “They agreed to do this with no additional personnel. . . because they recognize how important it is to get the teens the time and energy to do whatever we can do to make sure that they reach the goal of success.”Helping aging-out foster children is one of Chief Justice Peggy Quince’s key challenges for her term, and she came to Clark’s court to celebrate.“This is just really a tremendous innovation, and it’s happening at a time when the court system is having, as we all know, great budgetary problems,” Quince said.“But this really is a testament to what can be done, even though there are obstacles. When you have a great idea, you can make it work.” Quince thought back to when she was 18 “and about to go off and be independent, or so I thought. But, of course, I had some cushion. I knew that my dad was there. I knew that other family members were there. At 18, I was not ready to go out into the world. We cannot expect our young people who have been in foster care for a number of years to be ready to go out in the world at age 18.“So we need to give them the kind of assistance that they need in order to become good and productive citizens. That’s what all of us — everyone in this room — that’s what we want for these young people. We don’t want to see them become homeless. We don’t want to see them become a part of the criminal justice system. We want to see them take our positions in the world. Because, quite frankly, I’m getting up there in age, and I’m going to have to retire one day soon. And I want some of these young people to come behind me,” Quince said with a laugh.DCF Secretary George Sheldon said when he first arrived at the department as second in command, he and then Secretary Bob Butterworth sat down with a dozen young people who had aged-out of foster care.“I learned more in those two-and-a-half hours from those young people about what happens in foster care than I learned from all the professionals statewide,” Sheldon said.Since then, he said, 117 young people have been hired at DCF to keep teaching about both the emotional and practical needs of foster children, who, for example, have never been inside a bank, balanced a checkbook, or planned a budget.“What you have done, and what this court is doing in terms of trying to find out what the needs of these kids are, so that we bring resources to those kids, is critical,” Sheldon told Judge Clark.“I congratulate you on what you do and I urge the chief to talk to other circuits, because they ought to follow your lead in Leon County.”Clark then introduced one of those aged-out foster kids, 23-year-old Derrick Riggins, as “very instrumental in helping us figure out what it is we need to do to get our Independent Living Court going and to help us out.”“When you take a youth who has been through foster care, and they age out, and you come up with this plan, and you don’t sit down and discuss it with them, and reassure them that, ‘Hey, this is for you,’ that is a let-down to that youth. You are just setting that youth up to fail,” said Riggins, a member of Florida Youth SHINE, sponsored by Florida’s Children First, made up of young adults who have aged out of foster care and help current and former foster children become their own best advocates.To the aging-out foster kids in the courtroom, Riggins said: “I love the fact that you can come to court and Judge Clark doesn’t bash you on your appearance. I challenge you guys to truly take advantage of these opportunities that are presented to you, because not long ago, we didn’t have this voice that we have now.”Sometimes that voice would rather speak privately with the judge.Judge Clark asks Rodney, about to turn 18 the following month, “Is there anything going on you want to talk to me about?”Rodney said there is, but he prefers to step up to the bench and kneel at Judge Clark’s side, where they have a private tête-à-tête.“Do you want me to keep your case open?” Judge Clark asks after their hushed conversation ends.“No,” Rodney answered.“Then, I won’t,” Judge Clark said.Next, it’s time to focus on Brittany, pregnant with her second child. Judge Clark asks if she is getting prenatal care and her baby is up on his shots. The judge wants to pursue child support, even though no one knows the whereabouts of the child’s father. They talk about where to get a crib for the baby on the way and whether living with her brother is working out. Clark sets the case for another hearing in three months.“Maybe you can bring the new baby in,” Judge Clark tells Brittany. “Good luck with the new baby. If there’s something we can do to help you out, just let us know.” Independent Living Docket
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