CASA
PRESS RELEASE
Mesa County And National News
August 8, 2003JUDGE HATCHETT SUPPORTS NATIONAL CASA ASSOCIATION THROUGH SALE OF HER FIRST BOOK
SAY WHAT YOU MEAN AND MEAN WHAT YOU SAY! Seven Simple Strategies to Help Our Children Along the Path to Purpose and Possibility -- By Judge Glenda Hatchett
(William Morrow, An Imprint of Harper Collins, September 2, 2003, $22.95)
Judge Glenda Hatchett, the nationally syndicated court television series judge, is using her first book, Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say! — a guide to help parents and caregivers prevent their children from becoming part of the tragic, escalating epidemic of youth in crisis-- to raise money to help abused and neglected children find safe, nurturing homes.
Approximately $4 per each book pre-sold through participating bookstores and on-line services between now and September 2 will go to the National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Association for abused and neglected children. This effort is made possible by a donation by the author and her collaborator Daniel Paisner with matching funds provided by another supporter of National CASA.
The National CASA Association was formed by a Seattle judge who was frustrated at the reality that too often a judge must make a decision about an abused or neglected child’s future without knowing all the facts about the case. The idea was to use trained community volunteers, every day citizens, to stand up and speak out objectively for the best interest of these children in court. With a CASA volunteer by their side, abused children are more likely to find the services they need, including a permanent and nurturing home. Today, there are only enough volunteers in the CASA and volunteer Guardian ad Litem network to help less than half the abused children who need them.
In Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say!, Judge Glenda Hatchett has created an easy-to-read and practical roadmap to parenting success. This straight-forward and no-holds-barred formula draws on Judge Hatchett's extraordinary experience as the former presiding judge of one of the country's busiest juvenile court jurisdictions; her "cut to the chase" power to communicate demonstrated in her popular nationally syndicated courtroom television series, Judge Hatchett, produced by Sony Pictures Television; and the valuable lessons she has learned in her private life from her childhood and later as a parent.
“The thousands of heart-wrenching cases I’ve handled overwhelmingly share a set of identifiable patterns leading to breakdown,” explains Judge Hatchett. “For that reason, I wanted this book to be a crash course for parents and guardians with the hope that they will never ever have to have their child appear before me or any other judge.”
Judge Hatchett outlines these seven strategies illustrated with some dramatic cases and personal anecdotes to underscore how applying these concepts can positively imprint a child for life.
Simple Strategy #1: Expect Greatness—encourage your children to reach beyond their wildest dreams—teach them that greatness is within their grasp rather than helping them despair over failure to achieve their objectives. Some children never receive this encouragement, and Judge Hatchett shows from her cases how this applying this principle can create immediate and dramatic improvement.
Simple Strategy #2: Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say—Children get confused by conflicting messages, unclear boundaries and a lack of consequences for transgressions. Instead, they respond favorably to consistency, good example and sticking to an overall plan, even when an easier path presents itself. The payoff: such children become more empowered to take charge of their own circumstances in a positive way.
Simple Strategy #3: Listen Carefully— Scratch the surface of almost every case Judge Hatchett has heard in juvenile court and you’ll find a parent who couldn’t take the time to listen to his or her child…to carefully listen…to focus….to keep an open mind behind an open door – with open eyes and an open ear. Children know when you’re tuned into them and when you’re not.
Simple Strategy #4: Keep Your Word—Do What You Say You Will Do—There’s an enormous sense of security that comes with a child knowing he or she can count on a parent. No matter what. No matter where. No matter when. To some parents, each individual disappointment might seem insignificant at the time. Most importantly, we rarely tune into fail to the cumulative effect: It sets a pattern, and a tone, and an unacceptable code of behavior. Judge Hatchett cites evidence of this in her courtroom every day of the week. If a child realized his parents were constantly failing to live up to their words, he might in turn have considered it acceptable to break promises of his own – to break the law, even.
Simple Strategy #5: Cheer—Judge Hatchett believes there should be a bumper sticker with “I’m pulling for you.” At the bottom of almost every juvenile case, you’ll often find at least one parent who was so completely uninterested and uninvolved in his or her child’s upbringing that it was never any wonder their kid had gone so far wrong. “This parenting business is all about increasing your child’s chances to find his or her own positive path, and on this score I maintain that the single best way for parents to tilt these long odds in their favor is to celebrate their children.”
Simple Strategy #6: Make Money Matter—Get to the bottom of almost every juvenile court case – involving drugs, gang violence, truancy, deprivation, domestic violence – and you’ll find money somewhere at or near the bottom line. Therefore, downloading onto our children a clear, value-laden understanding of, a familiarity with, and an appreciation and respect for money is all-important—how to earn, manage and invest. Judge Hatchett also warns parents not to give money as a substitute for their time and involvement with their children and encourages volunteerism as a powerful lesson.
Simple Strategy #7: Reach, Teach and Preach—“Kids need to understand there is a force greater than them. Whatever you choose to call that force—Jehovah, God, community, the greater good—it needs to be acknowledged and encouraged and held out in such a way that our children can depend on it, or look to it for inspiration or comfort or guidance.” A strong moral compass at home helps children gain positive lessons from their missteps and adversity. “Life happens. Mistakes Happen. Faith happens. Redemption, too, happens at the heels of all three.”
Judge Hatchett concludes her book with a simple challenge for each of us to stay connected and watch over all young people. “If we expect our children to do right, we’ve got to do right by them.”
CONFERENCE
OF CHIEF JUSTICES
CONFERENCE
OF STATE COURT ADMINISTRATORS
CCJ
Resolution 12
COSCA
Resolution 6
In
Recognition of CASA Volunteers Serving in Court
WHEREAS,
courts are charged with providing accountability to the system responsible
for protecting abused, abandoned and neglected children; and
WHEREAS,
courts, children’s services agencies and other governmental agencies
cannot fully address the needs of abused, abandoned and neglected children
without complete information regarding their cases and their lives; and
WHEREAS,
citizen volunteers, including the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
program, have assisted the courts in many ways in meeting the need for
such information; and
WHEREAS,
there are more than 978 CASA programs in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia with more than 70,000 CASA volunteers who provide more than
10,000,000 hours of service to children each year;
NOW
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Conference of Chief Justices and the
Conference of State Court Administrators:
1.
Recognize
and express appreciation to citizen volunteers who work with the court to
assist our nation’s most at-risk children, and encourage more citizens
to volunteer; and
2.
In
particular recognize and commend the efforts and contributions of the CASA
volunteers in assisting children before the court.
Adopted at the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators at the 2003 Annual Meeting on July 31, 2003.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
======================
Subject: HB1151
This article is from the
Colorado Springs
Gazette 2-10-06
Andi Leopoldus
Child-abuse case inspires bill
Emotional attacks could become felony
By KYLE HENLEY THE GAZETTE
DENVER. A Colorado Springs child-abuse case was the driving force
behind
a bill that advanced Thursday in a House committee.
House Bill 1151 by Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, deals with
emotional abuse of a child, which is currently a misdemeanor. The bill won
unanimous approval in the House Judiciary Committee.
HB1151 would make emotional abuse of a child a felony for anyone who is
convicted of the crime a second time.
This stems from a very heinous child-abuse case we had in El Paso
County, where a child was basically treated like an animal, said John
Newsome, 4th Judicial District attorney. The result of that was a
misdemeanor prosecution, which upset the community but is what the law
called for.
HB1151 stems from a case in which an El Paso County boy was forced by his
adoptive parents to live for five years in a tiny, windowless space beneath
the stairs. The boy was also forced to masturbate in front of his siblings,
eat meals on the floor and wear a dog collar around his neck.
The boys adoptive mother was sentenced to two years in the El Paso
County jail, the maximum allowed under the misdemeanor charges. His adoptive
father was sentenced to four years in jail, but only because police were
able to charge him with an unrelated felony.
They were unable to properly punish the perpetrators, Hefley said.
By doing HB1151, even though it is not for a first offense, it gives the
tools and sets the stage for utilization by the district attorney.
HB1151 would allow second time offenders to be charged with several
different levels of a felony, depending on the circumstances. The bottom
line, though, is that bumping the charges from a misdemeanor to a felony
would mean significant jail time and potential fines up to $1 million.
Also Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee, members voted 9-2 to
approve House Bill 1092 by Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs.
That measure makes it a felony for anyone to possess child pornography,
an act that now is a misdemeanor.
CONTACT THE WRITER:
1-303-837-0613 or
kyle.henley@gazette.com
