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Sunday, September 03, 2006

Ind. Courts - "As abuse cases mount, judge shares concerns"

David Smith, Lafayette Journal and Courier special projects editor, has a long interview today with Judge Loretta Rush of Tippecanoe Superior Court 3, the county's court for juvenile proceedings. It begins:

Question: What does a juvenile court judge do?

Answer: It actually goes back 102 years to the first juvenile court in Chicago. They decided that the issues and needs of children were different than adults.

This court handles issues involving juvenile delinquency, juvenile status offenders, children in need of services or CHINS, children who are made wards of the court, termination of parental rights and paternity actions -- cases involving at-risk, delinquent, abused and neglected children and families.

You decide the legal issues in each case, but beyond that juvenile judges have to make sure the community resources are there to meet the needs of the children.

A side-bar to the story provides links to background stories centering around the tragic death of "Aiyana Emily Gauvin, a 4-year-old from south Lafayette, was beaten to death in her home March 16, 2005, about a year after her child protection case in Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 was closed." There is also a special page devoted to the Aiyana story. A chart shows "Annual new cases filed in Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 (juvenile court)."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 3, 2006 07:31 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts