The Need For Extraordinary Efforts
Times of crisis reveal a system’s values. Consider this scenario, likely to repeat itself across the country. In a month or two or more from now, my client will appear before a juvenile court judge for the first time since the coronavirus forced courts to close their doors. In the intervening months, she didn’t have the chance to visit her child. She wasn’t provided with any services since most providers couldn’t operate due to public health concerns or executive orders. What did not stop during this time period was her substance abuse issues – rather, they continued on in full force, exacerbated by anxiety, isolation, and fear heightened by the pandemic. Little progress, both substantively and procedurally, will have been made towards reunifying the family. How will we respond to this? What will we do when parents – through no fault of their own – have lost connections to their children? Or have lost access to resources that would have helped them address the safety risk