Standing in that courtroom and telling the judge what my experiences were with her took about two minutes. I drove 4 hours for 2 minutes. I got up at 5:00 AM for 2 minutes. A lot can happen in 2 minutes. A life can change in 2 minutes.
The judge asked me, "You drove here from Columbus to be here today?" Then he mentioned it about two more times. Apparently, it was a big deal to him. After the hearing, I found out why. The parole officer came up to me afterwards and said, "I have been working in this job for 20 years and in 20 years I have never seen anyone testify in a juvenile case. If they are lucky, their mothers come. That's it. No one has ever testified in a juvenile case. It's unheard of." The public defender came up to me and said, "Make no mistake, your testimony made all the difference, no one testifies in a juvenile case."
I was a little surprised, but then I got to thinking about it and it made sense. These kids don't often have any support. And the people going into the correctional facility to work with these kids are few and far between. Who would know them? Who would know about their lives and be able to testify about their potential? And when I thought this, I teared up. It was too painful a thought to think of all the kids, faces I know, who don't have anyone to get to know them, support them, believe in them. And I was really grateful for what Gracehaven had been doing.
Oh, and she got out of the correctional facility and was put on parole so she could go back home to her two children.
