The Boy finally had his day in court and actually saw the judge. His PO requested 3 days of incarceration; the judge looked at his school attendance record and felt 10 would be more appropriate. (When he went in for three days the last time, there was a 10-day suspended sentence, so I thought all along he would get those 10 days.) The Boy told the judge, in the immortal words of Cee-Lo, “Fuck you,” and got five more days. So at least he won’t miss any more school this academic year, since they bring the school to you in juvie. (How would you spell that? Juvey? Juvvie?)
Meanwhile back at the redneck ranch, his mother reports that she drove up yesterday after work and The Boy’s twin was standing outside drinking a Four Loko, making no attempt to hide it from her. She is allegedly calling his PO this afternoon. I guess we’ll know if she actually did it or not tomorrow, because after the day in court here, Bf gets to drive down to her neck of the woods for a child support hearing tomorrow. (I thought they had banned Four Loko in this state, but I guess they changed the formula instead.)
The judge made it a point to tell Bf today, “You’ve got to understand, your son is an addict.” Yes, we are aware of that. What can we do about it, your honor, m’am? He has no insurance, so we’ve got to depend on state resources, and going through the court system is just about the only way we’ve found to access those. Bf also found out the high school truancy officer is at least thinking of pursuing him because The Boy missed so much school – whereas the judge (reportedly – I wasn’t there) made the point several times that The Boy is a fine, strapping young man who is now required to step up and be responsible for himself, adding that if there is no one at home to take him to the Youth Treatment Court activities and the mandated therapy/rehab facility he is expected to walk his happy self to the bus stop and get there on his own.
After the 15 days are up, he will go into the YTC program right away. The therapy/rehab may take a few more days to get started, because Bf is having trouble getting an appointment scheduled for his actual mental and emotional health evaluation. I kinda think they knew he was going to get more than three days and didn’t see any reason to set up a time until he’s back out.
As part of the YTC, The Boy will appear before the judge he cussed at today every two weeks. They would normally require 90 days of perfect school attendance, but obviously school isn’t in session over the summer. In exchange, he must attend every therapy/rehab session and every YTC activity.
If he screws up, the YTC group and the judge will decide on an appropriate punishment. I wish I could say I had faith that he would make it, but I have every belief that he will be kicked out of the program by the middle of July. Only thing is, I don’t know what he’ll be kicked out to.
I’m not complaining about the juvenile justice system at all, but I do have some questions. The Boy has problems and issues and addictions out the wahzoo, and there’s no doubt that he’s into a lot of stuff he shouldn’t be. But he wasn’t one of the kids uptown this past Saturday night in our fair city throwing gang signs and blocking streets and fighting with police and shooting at each other. (Not to say he wouldn’t have been, if we lived close enough for him to walk there. And not to say that it was mostly kids under 18 who were involved.) I think that what The Boy is getting is fairly stiff punishment. So what do they give the kids who were involved in that mess? What do they give the kids who are openly dealing drugs or caught carrying weapons? How does the system differentiate between someone who is angry and screwed up and budding career criminals? (Guesses as to what they do with kids who deal drugs, carry guns, and so on: Longer jail times, house arrest for up to a year, permanent expulsion from school system, try them as an adult if it’s a repeat offence.)
Anyway, it’s freaking hot outside, I haven’t been sleeping well when Bf is at work at night – although with The Boy gone for 15 days maybe that will improve, since I won’t stress about what time he comes in, when he goes to bed, who else is here, etc. Yay!
