I had the opportunity to attend court with my field instructor experiencing a termination of parental rights (TPR) hearing. Prior to attending court I read the case notes for the past twelve months. Then, I assisted my field instructor with preparing notes for her testimony which allowed me to become familiar with the case to understand what was being discussed in the hearing while also allowing me to connect specific actions or behaviors of the parents to behavior changes in the children. The parents both suffered from drug addiction for the past several years. Although the parents were both court ordered to inpatient treatment six months ago neither had went into inpatient treatment, but had both been to jail on four different occasions.
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The mother continued to state how much she loved her children and would do anything to get them back. This went on for several minutes. Those several minutes felt like eternity to be hearing this mother plead for one more chance to be reunified with her children. The instructor was compassionate while stating that was not something that was in her control rather it was up to the judge, she was simply there present to state the facts. When the hearing began the parents realized that all twelve months of their case was going to be discussed and they quickly informed their attorney that they wanted to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights. The judge ended up accepting their decision to voluntarily relinquish their rights after they had taken a fifteen minute …show more content…
While in the court house I demonstrated professional demeanor in behavior and appearance. As the attorney made the announcement on behalf of the parents I was very aware of my body language and did not allow my thoughts of disbelieve to be shown through facial expression or body language. Although I was not directly involved in the hearing I feel that by attending court hearing I was engaging in practices that advanced social justice for the children that were involved in the court hearing and for future children that are involved in court hearings. Again I was not directly involved with the clients yet I was able to apply the knowledge of person-in-environment to understand why the parents had made the final choice after previously begging for another chance. The mother changed as her views as the environment
The mother continued to state how much she loved her children and would do anything to get them back. This went on for several minutes. Those several minutes felt like eternity to be hearing this mother plead for one more chance to be reunified with her children. The instructor was compassionate while stating that was not something that was in her control rather it was up to the judge, she was simply there present to state the facts. When the hearing began the parents realized that all twelve months of their case was going to be discussed and they quickly informed their attorney that they wanted to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights. The judge ended up accepting their decision to voluntarily relinquish their rights after they had taken a fifteen minute …show more content…
While in the court house I demonstrated professional demeanor in behavior and appearance. As the attorney made the announcement on behalf of the parents I was very aware of my body language and did not allow my thoughts of disbelieve to be shown through facial expression or body language. Although I was not directly involved in the hearing I feel that by attending court hearing I was engaging in practices that advanced social justice for the children that were involved in the court hearing and for future children that are involved in court hearings. Again I was not directly involved with the clients yet I was able to apply the knowledge of person-in-environment to understand why the parents had made the final choice after previously begging for another chance. The mother changed as her views as the environment