Children & the Law Blog

Cindy Lederman, a judge in Miami-Dade County’s juvenile court, describes some of her cases in a vignette of some of the crushing decisions that have to be made in the lives of children whose stories at times defy comprehension -

I’ve been a judge for 15 years in Miami Dade’s Juvenile Court. This is the most painful job I’ve ever had. I still lose sleep worrying I may have made the wrong decision. God, please give me the wisdom not to cause these children further harm.

I am a dependency judge in one of the most impoverished and beautiful cities in America. I’m a frontline observer of human misery. I take children away from parents who have hurt them. My job is to look a 7-year-old in the eye and explain why she can’t go home as her tears cascade down her already mature face. She asks “Why? My mom is a good mom.” The familiarity of home sometimes seems better than the unknown, especially for those children who think violence and neglect at home is normal.

• NPR: Painful Decisions in Juvenile Court (both audio and text available)