Hoorah for Judge Brown.
Earnest Brown Jr., the circuit judge for Jefferson and Lincoln counties who handles juvenile court matters, has received a share of a $425,000 grant that he has been courting for seven years.
In that amount of time, many folks would have given up, but not Judge Brown. He has been waving his hands in the air, trying to get some attention for his jurisdiction, and it finally happened.
And he couldn’t be more pleased.
“This is huge,” Brown said. “It’s a big deal for us to have this here. I have a lot of families that need this once they get into the court system.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The grant, which will be shared with Benton and Sebastian counties, is only being given to two other states in the nation, if that says anything about how rare it is to receive such a pot of money.
The program, called Safe Babies, which is made available from the Zero to Three National Resource Center of the Infant-Toddler Court Program, is fairly simple in concept. When a very young child — in this case, aged 3 and under — is removed from a home because the family is not caring for the child to an appropriate extent, that whole situation can continue to spiral out of control rather quickly. Meaning, the bonds that hold that child to the parents can, because of the underlying problems within the family, become frayed and broken.
This grant helps bring into play all of the aid and support that a community can muster in helping that family right itself. That may take some time, because there can be substance-abuse problems or housing or nourishment issues that need to be addressed. While that fix is going on, the family likely still isn’t ready to get the child back home, but to keep those bonds strong between parents and child, there is a focus on visitation, which could take place several times a week.
This is only an option for families that agree to the increased care and support, meaning it’s voluntary.
Judge Brown has a coordinator in place who will handle the details of the program, and he has numerous others — ad litem attorneys, counselors, volunteers and a nonprofit — all working toward the same goal.
“This is going to provide so many more resources for our parents,” Brown said. “You need all these people to come in and make it work. We don’t have any issues with people not being on board. They have all stepped up. It’s extra work, but it’s good extra work. I couldn’t do it without all of them.”
Good luck to Judge Brown and his team and congratulations on snagging the program for the Pine Bluff area. Keeping a child in their own home is the best place for them as long as it is, indeed, the best place for them. With this grant, perhaps, that scenario will play itself out many times over.