Discussion addresses legal needs of poor
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Judges and legal-service providers said Friday the biggest barrier between the poor and proper legal care is education.
A roundtable discussion regarding the civil legal needs of lower income people, hosted by Coweta Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge John Simpson at the Carroll County Courthouse, gave a platform for providers to talk about the services they offer to help people deal with their legal troubles without having to shoulder the load all by themselves.
That’s if they even realize the problems they’re facing are legal issues to begin with. According to numbers from a survey conducted by the Georgia Supreme Court’s Committee on Civil Justice, 73 percent of those questioned who had issues that needed to be decided in the court system, whether related to family, housing or health, had no idea that they were in fact facing legal problems.
The survey, administered between 2007 and 2008, was conducted through random phone calls as well as written questionnaires made available to those in prison, the homeless and those enrolled in an English as a second language program. Of the problems highlighted by these demographics in the survey, consumer issues topped the list, followed by housing, health care, employment, public benefits, education and family, respectively.
The survey was also extended to legal service workers, court personnel and lawyers, and their responses differed from the responses of those actually in need, ranking family concerns significantly higher. The reason, said Jill Radwin, executive director of the Committee on Civil Justice, is that family cases, whether related to domestic violence or child support, carry so much emotional weight and therefore seem more pressing than other more fiscal matters.
Despite the influx of family law cases being processed through the courts each year, Radwin said, many people aren’t getting the kind of help they need because they come into the process expecting the court system to advocate for them, then finding it doesn’t work like that.
“People come to the court thinking they’re going to get some help there. They think the judge is going to help them. They can’t. That’s not the judge’s role,” Radwin said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have funding [in the courts] to advocate.”
That’s where the service providers come in.
To help stop the ongoing cycle of child support offenders going to jail, only to be once again unable to pay their child support, Carroll County has implemented a child support court, headed by Simpson. The current system doesn’t work, he said, because it further prevents those offenders from being able to make amends on back child support payments.
“In the past, if you haven’t paid your child support, you go to jail. You sit in jail, and child support doesn’t get paid. The taxpayer pays $38 a day to house you. This is very frustrating,” he said. “The taxpayers are paying for a person to sit in jail, and the child is getting nothing.”
The child support court, then, works as an open discussion between offender and the court system, allowing offenders to work out payment arrangements, keeping them out of jail and encouraging them to maintain a relationship with their children.
So often, said Bob Jackson of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, offenders have no contact with their children apart from the monthly payments, a circumstance that inspires both anger and resentment.
The NAACP’s Re-entry Program, offering help to those who have been incarcerated, addresses child support concerns as well as other issues facing those who have spent time behind bars.
There are now 349 people in the program, Jackson said, and it boasts a meager 9 percent recidivism rate.
The program succeeds because the judicial system has become so complicated, he said, and people need help dealing with their legal problems.
“We know that the system becomes more and more complicated year after year after year,” Jackson said. “A lot of the people we encounter do not understand the system. Even if they’ve been in the system, they still don’t understand the system. They get caught up, and they don’t know how to come out of the system. We are helping them come out of the system.”
A roundtable discussion regarding the civil legal needs of lower income people, hosted by Coweta Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge John Simpson at the Carroll County Courthouse, gave a platform for providers to talk about the services they offer to help people deal with their legal troubles without having to shoulder the load all by themselves.
That’s if they even realize the problems they’re facing are legal issues to begin with. According to numbers from a survey conducted by the Georgia Supreme Court’s Committee on Civil Justice, 73 percent of those questioned who had issues that needed to be decided in the court system, whether related to family, housing or health, had no idea that they were in fact facing legal problems.
The survey, administered between 2007 and 2008, was conducted through random phone calls as well as written questionnaires made available to those in prison, the homeless and those enrolled in an English as a second language program. Of the problems highlighted by these demographics in the survey, consumer issues topped the list, followed by housing, health care, employment, public benefits, education and family, respectively.
The survey was also extended to legal service workers, court personnel and lawyers, and their responses differed from the responses of those actually in need, ranking family concerns significantly higher. The reason, said Jill Radwin, executive director of the Committee on Civil Justice, is that family cases, whether related to domestic violence or child support, carry so much emotional weight and therefore seem more pressing than other more fiscal matters.
Despite the influx of family law cases being processed through the courts each year, Radwin said, many people aren’t getting the kind of help they need because they come into the process expecting the court system to advocate for them, then finding it doesn’t work like that.
“People come to the court thinking they’re going to get some help there. They think the judge is going to help them. They can’t. That’s not the judge’s role,” Radwin said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have funding [in the courts] to advocate.”
That’s where the service providers come in.
To help stop the ongoing cycle of child support offenders going to jail, only to be once again unable to pay their child support, Carroll County has implemented a child support court, headed by Simpson. The current system doesn’t work, he said, because it further prevents those offenders from being able to make amends on back child support payments.
“In the past, if you haven’t paid your child support, you go to jail. You sit in jail, and child support doesn’t get paid. The taxpayer pays $38 a day to house you. This is very frustrating,” he said. “The taxpayers are paying for a person to sit in jail, and the child is getting nothing.”
The child support court, then, works as an open discussion between offender and the court system, allowing offenders to work out payment arrangements, keeping them out of jail and encouraging them to maintain a relationship with their children.
So often, said Bob Jackson of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, offenders have no contact with their children apart from the monthly payments, a circumstance that inspires both anger and resentment.
The NAACP’s Re-entry Program, offering help to those who have been incarcerated, addresses child support concerns as well as other issues facing those who have spent time behind bars.
There are now 349 people in the program, Jackson said, and it boasts a meager 9 percent recidivism rate.
The program succeeds because the judicial system has become so complicated, he said, and people need help dealing with their legal problems.
“We know that the system becomes more and more complicated year after year after year,” Jackson said. “A lot of the people we encounter do not understand the system. Even if they’ve been in the system, they still don’t understand the system. They get caught up, and they don’t know how to come out of the system. We are helping them come out of the system.”
Most women in Carroll County HAVE to work FULL TIME and take care of their kids without the little $50-$80 a wk. from the dead beat.
Wouldn't it be nice if that's all the person had to pay who had custody of these children.
I Guarantee we spend well More than the little amount he is ordered to pay.
These Dead Beats can't even pay that or just plain don't want to. Get No Tax jobs so the Government won't know they work. These People are sorry.
As for the Dad he is like many who don't want to accept the woman has moved on or just doesn't care about the kids. I don't think its too much to ask for a man to pay for his kids.
But Guess what Many women don't sit and Wait in Carroll County they Know Judge Simpson and Carroll County is out to help the DEAD BEATS.
God Bless the kids... the parents;or the Foster parents that take care of them!
These dead beats know they can get away with not paying for these kids and they are gonna keep playing the game.
I would never depend on the Court to make that dead beat pay. The only time I get payments is around court time. If Carroll County would get their act together to make these NCP pay in the first place they wouldn't end up at the Carroll County Court House!
Seems like Simpson is out to help the NCP.
Lock them up !!!
Bryan Nichols had his lawyers paid for by my taxes and all the appeals that he wants, while my family has to pay upfront and a lot of it.
I think the Constitution says that a person shall not be denied an attorney (or something like that). Just not being able to pay doesn't mean that they are entitled to the very best at no cost to them. If so, then the average Joe/Jane should be so entitled to the very best at no cost to them, also.