serenityflux

[serenityflux]

When I am appointed to represent a child, my first action is to separate them from their parents and tell them the following things:

1. I am their attorney. I do not work for their parent or the judge or the cops. I don’t care what any of those people want.

2. My job is to listen to them and try and make what they want happen in court. (At this point I make a joke about how most people want me to get them out of trouble but if someone wanted to be in trouble I would do my best.)

3. What they tell me is confidential. It goes nowhere unless they agree to it. (If old enough, I talk to them about mandatory reporters, and how I’m a mandatory non reporter.)

4. I will give them lots of advice because I’ve been doing court for a while and I know a lot about it, and they don’t. It’s all really complicated, and if they don’t understand what’s happening it’s my job to help them figure it out.

5. They will make the decisions. (At this point I usually have to reassure them that I’ll help, I’ll speak for them in front of the judge, and I’ve got their back. It’s scary to have an adult say you’re in charge, most of the time.)

6. I tell them I know it’s absolutely wild to have some stranger come in here and say “hey, you can trust me!” and that I get if they don’t believe everything right away, because I plan to show them through my actions and my words that I’ll fight for them.

7. But nonetheless, I will treat them like a person who can make decisions, because they are living their life and I am not.

I do not:

Pretend to be cool.

Try to be their BFF.

Overwhelm them with detail.

Let their parents in the room until the kid asks for them. (I provide openings for this, and ask if the kid wants their parent to help them remember and understand.)

I want to emphasize I went into this job knowing nothing about how to interact with vulnerable populations, especially children. The training was minimal, and my role means that I can literally walk into a facility and get an unmonitored visit with a minor client one on one.

In my years of practice I have never felt threatened by a child, even one that was “violent” and “unstable.” It turns out just saying “hi, I think you’re a person with thoughts” is wildly successful? Now people treat me like I have special Child Whisperer powers. My powers are that I ask the child what’s up and I’m not scared to say things that are objectively awkward. I know nothing about anything.

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yippee! <- response to pleasant stimuli

wehh <- response to unpleasant stimuli

awawawawa <- creation of stimuli

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the sadism will continue until your disposition toward my posts improves

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*clutches my purse and starts walking a little bit faster*

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I took my little brother (autistic, mostly non verbal) out and he was using his voice keyboard to tell me something, and this little boy (maybe 4 or 5?) heard him and asked me "Is he a robot??" I tried to explain to him that no, he isn't a robot, he just communicates differently, but my darling brother was in the background max volume "I am robot I am robot I am robot I am robot"

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its just really bad weather in my temporary headdd

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putting the angel girl underneath a glass table and dragging her around by her halo thats sitting on top like a magnet

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we're doin too much pey wet we're doin to much of that squidward meme we should be talkin abt me and my collection of egalitarian mugs

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a woman being feminine is right-wing coded which is masculine coded. a woman being masculine is left-wing coded which is feminine coded. this disproves the existence of women

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makes you all frilly. idiot. pushes you over

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youre a little autistic doll and everyone is going to be niceys to you forever and ever. yes you are

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extremely cool article you should read if you haven’t already

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There's an endless amount of nuts bullshit in that NYT anti trans article from two days ago but one of the strangest is the guy argues "trans issues are more complicated and difficult than gay issues bc there's medical care involved."

Like...hey. Hey buddy. You made a whole big thing about how you did soooo much research for this article. Did you check to see what the initial lighting rod for gay rights and recognition as an organized national movement was? The one that brought us to the attention of the whole country and made us into a political concern? Here's a hint: they made the hit musical RENT about it...

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Wigan Miku

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netflix subtitles are great for when you want to read a caption with like 50% resemblance to what's being spoken

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she's sweet as battery 🧷