Kids get unique chance to interact with judges, court staff
For children thrust into the foster care system, the courts can be overwhelming.
But KETV NewsWatch 7 followed along on a special day at the Douglas County Courthouse designed to make it more comfortable for young ones.
Video: Special day designed to make children more comfortable with court
Whether it's trying on a judge's robe or holding the gavel, even a game of Bingo to teach court terms, area children had the unique opportunity to get answers.
"Children's imaginations can be the best and the worst things about them," said organizer Windy Rottenbucher. "Basically, they create in their mind this really huge, terrible place where this person that everyone is saying is ruining your life or is making decisions for you is there. And so they create in their mind what this place is like."
"It takes a lot, when you're a little person, to talk in this adult world," said Judge Douglas Johnson. "So we try to make it as friendly as we can, and sometimes I use my dog Finnegan, and he'll come out and we'll come out to the child and the child may be petting the dog and then they'll say some things."
Court staff said it's a good reminder of who they're working for, reminding everyone that at the heart of each case is a child's future.
The dogs in the courtroom were therapy dogs, and Johnson's dog is in the Domesti-Pups program.