Families need new method

Regarding the Tuesday article, “Death of teen on I-5 haunts witness”:

I am proud of The Herald for focusing the community’s attention on the tragic life and death of one of our teens. When I was a volunteer Guardian ad Litem for Snohomish County Superior Court, Juvenile Division, I learned that judges often prefer to sit on a murder case than on cases involving children.

Too often, the parents losing custody of their children are faced with tasks (parenting class, visitation schedules in far-off places), which may be easy for a person with a vehicle and a supportive employer, but this is not the people I saw losing their children.

Our mental health for poor Washingtonians is restricted to one organization, which won the contract. This organization owns buildings! Why not open poor people’s mental health care to individual providers, who are willing to take the low compensation for, say, 10 percent of their case loads?

My dream is a lock down, no one allowed in, place for parents and the children to volunteer to submit to learn what they need to learn when faced with a judge ordering separation from their children. When the parents successfully earn levels, telephone, and later, in-person visits could begin in the safety of the program. At completion, they would be allowed to have provisional custody of the children for a duration of oversight. Once authorities have been completely satisfied, the parent(s) could have custody again.

Rosemarie Dickson Cook
Everett