First trip to juvenile court today

I've gone to great lengths due to my involvement with kids.  I've been to everything from a school play to a funeral and everything in between.  (Nothing shocks you into reality until you take a few snapshot of a kid you used to coach and hand them to a mother who is burying her son that day.)

Today was sobering... a visit to make a statement to an intake officer at the juvenile court.  It's now being sent as a CPS (child protective services) order to DFCS (Department of Family and Children Services) on the grounds of deprivation.  It's a bold step and the first time I've become this entrenched in one particular kid's plight.

I've said before that "you can't save them all" ... yeah, right.  So I spend the day yesterday typing up as many of my recollections on this particular kid as I can possible articulate (it turns into a 5-page typewritten tome) and get to the intake office as it opens around 8 a.m. this morning.  I fill out the form and hand the whole thing to the officer.  If we can't save them all, we'll fight like hell to save this one.  And that one.  And another one.  

As Coach Robbins' has said, "Sometimes I just want to quit... but I can't."   That is the story of my life.