UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, May 4, 1993 7B
As Douglas County's juvenile court judge, Jean Sheppard is a stable figure in the lives of a growing number of children in the court system.
Judge takes personal interest in her cases
By Jeremy Ressel
Special to the Kansan
Douglas County District Judge Jean Sheppard enters her courtroom each day knowing her decisions could affect a child for the rest of his or her lifetime.
"When dealing with the kids, the best choice has already been eliminated or they wouldn't be in my courtroom." she said.
As Douglas County's juvenile court judge, Sheppard daily presides over the sad parade of children pulled into the court system because they are abused or because they got into trouble with the law.
Often their appearance before this trim woman with short blond hair and a quick smile is their last chance to get their lives back on track. And that fact weighs heavily on Sheppard and the decisions she must make.
"Sometimes I look back and wish I would have done something different," she said. "However, 10 minutes later I have to make another decision. I'd go crazy if I was always second-guessing myself."
Sheppard refers to youths who appear before her as "my kids," and she takes a personal interest in their cases. Her interest in law began when she was a high school teacher and saw some of her students become embroiled in the court system.
STATE OF THE CHILDREN
A friend suggested she go to law school.
She got a job working as an assistant Douglas County district attorney, but she felt she could help kids more if she became a judge working with juvenile cases.
"I though it was a good idea, so I did it." Sheenard said.
Single mothers seek survival
Her courtlife, she said, "puts my personal life in perspective. Unmade beds and messy rooms seem like small potatoes."
She is married to John Bork, an assistant Kansas attorney general, and the couple has three children.
She jogs, takes piano lessons and does needlepoint.
One of her biggest worries is that as increasing numbers of children are drawn into the juvenile court system she will not be able to give each the personal attention she prides herself on giving.
"As the caseload increases, I want to continue to be able to keep track of the kids," she said. "I don't want to become overwhelmed and too mechanical with my decisions."
Lawrence life not easy near poverty line
By Janet Rorholm Special to the Kansan
Bobbie Hardman is sitting on a sofa with her two children at her feet in the small but neatly decorated two-bedroom house that has been their home for less than a year.
"I work monstrous amounts of overtime," she says. "Without it we would not be living here."
A short drive away, east of the fairgrounds, Ann sinks into a sagging couch in the dingy half light of a run-down trailer she shares with her four young sons.
"No one likes living on welfare," she says. "But it keeps the kids fed and gives them a roof over their heads."
Bobbie is a medical assistant. Ann is on welfare. Bobbie wants to be a nurse. Ann has all but given up on her life.
Bobbie and Ann are pages from the same book. Both are single parents barely making a living. To child-care advocates, Bobbie and Ann represent one of the biggest child welfare challenges facing local, state and federal government.
"Most believe life in Lawrence stops on the east side of Massachusetts street and south of Johnny's tavern," said Tim McHenry, director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Lawrence. "But part of Lawrence does not view this as an oasis on the prairie, as the chamber likes to call it. They do not enjoy the same quality of life as everyone else."
Indeed, for Bobbie and Ann life in a college town is not easy. Most of the jobs are in the service sector and are taken by students. Most of the housing is overpriced and aimed at students. Child care is impossible to afford.
Bobbie's son, Nathaniel, wasn't even a day old when his father walked out of their lives. A decade later, Bobbie, 38, is an expert on how to raise two growing boys without two incomes or child support.
of more than 2,700 single parents in Douglas County. Seventy-nine percent of them are women.
Ann, who requested that her real name not be used, and Bobbie are two
As a medical assistant, she teeters on the edge of poverty. But with 20 hours of overtime she is virtually wealthy by 1983 federal poverty standards. And though she struggles to get by, she is ineligible for many government assistance programs.
Across the United States, 14.4 million people don't meet that standard but are still considered poor by the Children's Defense Fund, a Washington-based children's advocacy
Ann, 26, represents the single parents who fall under the poverty line.
She has lived on welfare since the ninth grade when she became pregnant with her first child. Ten years later, she has four sons, three of whom have different fathers. Her boyfriend is in Lansing State Penitentiary for violating parole.
A few years ago, she tried to get a job.
"My five year old is a sick little boy, and it takes a lot of attention dealing with him," she said. "So it didn't work out real well."
In Douglas County, 1,188 single parents live officially in poverty. That is a 54 percent increase from 1980, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
More shocking, however, is the number of children who live in poverty — 2.268 in Douglas County, a 139 percent increase over 1980.
A child raised by a single parent is twice as likely to fall into poverty than a child living with two parents, according to a Census Bureau study that monitored 20,000 households for 32 months.
Statistics from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America show that compared to children living with two parents, children with one parent have five times greater risk of dropping out of school and are seven times more likely to get in trouble with the law.
STATE OF THE CHILDREN
Moreover, poor nutrition and
Poverty numbers high for youth of Douglas County
Numbers from 1990 Census data.
Caucasian African-American American Indian Asian
Number of children 14,404 911 537 416
Total number living in poverty 1,471 477 143 86
Percentage 10.2% 52.4% 26.6% 20.7%
National average 12.5% 39.8% 38.8% 17.1%
"The rich have better control over the things that cause stress with their children than the poor do." said Robert Byers, head of SRS Child Protection Services. "People who can afford needs don't worry about the primitive needs, such as survival."
cramped, noisy living quarters contribute to poor performance in the classroom. And the stress placed on parents living in poverty increases the chances of children being physically or emotionally abused.
Getting out of the rut is not easy in Lawrence, though statistically the odds would appear to be in the town's favor.
Despite numerous layoffs and plant closings in the area, the number of jobs available in Douglas County increased 27 percent since 1980 and unemployment has remained fairly stable at 3 percent.
The problem facing Douglas County is that it has attracted mainly service jobs. The service industry has increased an overwhelming 131 percent in the county, compared to a mere 11 percent statewide.
These jobs include restaurant help, custodians and bartenders. Minimum wage, $4.35 an hour, usually is paid, a poverty wage that keeps people from being able to afford child care or health care.
One reason wages are low is because of the competition for menial
jobs among college students.
Even if jobs were available, though, mothers like Ann and Bobbie need child care. In Lawrence that has been impossible. As a result, Ann does not work and Bobbie's children live a latch-key existence.
Bobbie's children, Nathaniel and J.R., get up when she leaves for work at 7 a.m. Writin the hour she calls to make sure they're up. Over the phone, she reminds Nathaniel to take his anti-seizure medicine and reminds them of their baths. She calls again at 9 a.m. to make sure they turn off the lights and get off to school.
When it comes to housing, the picture is just as bleak.
In 1990, an average apartment in Douglas Country went for $343, second only to Johnson County, according to the census figures.
Many social service providers maintain that Lawrence landlords charge higher rates knowing that many residents might not be able to afford the apartments but three to four college students splitting the rent can.
But Bobbie, who must work overtime and worry about neglecting her children, refuses to let the system beat her down.
"It's like I keep telling them," she says gazing at her children, "There's a lot of frustration and I could have thrown in the towel myself, too, but I didn't."
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