Pondering This in Our Hearts

 Tim and I have been thinking a lot about the boy who broke out our window. The fact that he showed up in court by himself. That sad post to his father who did not call him on his birthday. It seems as if the boy was in a pretty rough spot. 

I put a call in to the Victim Advocates Office last Friday. I think the courthouse was actually closed due to weather. She called back Monday morning, and I talked with her. I told her that his situation bothered us. One thing that she clarified for us is that his parents were not there because although he was a juvenile when he committed this offense, he turned 18 before the hearing. His parents did not have to accompany him to court. 

But still...it just seems like a parent would like to stay on top of a situation like that. 

 I told her that we'd been thinking that perhaps it would be possible to wipe the slate clean here by offering to allow him to work with us for a month of Saturdays, but we were uncertain about it. We do not know his background. 

She seized on that enthusiastically. The judge has not set a date for his disposition yet. She said that we had every right to come to that. She said that she loved that we could see beyond the idea of his punishment to the idea of giving him a fresh start. She said, "I'll get a date for his disposition and then call you with this." 

I said, "Well, Tim and I would need to talk, but the thing is, there's a lot we don't know about this kid. I don't want to put you in a position to violate his privacy but we do have a couple questions. It would appear that this kid has been in trouble before."

She said, "Yes." 

My next question was, "Are any of these offenses violent?" 

She said yes, that his record involved two assaults.

Deep breath. "The next thing that we are concerned about is drug use. He told the judge flat out that he'd used marijuana within two day prior to his court proceeding." I explained that I had smoked pot for a while as a kid, but that it was something that I'd outgrown, so it wasn't exactly that I was holding this against him. We were mostly concerned because to have a young man like this working on our property involves being able to trust him. People with a drug history will steal stuff to finance their habit. 

She said, "Yes." She thought about it. "We could talk to the judge about mandatory drug testing." 

The thing is, that might show that he's clean while he's working with us. If he reverts to his old habits when he's done, he knows the house. He knows about the tools inside. He knows how to get in. 

I said, "Well. Get the disposition date. Let Tim and me discuss it. I don't think we can offer him work at a house, but maybe we can come up with something."

Tim came home about then. He agrees that having him at a work site is not a good idea. 

We both sat in silence pondering the situation. We both feel moved to intervene. I suppose the first thing to do is to go to the disposition and speak with the boy to find out his thinking and what he wants to do. We would also have a chance to talk with the judge and find out what is even possible to do. 

Have you guys got any ideas? Have you ever heard of a creative, positive way to handle something like this?