DW was a young girl when she was removed from her mother’s home. Although she was adopted, she and her brother were later removed from the adoptive home while a younger sibling remained. She then spent much of high school in an unstable foster home before landing in the home of a loving and stable foster parent her senior year.

I first met Sara when she was sent to a 30-day evaluation center. Our first meeting surprised me. She was smart, well-spoken, and had a big goal: to become a dentist. She didn’t know what having a lawyer meant, but that she was happy to have some-one to talk to. From that point on, over a period of many months, Sara and I slowly built a trusting relationship. Whenever we were in court, it didn’t matter if I agreed with what she wanted, Sara knew that I would relate those desires to the judge.