News Item
Fourth Judicial District renames Juvenile Court calendar
Posted: Tuesday, May 21, 2019
State Ward Calendar will now be called “Legacy Calendar”
The State Ward calendar in the Fourth Judicial District Juvenile Court has a new name, thanks to someone whose case was part of that calendar.
For all the youth whose parents have had their rights terminated due to abuse or neglect – most often caused by drug and alcohol addiction – the court sees them once every three months to ensure they are making progress toward adoption and their needs are being met in the meantime. These youth have long been referred to as “state wards.” Judge Hilary Caligiuri, who presides over the calendar, said even if it’s only symbolic, it’s important to reframe how the court refers to the youth involved in these cases.
“In the time I’ve presided over this calendar, I have had the honor of meeting some of the most mature, resilient, motivated youths I have ever known,” Judge Caligiuri said. “We felt it was important to move away from the impersonal name by which they had been known. These youths deserve a name as beautiful as they are.”
The judges decided to ask the youth involved to submit suggestions for a new name. They settled on Legacy Youth, a suggestion submitted by Skylar:
“We should be called ‘Legacy youth.’ Legacy is a synonym for ‘Survivors.’ We are in fact the ones who got out. The ones who made it out and into a better place than we were before. We have been through abuse of all kinds and neglect. We deserve to be called legacies. We deserve to be called youth. When you have been a kid raising yourself and taking care of your drunk drugged out parents, being called a kid, child, etc. sucks because you have your whole life taken care of yourself just like any other adult would.
Plus has a nice ring to it.
In my head and my mind we are the ones who got away. The person at the end of the scary movie who gets away from the killer. The man or woman who got out of the abusive relationship. We are the Survivors...The legacy youths.”