Briefly in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

This morning, woke up… in lots of pain. Went to the conference. Lots of pain. Received an e-mail from a judge… quickly bs’d an order. Still haven’t heard back on if I fucked it up, so hopefully… he found it acceptable. Then my secretary sent me an e-mail. Apparently, the grandmother in one of my more tumultuous Child In Need of Assistance cases called me… refused to leave a message… and demanded I call her as soon as possible. I am not calling her and allowing her to have my cell phone information. My secretary told her I was out of the office until Friday. My secretary encouraged her to leave a message. After that… it is out of my hands. And that may sound callous and cruel… but let me talk to people who are involved in these matters. We understand that this is a huge matter for you. Your family is, of course, a priority to you and in a lot of these cases… that is a godsend. The fact that there are family members who passionately care about these children is something that even if I fail legally these kids are going to need. That being said… you aren’t my friend, you aren’t my family, you aren’t my priority. I don’t want to lose your case. I don’t want your kids to suffer or stay in a dangerous environment. But I am a small part of a large machine. Not only that, but I am a small part in a large machine that is required to do a large number of tasks. If you aren’t willing or able to use the whole machine… and keep focusing on just my little cog… it’s likely the whole machine’s processes aren’t going to work well. Especially considering that… there will be times where I am not working on your case. I’ll be working on one of my other 67 cases. And if that bothers you? Maybe you should hire a private attorney. Because a private attorney IS supposed to work for you and for you directly. A private attorney isn’t a small part in a large machine.

That might sound callous but… seriously… I’m a government employee working mostly alone in a county without resources. I don’t have 60 to 80 minutes to spend each week discussing a case. Especially since I’m so new, I need 60 to 80 minutes every day per case just to try to make sure I’m not screwing it up.