'Kids in Court' celebrates 30 years of helping abused children feel safe in court

DALLAS - There’s a celebration for kids on the top floor of the Dallas County Frank Crowley Courthouse.

Kids and their families who survived the trauma of physical or sexual abuse have to sit in a courtroom and talk about what happened to them. But thanks to the Kids in Court program, they will be better prepared.

Friday’s gathering was to celebrate the program’s 30th anniversary. It provided a happy and festive atmosphere for kids who've suffered hurtful and frightening abuse.

We won't tell you who they are, but from toddlers to teens who were physically or sexually abused and their caretakers.

"My grandson, he was 1 year old, and my daughter’s boyfriend abused him and put him in the hospital," one grandmother said. "I still get choked up behind it looking at the pictures. He was injured pretty badly."

Little people who have to sit on a witness stand in a courtroom and do what's daunting for even big people.

"It's petrifying, and it’s almost retraumatizing," said Summer Elmazi with the Dallas County DA’s Crimes Against Children Division. "Because we're having to have these kiddos talk about the bad things that happened to him or her in front of a room full of strangers, and it's sometimes very personal."

That's where the Kids in Court program comes in.

"The program is intended to demystify the court process," said Elmazi.

Kids spend a day in a courtroom learning through play so the fear, if not completely removed, subsides while in court. And at the end of the day, a cupcake and pizza party.

The National Council of Jewish Women has sponsored the event for 30 years now.

"I think this makes a tremendous difference," said Elaine Stillman, president of the Dallas chapter of the organization. "We can almost see it from the time the kids first walk in that morning until they have their pizza and leave."

She was joined by the Bikers Against Child Abuse, who offer their presence as security.

"We all have a heart for these kids," said ‘Shooter,’ a BACA member. "We see the fear in these kids sometimes. So our basic mission statement is to help them, empower them to not be afraid of the world that they live in."

And the Dallas County Children's Advocacy Center is in the middle of it all, walking with families and their children every step of the way.

"Although you understand what possibly got them here. the other thing you understand, and you think about is the hope about the healing," said Irish Burch, the advocacy center’s president and CEO. "You think about all these agencies coming together to say, ‘We got you, and we're going to take care of you.’"

"I think it alleviates the concerns of what the room looks like, where the judge is going to be, what the prosecutor’s going to be doing," Elmazi said. "And I think that that helps in taking away some of that unknown prior to having to deal with something so serious."

So serious for children so young with so much weighing on what they tell a judge.