EXCERPT FROM: Orlando Sentinel
By Sarah Lundy
An empty playroom is a sad scene.
No little hands playing with a train set or tucking a baby doll in a carriage. No children giggling or reading aloud Winnie the Pooh's Thanksgiving.
Budget cuts Tuesday claimed another victim: A Place for Children, a program that offered free day care at the Orange County Courthouse for parents serving on juries, testifying as witnesses or attending hearings.
This means children who once had the option of painting, making jewelry and playing in a toy-filled room will have to sit quietly in a courtroom, an adult world that has little patience for childish giggles.
If no babysitter is available, moms and dads may be forced to expose their young ones to grown-up problems, such as divorce proceedings and criminal hearings. Parents called for jury duty will have to scramble to find a nanny.
"It impacts parents terribly," said Orange Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Mackinnon, who helped start the program ten years ago. "Nothing happy or good happens at the courthouse except for adoption proceedings."
Tuesday marked the last day for the program, which is run by The Children's Homes Society.
Youth child care worker Arvada Parker spent the morning fielding phone calls from people hoping to hear the place found an angel to cover the $70,000 shortfall. By 9:30 a.m., she had to turn away seven children seeking a fun safe place for them.
"I don't know what they are going to do," she said shaking her head.
The Children's Homes Society runs the program, which is located on the courthouse's second-floor. It takes in roughly 1,800 children a year and has a $90,000 budget, said Tara Hormell, The Children's Homes Society's Central Florida division executive director.
Problems arose in September when court administration, which has had its own budget woes, had to stop its $49,000 contribution. The program was already $20,000 in the hole.
That meant doors would be closed.
Mackinnon, who became a judge in 1994, remembered the problems judges had in the county's old courthouse.
Deputies were tapped to take disruptive children out of the courtrooms and babysit them in the hallways. Witnesses testified while holding their children in their laps. Parents who wanted to attend hearing were forced to wait outside with a crying child. "That's not something that should happen," she said.