On January 18, 2022, Judge Amy Tucker (County Court at Law 3) spoke to the Magnolia Rotary Club membership about the foster care system in Montgomery County and what her court does to help protect abandoned kids. Pictured above from left to right is Judge Amy Tucker and President of the Magnolia Rotary Club, Kelly McDonald.
Judge Tucker broke her presentation up in three parts: 1) her background, 2) her court, and 3) her hope for the future.
Starting with her background, Judge Tucker spoke about growing up with both parents and some aunts and uncles who were teachers. Everyone in her family were also very interested in sports and at an early age, she started playing tennis but her father who is an avid golfer took her out golfing with him when she was around 12 years old. Although she loved tennis, she immediately fell in love with golf and later became a member of the 3rd ranked US Golf team.
When she started college she decided to try getting a law degree. Initially, she was not very passionate about her courses but when she took a course about the foster care system, she knew that she wanted to be involved in family law and graduated with almost a 4.0 grade average (except for one course which she still disagrees with the grade she got). Anyway, after graduating with a law degree, she applied online for a position in Montgomery County that dealt with family law and got the job. When former County Judge McDonald retired in 2012, she applied for his job and got it. She spent over a year studying family law and getting trained in handling difficult family situations. In 2020, she became the first presiding judge in the history of Montgomery County to officially designate their court as the Child Protection Court. Judge Tucker stated that she strives every day to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children in our county. Judge Tucker talked about the fact that almost every foster kid has been traumatized in some way, including but not limited to physical and sexual abuse and in some cases being sex trafficked and living in terrible conditions. None of the kids in the system ever had any adult who had treated them with respect and trust. Her court works with CPS (Child Protective Services) and other agencies to try and get kids into good foster homes but the demand for good foster homes is greater than the supply which leads to some kids being left in overcrowded county homes. Currently, there are approximately 350 kids in foster care in Montgomery County.
Judge Tucker then talked about her hope for the future. She has decided that neither the Federal or State Government can solve the existing problems (although they can help to try and reduce sex trafficking). She believes the solution must be handled at the local level. Because these kids have never learned to trust anyone, they don't know how to trust and getting them to trust again is a complex problem. She talked about a new potential solution known as TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention). TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection. For more information about TBRI, go to https://child.tcu.edu/about-us/tbri/.
Judge Tucker then showed everyone a photo of herself and a young foster girl who finally got great foster parents who have helped her overcome her past trauma. The girl in the photo had painted a picture (which Judge Tucker bought at a fundraiser auction). The girl is holding that painting in the photo. The second item Judge Tucker showed everyone was a picture of a lady holding up a child with the caption: "Imagine a world where every child's hurt, every child's cry, and every child's need is met by a loving adult".
Judge Tucker then answered some general questions from the membership.
