They come in all varieties: usually cooperative, often anxious and occasionally belligerent.
The parents of children charged with crimes in Utah are required by law to show up in juvenile court, like it or not, and the state's juvenile court judges have seen just about everything.
"There's a whole different array of parents that come," said 4th District Juvenile Court Judge Kay Lindsay.
Most of the parents she sees in her Provo courtroom really love their children and want to straighten them out. But there are always one or two who fight the system and won't admit their child could do anything wrong.
There also are parents who care, in their own way, but never learned how to be nurturing, how to discipline effectively or how to solve problems. "I think most parents really care about their children. Some of them don't know how to care," Lindsay said.
On rare occasions, there's also someone who cruelly announces he or she doesn't want the child. The easiest parents to work with are the "diligent" ones who have tried to keep their child behaving properly but haven't made much headway and now welcome help from the court, she said.
Many were struck by the sobering TV image of Californian Charles Andrew Williams, 15, charged with killing two people and wounding 13 at his school in suburban San Diego. There he was, rail-thin and messy-haired in an orange jail jumpsuit, sitting with lawyers in a Santee, Calif., courtroom.
No parents in sight.
That isn't the case in Utah because at least one parent or guardian must be present in court during juvenile proceedings.
Lindsay's court mails notices informing parents they must appear with their child and "that usually brings them in," she said. If the child shows up alone, she reschedules the hearing and announces that she could issue a warrant for a parent's arrest if the adult doesn't attend the next hearing.
However, most people comply. "There's only been one occasion when the parents refused to come, and I had them picked up and taken to the county jail," said Lindsay, who has been on the bench nine years.
But it takes more than just being physically present to help a youth who has committed a crime.
Frederic Oddone, the associate presiding judge for 3rd District Juvenile Court, sometimes involves parents in the actual sentencing, depending on what the child has done.
At the time of sentencing, he hears from the prosecutor and defense attorney. "I also want to hear from the victim, about the inconvenience and fear the victim went through, and I want the minor to hear that. Then I hear from the parents," Oddone said.
Whether they participate in crafting a sentence or not, parents are expected to fulfill their obligations after they leave the courtroom. That means such things as taking the youngster to counseling or work-crew assignments, maybe taking classes in parenting or anger management themselves, enforcing any rules imposed by the judge and, if necessary, even turning a child in for infractions.
Oddone acknowledges that can be hard because of the natural tendency to protect one's child. But many parents are grateful for the court because they've reached a point where they just can't make their children behave.
"An awful lot of parents feel they've lost control of their kids, that their kids have tuned them out. Many of those parents do appreciate having the court take over that responsibility and enforcing what the parents would otherwise require of a juvenile," Oddone said.
If a child has a parent who has "invested" a lot in that child — not financially but in other ways — that child has a much greater likelihood of success, Oddone said.
"Most parents are cooperative," he said. "Once in a great while, you might have a youngster who is trying to turn his life around and the parent might have drug problems or domestic abuse issues they're wresting with or mental-health issues or economic concerns that cause them to be more disengaged from the success of their child.
"Some just aren't good parents," Oddone said. "Luckily, that is not the majority."
A video titled "Parent to Parent" prepared by the Utah Judicial Commission and the Utah Board of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention urges parents to regard courts as a resource — an approach that many status-conscious and middle class parents might avoid at all costs.
However, 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge Charles Behrens said many parents do think that way.
"People who find themselves before the court, particularly in juvenile court, may be unaware of the resources available for their children or the family as a whole," Behrens said. "I've had parents who have come in and asked for help. They've said, 'We're at our wit's end, Please help us.' That's not an uncommon type of scenario."
Behrens said the court can direct juveniles into specific treatment programs dealing with such things as substance abuse or sexual issues, the court can get the entire family into counseling, and there are both public and private "family preservation programs" that have trained people work with a family to sort out problems.
Although his role as a judge requires him to be impartial and a fact-finder, Behrens sometimes feels like a parent in his Sandy courtroom. "At times I've felt that way toward some of the juveniles who appear before me and even toward some of their parents."
Virtually all judges interviewed agreed that parental involvement is the key to a child's success in the juvenile court system.
Second District Juvenile Court Judge Mark Andrus once scolded a mother in his Ogden courtroom for not following up on the probation rules for her troubled 16-year-old son.
"I explained to her that it's not, 'Bring the kids to court and we'll fix them.' We're here to help them and she's not just part of the team here — she's the most important part of the team," Andrus said. "She was taken aback at first but listened, and she kind of got excited about it. She started taking the initiative, making suggestions to the probation officer and others who were following up. She started being the one making things happen.
"Once her attitude changed, her son turned around. He just found out, 'Mom's serious now. I might be able to fool these other guys (from the court system) because they're not around all the time, but if she's going to be watching me, I'd better change or I'll get locked up.' "
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com