About C4KC

“Comfort 4 Kids in Court” addresses the issue of anxiety and fear in children when they testify in court. We want to educate children on what they should expect when entering a courtroom and who they will meet in a courtroom. It is important to convey the message to them that the courtroom is a place full of people who want to help them, not harm them.

Our mission is to educate children before they go into court in order to reduce their stress levels.

The Issue

I used to visit a courtroom in Oakland County every summer when my grandmother was a family court judge. I saw all sorts of cases and many involved children. I remember seeing how frightened the kids were. Many of them looked like they would breakdown in tears at any time. I asked my grandma about it and she said that there were not really any formal resources to help the kids. The judge would talk to them before they went into the courtroom, but that was it. I later learned that, “many young people report feeling anxious, angry, and frustrated with their experiences in court” (Zinn). Further, this problem is not limited to just a few children, but “millions of child witnesses participate in the U.S. legal system each year. They contribute in a wide variety of legal settings, and frequently play an integral role in divorce, custody, child protection and criminal proceedings” (Thowman, 238). This is an issue that many people are not aware of and I want to bring it to as many people’s attention as I can. – Isabella Cook, Founder C4CK

Root Cause

Did you know that each year, millions of children are involved in legal actions (Quas)? Unfortunately, for many kids, the court system is cold, scary, and unfriendly. Very few children understand what is going on when they go to court to be witnesses. They see a stern judge, unfamiliar surroundings and an overall scary situation. In fact,

in a study of how kids perceive court, judges were compared to “a priest at a funeral, a witch, and Dracula” (Saywitz, 153).

Further, court is a huge source of stress for children in a time in which other stressors are already high. In fact, studies have shown just how high the stressors are by measuring the heart rate of children in the courtroom. Researchers concluded that

“the hearts of the children who appeared in the courtroom beat significantly faster than those who appeared in the private room, a result that is highly indicative of anxiety” (Thowman, 241).

Many children experience this stress due to lack of knowledge of the court system. Numerous kids go into trial with little to no background knowledge on who everyone is inside the room. Some of these assumptions can lead to a child becoming more frightened or confused and can even interfere with effective testimony. If children were educated before they went into their trial, their stress levels would be significantly lower. When children know who everyone is inside a court room, what their jobs are, and what the court process is, then they know what to expect, eliminating the anxiety that children get when they think “what is happening?”. This was proven

in a study of 186 child witnesses that found that those who better understood the legal system expressed the least anxiety about testifying (Goodman, 87).

Understandably, many children are worried, scared, and overloaded with stress when they enter the court due to their lack of knowledge. If these children were educated on this topic, then their anxiety would decrease dramatically.

Sources :

Goodman, Gail et al., Face-to-Face Confrontation: Effects of Closed-Circuit Technology on Children’s Eyewitness Testimony and Jurors’ Decisions, 22 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 165, 188 (1998) (“[C]hildren with a better understanding of the legal system expressed the least anxiety about taking the stand.”); but see Nathanson & Saywitz, supra note 44, at 87 (finding “no evidence that legal knowledge and past court experience . . . decreased anxiety”).

Quas, Jodi & Goodman, Gail , Consequences of Criminal Court Involvement for Child Victims, 18 PSYCHOL. PUB. POL’Y & L. 392, 392 (2012).

Saywitz K.J. (1989) Children’s Conceptions of the Legal System: “Court Is a Place to Play Basketball”. In: Ceci S.J., Ross D.F., Toglia M.P. (eds) Perspectives on Children’s Testimony. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8832-6_7

Thoman, Dawn Hathaway (2013) “Testifying Minors: Pre-Trial Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Child Witnesses,” Nevada Law Journal: Vol. 14 : Iss. 1 , Article 9. https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol14/iss1/9

Zinn, A. E. & Slowriver, J. (2008). Expediting permanency: Legal representation for foster children in Palm Beach County. Chicago: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago. Retrieved October 10, 2012 from