GENERATIONS OF DESPAIR CROSS JUDGE'S COURTROOM

Juvenile Court Judge Wendy Enochs sees it every day: a never-ending cycle
of abuse, neglect and despair, passed on from generation to generation,
robbing children of their childhoods.

Her days in court are filled with cases of broken families -- fathers in
prison, mothers who are drug addicts or prostitutes,and children who turn
to lives of crime and prostitution by emulating their parents, the only
role models they ever knew.

"It's very sad," she said.

Enochs, as chairwoman of the Guilford County Task Force on Teen
Prostitution, is searching for ways to end that cycle. She and Dianne
Campbell, Guilford County's chief juvenile court counselor, formed the task
force after a News & Record article in November quoted youth counselors and
others as saying that dozens of young girls in Greensboro and High Point,
some as young as 12, work as prostitutes.

Enochs knows the task force's job will be monumental. "The cycle is
self-perpetuating," she said. "Children learn what they live." The pattern,
if not set in stone, is very hard to break, she said.

Enochs sees it from the bench, over and over, she said. "Substance abuse,
unknown fathers, children having children, mental health needs, mothers
choosing a man over their children, and parents bringing more children into
the world when social services already has custody of two, three, four or
more of their children."

"Success stories seem few and far between in our court," Enochs said.

They were far apart one day a few weeks ago when Enochs presided over
juvenile court in High Point. The cases she heard that day concerned 17
families the Department of Social Services had become involved with in some
way. "Unfortunately, this was a typical day," Enochs said.

Here are her brief descriptions of six of the cases she heard that day.

* A 2-year-old has been in the custody of Social Services since his birth.
His mother was barely 13 and in DSS custody when he was born. She was using
heroin and prostituting herself to support her habit prior to her
pregnancy. The father of the 2-year-old is 25 and currently in prison for
the statutory rape of the mother. "Almost all the mothers are very young
and many have been sexually abused," Enochs said. And many, like the
13-year-old in this case, have babies by much older men. "They are looking
for father figures, and their fathers are probably gone. That's such a
vulnerable age."

* Two children, a 1 year old and a 1 month old, are living with their
mother and grandmother, and receiving intensive services from DSS. The
father is a 26-year-old convicted sex offender just released from prison.
The older child arrived at day care one morning with a bruised, scratched
and swollen face. These injuries occurred while the child was in the
father's care, and he offered inconsistent and unbelievable stories as to
what happened to the child. He is not allowed contact with either child.
The mother is still in contact with this man and was assaulted by him recently.

* Two children, 10 months old and 3 years old, have the same father as the
children in the case described just above. The mother is 25, unemployed and
has a 9-year-old child by a different man. This mother allowed the father
to move into her home with her children after he was released from prison,
even after she was shown pictures of what was done to the child described
in the case above. She said in court that she and this man have "been
together" for eight years and that she plans for them to stay together as a
family. The man is not allowed to have contact with the children until he
completes sex offender treatment. However, he has been dropped by the
treatment program for noncompliance. The mothers in the last two cases were
attractive, seemingly intelligent women, Enochs said. She was perplexed
that they would even consider allowing such a man around their children.
"This happens when abuse is all anyone has ever known," she said. "But I
have to bite my tongue sometimes."

* A 6-month-old baby was born with syphilis to a homeless woman who already
has three other children in DSS custody. The father has just been released
from jail and lives with his mother, who has custody of his other children.
The father continues to test positive for cocaine. The mother's whereabouts
is unknown.

* A 6-month-old has been in custody since his birth because his mother
functions at a first-grade level. She and the father have reportedly left
the state and have not contacted DSS about their child. But there was one
bright moment on this day in her courtroom, Enochs said. She returned four
children, ages 11, 8, 7 and 4, to their mother. The children had been in
DSS custody since 1995. The mother has been drug-free for two years and
completed her DSS reunification contract, Enochs said.

Rare victories like this one give Enochs hope. Here are four children who,
because their mother's love for them was stronger than her addiction, may
not slip into crime or prostitution.

That's the way to break the cycle of despair, she said. "Everyone needs
someone to model their lives after, and everyone needs to know they are loved."