Comfort 4 Kids in Court addresses the issue of anxiety and fear in children when they testify in court. Our mission is to educate children before they go into court in order to reduce their stress levels. 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.
“In a study of 186 child witnesses it was found that those who better understood the legal system expressed the least anxiety about testifying” (Goodman, 87).
Source: Gail S. Goodman 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”).
Helpful Resources
Read more about C4KC’s story in the Detroit Free Press!
About the Founder
Isabella Cook is a Senior Girl Scout and a student at Detroit Country Day High School. She lives in Michigan. This project is part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project called “Comfort 4 Kids in Court”. The Gold Award is the most prestigious award that Girl Scout Seniors can earn.
As a child, Isabella visited her grandmother, the Honorable Elizabeth Pezzetti, in Oakland County Probate Court every summer. In court, she noticed how many children appeared to be scared. Isabella created Comfort 4 Kids in Court to prepare children for the courtroom experience by familiarizing them with the people and things that they may encounter, and thus calming their fears. Her dog serves as the model for Justice the Court dog (a character featured in the C4KC logo as well as her children’s book and activity book).
Comfort 4 Kids in Court 