What led you to your career in juvenile justice? I would say God did. As a child I was raised in a very dysfunctional family. My siblings and I were involved at one point the Child Welfare Department, leading to us being placed in a children’s home in Arkansas for a period of time. Eventually my mother was able to get her life together to get us all back, but there was still continued dysfunction. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a social worker to help children. However, I did not go that direction. Instead, I enlisted in the U. S. Army for several years and came home, married, and had a family. It was not until my youngest daughter was in high school, and I was working at Wharton County Junior College that I started going to college on the Hazelwood Act, which was available to people who have served in the military and entered and exited the military with Texas as its home of record. It was with this grant paying for my tuition that I was able to work towards a degree....
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department: Transforming Young Lives and Creating Safer Communities