Montgomery County Tech Students Create Mini Courtroom Set For Child Victims

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Ernie Morris was having a conversation with his friend Stephen Antrim just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic about the difficulties placed on pre-teenage children if they’re required to testify in public court in cases in which they’ve suffered abuse.

Morris, a special victim’s investigative detective with the Limerick Township Police Department, and Antrim, the carpentry instructor at the Western Montgomery County Career and Technology Center, came up with an idea for a project designed to aid the youngsters when having to appear before a judge or prosecutors in open court.

The project was to design a portable miniature courtroom playset that the children could use when they meet with advocates who help them prepare for courtroom testimony.

When the pandemic struck, things took a back seat, and the project was put on hold.

But once COVID-19 numbers got better, things got underway, and earlier this week the finished product was presented to various stakeholders involved with the project.

On Tuesday, Morris and representatives from the Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center traveled to Limerick to meet with Antrim and to pick up the finished product.

Morris was in attendance, as were the high school seniors who worked on the miniature playset as part of a school project at the career and tech center.

Patch was there as Jane Kim and other representatives of Mission Kids got to see the playset for the first time.

“We’re just really thankful for their generosity and the time and the effort they put into this,” Jane Kim, program director at Mission Kids, told Patch after the handoff of the playset. “It’s just going to be tremendously helpful.”

Mission Kids, which is based in East Norriton Township, is a countywide organization that helps child victims who become embroiled in criminal cases, oftentimes sensitive cases that require the assistance of specially trained persons.

The organization employs different advocates who work with the children, some of whom could be as young as 3. They primarily work with kids who have been sexually abused and those who witness violent crimes.

The majority of the group’s clients are elementary school age, but some go up to middle school age.

“For court, it’s a very scary process,” Kim said.

Kids who have never been inside a courthouse can be very intimidated. Add that to the incredibly traumatic nature of the crimes they may be involved with, and it makes for an extremely difficult situation, Kim said.

“It’s just very nerve-wracking,” she said.

Having something that can show the kids what a courtroom looks like, what type of people they might encounter, and what they should expect once in front of a judge or prosecutor, could be tremendously helpful, she said.

“It takes away that anxiety,” Kim said. “Even if it’s just a little bit. It’s a big deal for a child.”

Morris, the special victim’s detective from Limerick, told Patch that the mobile toy playset is particularly useful following a recent Pennsylvania appeals court ruling that essentially means children who have been victimized are now required to testify in court not once but twice, since testimony is now mandated at both the preliminary hearing and trial phases.

When the idea for the playset was born, Morris said Antrim was all on board. Antrim had already used his carpentry skills in the past to help the Limerick Township Police Department build some minor projects for investigative tools in criminal investigations, Morris said.

And the police department has maintained a very good relationship with the career and tech center throughout the years. Morris himself is a 1994 graduate of the center.

Tuesday was an exciting day for Morris, Antrim and the team of advocates from Mission Kids, who all converged at the tech center to learn more about the playset’s creation.

Kim was very impressed with the finished product.

Her group, which works with local police departments and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, is looked at as a neutral site, she said, where children involved in sensitive criminal cases can go in order to prepare themselves for offering testimony.

The playset, she said, would be used whenever the younger kids come to work with their advocates.

“It’s extremely intimidating,” she said of having to deal with these traumatic cases.

Mission Kids, she said, acts as a sort of safe haven for these kids, many of whom have been victims of sexual assault and/or physical abuse.

“There’s toys and books and somebody who’s specially trained to talk to children,” she said. “Our advocates are the ones who really focus on helping the family heal.”

Antrim said the project was more akin to cabinet making, even though this particular course of study typically teaches house building.

But one of the seniors involved in making the playset had a keen interest in cabinet making, so the project was able to suffice as a classroom credit project.

Once the figurines and miniature courtroom benches and furniture were created, the playset was handed off to commercial art students at the tech center, who meticulously painted each piece by hand.

Detective Morris said that all the time, cost and materials for the project were donated entirely by the tech center to Mission Kids as a way to give back to the community and help those in need, such as young children who have been victimized in the worst ways imaginable.