By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

A mother tries to keep her two fidgeting children from throwing temper tantrums while the family waits in line for social services. When they get into a social worker's office, the tired, hungry toddlers crawl underfoot, snagging staplers to play with.

It's a not-uncommon scenario, but one that county leaders hope to change with the establishment of a drop-off center at the Erie County Rath Building to keep children in the building safe and occupied, while making it easier for staff to assist their parents or guardians.

"If you take the children out of the mix, it's less stressful for everyone - especially the county employee, who can be more efficient. It will be a win-win for everybody," said Susan Sizemore, executive director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women. She's spearheading an effort to create a drop-off center that could be open as soon as this summer, if expected grant funding comes through.

Filling a need

Sizemore oversaw a study, conducted by Buffalo State College students, to count the number of children who could be served by a center in the Rath Building. They counted 1,817 children in the first week and 1,113 in the second, and Sizemore expects those numbers to grow when the Department of Motor Vehicles moves its downtown office to the Rath Building.

The center, slated for a previously unoccupied 1,000-square-foot space on the building's second floor, is expected to accommodate about 40 children at a time, for maximum stays of two hours 59 minutes per visit. Parents must present identification with an emergency contact and show that they have official business in the building. It would not be required to register with the state, as day-care centers are.

The start-up cost of $150,000 to $175,000 is expected to be funded by grants. The YWCA of Western New York would man the center with at least two paid staff and about four volunteers from Catholic Charities' Foster Grandparents Program or college students majoring in early-childhood education.

The center, for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years, would feature educational toys, and perhaps even computers.

It would be modeled after existing drop-off centers in the Erie County Family Court and Buffalo City Court buildings created by Hon. Sharon Townsend, administrative judge for the 8th Judicial District, in 1994. The idea happened to coincide with similar statewide initiatives, but Townsend believes Buffalo's two centers have the highest numbers in the state.

"Last year we served over 7,000 children between City and Family courts, so it just tells you it's a good place for these kids," said Beverly Thomas, YWCA director of children's services, who oversees the centers.

Getting personal

Sizemore said she personally experienced the challenge of standing in line among unhappy children on the building's seventh floor when she sought to garnish her ex-husband's wages for child support. She said it's tough enough to go through the "humbling experience" of requesting county services without being near impatient, unoccupied children.

Before the two court drop-off centers existed, Townsend said, children "were being exposed to things they shouldn't see or hear and disrupting the proceedings.

"Children don't belong in courtrooms unless they're part of the proceedings," she said.

The centers' impact has been "huge," she said, and is also a good way to put families in touch with additional services, such as donations of mittens and hats.

Townsend said she plans to add a "teen space" in Family Court for youths ages 12 to 18.

"It will be a quiet space for them to wait," she said, "so they're not in the waiting room, where it can be emotional, and (to relieve) just the anxiety of coming to court."