Beyond the Bench

For those of you who aren’t in the know, earlier this year the School of Government’s Judicial College started a podcast, Beyond the Bench. A podcast is essentially a radio show that you can get on the internet, so you can listen any time you want.  “Beyond the Bench” is about the North Carolina court system and features interviews with interesting people who work in the courts. Our first season was hosted by my colleague, Jeff Welty, and focused on criminal law.

Season Two: Homelessness, Neglect, and Child Welfare in North Carolina

I am the host of Season Two, which focuses on neglect and the child welfare system with a particular emphasis on homelessness. Through six episodes, you will hear about family homelessness in North Carolina, whether homelessness is neglect and requires a report to a county child welfare (or social services) department under North Carolina’s mandated reporting laws, and the different stages of a child welfare case. Each episode discusses a different stage in a child welfare case and includes the various voices and perspectives of the people involved. Those voices include homeless shelter staff, county department social workers and attorney, the children’s guardian ad litem, a parent attorney, and district court judges. 

The first episode, “Without a Home,” airs this Friday, November 4th. A new episode will be released every two weeks (with a slight adjustment for the University’s winter break). Although the podcast has a legal focus, it is intended to be accessible to everyone, not just lawyers.

Listen

To listen to a two-and-a-half (2.5) minute preview of what you’ll hear and who you’ll hear from during Season Two, check out my “teaser.” You have two options:

(1) Stream the podcast (meaning listen to it through a website). To Stream our podcast, go to podcast.sog.unc.edu and click the play button for the Latest Episode (S02 Episode 00 Welcome to Season 2 of Beyond the Bench).

(2) Download the podcast on your phone, tablet, or computer and listen to it anytime (even when you aren’t connected to the internet). For iPhones and iPads, use the Podcasts app, which you can get from the App Store (it actually comes installed on newer devices). In the Podcasts app, search for “Beyond the Bench” and hit subscribe. For Android phones and tablets, try the Stitcher app from Google Play. In Stitcher, search for ‘Beyond the Bench’ and click the plus sign (+), to add it to your Favorites List. In the Favorites List, tell it to download new episodes by clicking the gear in the upper right corner.