Courthouse Dogs Foundation

Mission

The mission of the Courthouse Dogs Foundation is to promote justice with compassion using professionally trained courthouse facility dogs to provide emotional support to everyone in the justice system.

Description

WHAT IS A COURTHOUSE FACILITY DOG?
Courthouse facility dogs provide caring support--a warm, furry shoulder to lean on--most often for abused children involved in stressful legal proceedings. When a child has been harmed, they routinely need to be questioned by an investigator--without a loved one close by for reassurance--and may be required to testify in person against the accused. Children try to be brave, but often they're afraid to even look at the defendant, let alone testify against them.

BENEFITS
When a dog is available to calm the child, this reduces the amount of additional trauma they must endure.  Of course, this is beneficial all by itself; but in addition, the dog's presence helps the child feel secure enough to tell her story, which helps justice to be served.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
With fewer than 388 of these specially-trained dogs available in the entire country, many children do not have access to this kind of support. As a result, they may be re-traumatized during an investigation and trial, and their voices are often not heard.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Your contribution can help bring a courthouse facility dog to every community so that more children can feel safe enough to tell investigators and juries what happened to them.