A Cameron County man upset over being required to attend parent sessions with the Darrel Hester Juvenile Detention Center.
His child is on probation, but he says he feels like he is too, after getting reprimanded but the juvenile court for failing to attend the sessions.
Alfonso Benavides is not pleased with the juvenile probation system, more specifically, the program requiring parents of delinquents to attend classes.
"Some of us are getting them back-to-back," Benavides said. "This last one is a 16 week series. It meets on Wednesdays from 6 to 9 o'clock at night."
Benavides didn't disclose his child's offense, but believes the mandatory sessions he and other parents must attend cut into time spent with all their children and claims the program has already cost him one job and is jeopardizing another.
"Actually, I was terminated from my last job for it because of coming in and out of court and attending sessions like this," Benavides said. "That gets in your way."
CEO at the center Tommy Ramirez disagrees.
"He's going to lose his child if he doesn't make an effort to come and participate," Ramirez said. "The job he can find another one he can't find another child."
Ramirez doesn't believe the judge making the rules about these sessions should bend and is in agreement with the system that those parents who do not comply with the program, be reprimanded for not showing up.
"The parents are an important part of rehabilitation of their children," Ramirez said.
But Benavides said it’s as if the parents are being punished for their children’s acts.
Ramirez says that's part of the solution, getting parents to take responsibility for their children while bringing them closer together in a structured setting.
"That's the least a parent can do," Ramirez said.
Benavides says his entire family is now suffering for the offenses his son committed.
"I have two other kids that I'm sacrificing because of all of this," Benavides said.
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