Our Story

 How did we get here?​

Juvenile Offender Advocate was founded in 2020 by Julita Sanders. Julita was a troubled teen carrying trauma from an early age that continued to increase as an adolescent into a young adult. "As a teenager I was walking around angry and feeling alone. I was known as the "Black Sheep" of the family. By age 16, I had been molested, pregnant twice, mentally abused and attempted suicide twice. The only way I knew how to deal with my trauma was to drink alcohol. Eventually, I began to hang out with the wrong crowd skipping school and fighting. I recall, Mr. D my high school principal calling me to his office on a daily asking me to give him my weapons. Somehow, he knew that I carried weapons and he made sure he took them away from me. One day before my bus made it to school I got into a fight. During that fight I pulled out a knife. I remember is the school bus driver asking me to put the weapon down. That was a traumatic event for me as well as the other students on that bus. The police were called, I got arrested, attended a school board hearing and was kicked out of regular school. I was sent to alternative school for three months. The one thing I had going for me were my grades. I was a pretty good student. That being said, my high school principal, the assistant principal, my bus driver and a few of my teachers were all in attendance. They advocated for me to return to school. If I did not have them advocating for me, I would not be where I am today! I sincerely thank you all! I know what it feels like to be judged, and treated like you are not a good person because of how you choose to deal with unwanted trauma.