The kids were getting the short end of the stick in every way," he said. "One of the things I said was I can't believe I didn't know all this stuff is going on. If people knew this was happening, they would stop it."

Opening courts will help children in two ways, he said.

First, it will improve the performance of workers.

"The system actors don't have the benefit of oversight," he said. "They can get sloppy, and they do. They can get nasty, and they do."