Jury Duty with Baby?

Try and get out of jury duty. Tell them your husband and you are seperated having marriage difficulty and your the sole caregiver.

I'd be screwed too if I was summoned. I am a single mom to 2 and have no help, no daycare so I know where you are coming from you can't put your life on hold and tell your kids to fend for themselves mommy has jury duty.

I would NOT lie.......

Usually you just call in the night before and see if you actually have to show up. More often than not, even if you have to stay for the day, you get let out early....

Ask a relative or a teen babysitter if they could be "on call" in case you would get delayed. OR could you talk to your provider and ask her to help you out??? (IF it's a center, I doubt they would but I did childcare for 5 years and ALWAYS worked with my parents who had something come up!)

call the number you are supposed to call and explain your situation. i have been chosen for duty 2 times before and got out of it both times - the first because i was in college and out of the county and the 2nd because i was running my child care business, and couldnt just leave them hanging. (and my own son as well).
so they let me off. just tlak to them and see what they say.

Melissa,
I'm sorry - Jury duty with a baby or small children is hard. I was summoned with a 6 month old. I am a stay at home mom so I didn't even have a daycare to go to and none of my friends could help. I ended up having to have my mom take time off work and come in from out of town to stay with me. If you can do something like that, I would recommend it. Or if you have a friend you could even offer to pay to watch your daughter. I was lucky - I was only there 4 days (i think) and wasn't chosen. I was usually leaving by 4:30 or earlier each day - but that isn't a gauarntee. If you can't have a friend or family member watch your daughter, do you at least have someone who could be on call to pick her up from daycare if needed?
Good luck - bring lots to do. It can be really boring.

If you are the primary care giver of your baby, then you can be excused. I have been summoned a couple times since the birth of my son, and have not had to appear.

Hi Melissa, I was called for jury duty with 2 of my children. I actually wrote a letter asking to be excused both times. And was excused both times. I simply told them that I was not willing to pay to put my child in daycare because I am a stay at home mom and that I was still nursing. I look forward to serving in this way at some point but with little ones at home it just wasn't an option. They just sent me a letter in return saying that I was excused. If was so thankful that it wasn't a big deal. I was worried I would kind of have to fight for it. So maybe asking to be excused would be an option. Good Luck! If you are curious as to what my letter said exactly, you are welcome to email me. alh

Melissa,

Chances are you will just be excused the first day. They summons 3-4 times as many people as they actually need and weed them out. The only time I have been summoned was when I had a baby. When they found out it would be a 30 minute drive into the city for me and I had a baby, I was immediately excused even though I was very willing to do the jury duty. If you don't want to deal with it, you can also claim a hardship to be excused - and finding day care and taking long busrides counts as a hardship.

Good luck,
S.

You can be excused from Jury Duty if you have childcare issues. You should follow the instructions on the summons to request to be excused.

I have been summoned by the court for jury duty more times than I care to remember and each time, the first thing I do is contact the judge's clerk in person or by phone and ask what type of childcare options will be provided. I also inquire as to where I may nurse my baby/toddler during court, or have a nanny caring for my child in court. They never have any provisions in this way and they always suggest I write a letter to the judge requesting a deferment of service. I make sure in the letter to outline the fact that while I take seriously my civic duty to perform jury duty, I also appreciate my duty as a parent of small children and that I am currently unable to do both tasks simultaneously at this time but would be more than happy to serve once I find myself with round-the-clock childcare. Oh and by the way, in court we address a judge as "Your Honor", but in a written correspondence such as a letter we open with "Dear Judge (her/his last name here)__,"

Good luck! If they deny your request go get a letter from your child's doctor indicating they are not old enough to be away from you for indefinite amounts of time without a caregiver supervising them....or if you are still nursing, a medical note stressing the importance of your child to be fed.

I wouldn't lie, but I would present my case to them using as much of the difficulty of appearing in jury duty as possible. I got out of it once because we lived in one county, and I taught and had daycare in another--about 30 miles, or a 50 minute drive, away, and I would have had to drive my son to daycare (50 min) and drive back to where the courthouse was (1 hr 15 min) just to start my day, and then do it all again at the end of the day. I think I've also heard of breastfeeding moms getting out, so if that applies, use it, although your daughter is 22 months and if you're still nursing, she probably doesn't actually need it during the day.

My Uncle is a court officer and no lie... he says if you're chewing gum during the Jury selection you will not be picked. Sounds crazy huh! He has no idea why it is, but it's been like that for the 30 years he's been w/ the courts.

I've been summoned twice.

The first time, I was never selected, and there didn't happen to have that many trials going those days, so I ended up being able to leave mid-day.

The second time, I did have a conflict with the original dates, so I followed the instructions to get assigned to another day. When my new dates did come up, I was selected to be on a jury. It ended up being a one day case and we deliberated just long enough that supper was provided, but I want to say we were done around 7pm.

I also have been summoned several times to federal court. Call the number and tell them you are the sole provider for your child without childcare other than you. You should be released from the list.

I have been summoned a couple of times and excused because I stay home and care for my children during the day. I wrote a letter stating this and had no problem being excused.

Hello...I had jury duty a couple years ago...and I saw you are from Milwaukee...I am too:) Anyway, I actually called the number and was able to reschedule it a couple times...they actually asked me what date/day I preferred and I was able to make it for a time when my husband was off of work (I stay home with my kids during the day and don't really have any options for someone to watch them if need be)--he's a teacher so I did it over his spring break. I started on a Monday and it went until Thursday...it all depends on whether or not you get picked for a trial or not and how long it lasts. I don't believe they ever kept us past 4pm...probably would be 5 at the latest...it started at 8am every day. I didn't take the bus; my husband dropped me off...I know there's a parking garage but you have to pay and street parking is VERY limited. Anyway, I don't know if you could call and try to reschedule like I did maybe for a more convenient time...hope this helps; let me know if you have any other questions.

the form i was sent actually asked what ages my children were and if any of them were breastfeeding. i answered honestly and had to go to court once for only 4 hours i wasnt even selected but they ask you if you have any reason that you can't serve on the jury. given the case that was up i couldn't have served anyway because it was about young children and i had a very strong opinon to one side rather than the other.i would have been in a tough place had i been selected my husband could care for our son but he was only 6 months old and i had very little pumped milk. I was prepared to ask them what times breaks would be so that my husband could bring my son to me to be fed. they had the jury forms there so they woudl have seen my reasons. just get the daycare for the day that you go and i am sure you can explain that you have time issues as to how late you can serve. they want people that can pay attention. had it not been for my sons needs i would have liked to have served it is an interesting process

Actually, I couldn't get out of jury duty even though I am the primary caregiver. So don't count on that! I think that if you are breast-feeding your child, you can get excused, but not if you aren't. Good luck.