...at least I feel like it is.
Things have been going well in Sleepy County. From my seminar class, I've learned that our counties is one of the best in terms of internships. A lot of other people in DFCS aren't doing much or the case managers don't seem to want interns coming along.
The other girl from my class, Scarlet, and I have become pretty good friends this semester. We share a little office, so I guess we were forced to become friends!
Some highlights
- Hmong family. Teacher reported a little boy said his dad had beat his mom with a vacuum cleaner. The case came into Gigi (who is becoming my favorite case manager!). The family had 8 kids (5 in elementary school, 2 in middle, 1 at home) Scarlet went with Gigi to document the younger kids' interviews and I went to the middle school.
I was very impressed by Gigi's skills. She made the kids very comfortable, chatted it up like they were old friends, and got a lot of information out with out making it seem like big scary DFCS. We also went to their home and met the parents. The mom had MS and it was very sad to see her suffering. By the end of all the interviews Gigi thought the little boy had gotten some details from a movie mixed up with real life.
- I saw a grandmother give up her rights to her grandchildren in court. She was pretty old and just felt like she couldn't handle their behaviors any more. She was so upset and it just felt so cold in the court room. She was at one table, all by herself.
- Sat in on the family team meeting for the 12 & 15 year old and their family who I met a few weeks ago. I had no idea these types of meetings took place. It was great to see how CM's and families work together to form a plan for their reunification.
- I copied an entire case file for a family who had moved to Virginia and their children were taken into care there. There were four full files. I'm sure I killed an entire forest yesterday!
- Went out an interviewed a family with a mother with a no contact bond. Daughter (17) was on the toilet screaming for toilet paper, mom got mad, a fight ensued. Mom hit daughter with a frying pan, then slapped the son. The daughter called 911, because she thought the cops would just tell them to get counseling. The cops arrested the mom. The daughter was distraught and felt like she had made a mistake. She said she was being really disrespectful...cursing her mom out and such. She thought the frying pan hit was an accident.
I've seen some crazy stories!
- I was able to attend the last day of a TPR hearing. There were three girls. (like 13, 15, 16 maybe) Abusive dad and mom wouldn't leave the dad. Neither parent showed up. All three girls really wanted to go home with their mom, but admitted they were scared of dad. I didn't get to hear the judges ruling, but DFCS, the GAL, and the CASA worker all recommended TPR.
I'm enjoying my time at DFCS, but I don't think I want to work for DFCS anymore. (Does it help that all the CM's tell me not to work there?) I would still love to do work in child welfare, but not in this capacity. I turned in my application for next year and I put the local hospital as my first choice. I've been reading about pediatric oncology social workers and thinking I might like to do that or least work in a hospital for a while.
I spoke with a professor about applying for my doctorate. I was hoping to just apply right after this, but was worried I would need experience. She confirmed that, but said she had some good resources for me. I'm meeting with her this coming week, so we shall see how it goes!
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