DFCS

Today I went to meet my field supervisor for next semester, I'll call her Leigh.

The drive over wasn't too bad.  It took me about 25 minutes, so while not the worse, I'll definitely be watching my money a little more closely next semester.  I was surprised to see a lot of the county offices on the same street. (Mental Health, Head Start(would have loved to be placed here!), DFCS, Sr. Citizens Outreach, etc.)

The DFCS offices are spread out over a couple of buildings and my supervisor was in the back.  She was a very sweet woman and graduated from my program about 5 years ago. She asked me if I was more interested in CPS or foster care/adoption and I told her foster care. 

She told me a little about their program and how it is heavily based on reunification and the integration of foster families and birth families.  In most cases foster families and birth families work together on issues concerning the child.  She also said they have come a long way in how many children they have in foster care. A few years ago it was around 200 and now it's down to about 60. 

I'll be shadowing people mostly.  Going out to inspect foster care homes, going to court, going to visit children in group homes or hospitals, attending treatment meetings, etc.  Possibly even going along for the removal of children from their homes...don't know if I'm ready for that! 

I'm very excited and I got a really good vibe from Leigh. I'll be there Thursdays and Fridays from around 8:30-5.  A few of those Fridays are furloughs, so yay! 

She mentioned that they were able to hire both their 2nd year interns from last year.  That sent a "Would I stay in this state if they offered me a job?!" through my head.  I don't think I want to stay here though. If it was the only offer I received, I guess it wouldn't be smart to turn it down. But I really want to move back to my home state when I'm done with this program.  That is a year and a half away...so I've got time!

Another week -

down.

I met with my advisor today to turn in a preliminary schedule for next semester.  In addition to 15 hours, we will be in an agency from 8-5 two days a week. I hear it's a tough time!  I'm a bit nervous about the workload(I'm also a graduate assistant, so two jobs!), but I realize I'm not the first or the only one going through this.  I chose Adoption and Foster Care and Forensic Social Work as my two electives. Hopefully I'll be able to get them.

I'm interested to see the perspective the adoption class is taught from.  I'm hoping to research the other side of adoption in my research class, but I'm not having much luck. No one seems to be writing articles (I should say, peer reviewed) about adoption agency coercion, regrets about relinquishment, long term effects of adoption on birth parents, or why there isn't more emphasis on preserving natural families.  I'll keep on searching though...

I have a hard time explaining to people what I mean when I say I am interested in adoption. Of course, EVERYONE gushes and smiles and tells me they want to work in adoptions too or that it sounds so fun.  And I have to explain...no, that's not what I'm talking about. Then I fumble around with words like regrets, coercion, adoption not usually necessary, permanent solutions, etc...and most people just nod and walk away.  I feel like no one else is interested.  Are there even agencies that operate from a standpoint of empowering first mothers to parent?  I don't know...hopefully this adoption/foster professor will have some answers.

We had a guest speak who is the director of a mental health program at a large hospital today. I never thought I would be interested in working in this area, but after today I might look into that.

End of the Week.

I'm finally feeling like this place is home. 
I moved about 16 hours from where I'm from. New state. New people. New school. 

But finally after almost 3 months here, I think I'll be alright :)

We had a potluck at cohort's home last night. It was the first time a big group of us had hung out, outside of class.  It was great to see everyone dressed up and "fancy-free". It feels good to be among your own and people who understand your career.  

We turned in all our application materials yesterday (for our practicum). We register for next semester in about 2 weeks.  I feel like this semester has flown by and we'll finally be doing something!  We had to fill out a form about places we wouldn't feel comfortable working, which everyone jokes is really asking us because they will put us there.  We'll see if that's the case. I put that I did not want to work in a prison or any kind of halfway house.  I guess if I did have to work in a place to get me out of my comfort zone, I would rather it be there now than in my concentration all year.

I've recently become interested in social work in hospitals, specifically oncology.  I need to do some more research into it though. We have groups present hot topics in our Human Behavior class and last week a group did one on suburban youth.  It wasn't news to me, I work at a camp with these kids every summer. I would even venture to guess that some of the stats for drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. might even be higher than those of urban youth.  My dream job would be to work in private schools with these youth.  But I know it will never happen, because these rich kids don't have any problems, right? 

Hello world!

Hello world was the first output we had in my high school computer science class. I figure it fits here too.

I'm brand spankin' new to the field of social work. I'm scared out of my mind...and excited.

Right now we are in our first round of classes, 5 to be exact.  Next semester we will be spending 16 hours a week in the field, in addition to a few classes.

I'm feeling quite unprepared for next semester and a real burden of responsibility. I mean, these are people's lives we're talking about!