Whirlwind!

Today was very first day as a social worker. Kind of!

* remember names are always from my imagination :)

Overall, I would rate my first day as a 7. Considering, Leigh (my contact supervisor) didn't tell anyone we would be starting today, I did get to see a lot.

The county I am working in is about 20 miles away. So of course, in my head I calculate that it will probably take me about 45 minutes to get there and I'll probably want to be early just to make a good impression.  Right?  Wrong!  I sat in my car for almost an hour, waiting for Leigh. I finally called her cell close to 8:30 and she didn't answer. She did drive up about 10 minutes later though.

When we walked in the office - she confirmed that I wanted to do mostly foster care.  In walks Isla. I am immediately handed over to Isla who is going to court for the day. Joy! We chat a bit in the car and arrive at the courthouse.  It's quite an impressive building and when I commented on it she told that it had just opened in April. Fancy stuff!

Our first order of the day was an adoption finalization. Isla had placed six different children in the home of a single mom and she was going to be finalizing the adoption of the last one that day. She was very excited and I could tell this was one of those cases for her. You know, one where it's not just client/social worker, but a friendship. Well this family breaks stereotype number 1 in my little world. In walks this lady with 6 little white kids.  I know there are Caucasian children in foster care, but I don't think I have ever seen a picture/met a family who had this many foster kids and not one of them be a minority. The finalization took all of 5 minutes. Isla cried.

Then we sat in the lobby for a good hour waiting to be called for a case. The case is called. From what I could tell it involved 3 sisters. Sister3 was homeless and had signed over rights to Sister1. Sister1 wanted to sign those rights over to Sister2. It came to light, that though the court had sent a letter to Sister3 to notify her of the meeting (and Sisters 1&2 had talked to Sister3 - so she knew about the meeting) the letter had not been sent certified. It was sent 1st class.  And since Sister3 signed over her rights voluntarily they needed her to switch them.

After this we went back to the office. I ate lunch with another worker and sat around her office for about 2.5 hours not doing much.

Then I was given to Emile (sociology undergrad too!)  We had the most fun. He was very talkative and engaging. We went to sit in on a school meeting. The meeting was about the Winters. Mr/Mrs Winter are an older couple who had no children. They were granted custody of three cousins (6,7,8). They voluntarily gave up their rights when they couldn't handle the children's behavior. They did a case plan and regained rights in the fall. Mr. Winter was not in the meeting. Mrs. Winter is a very stubborn woman. I can think of no other ways to describe her.

We met in the principals office and there were SO many people there. Each teacher, counselor, 3 interns, teacher's aide, IEP lady, district rep, principal, social worker, and kids' therapist. Right off the bat - the tension was heavy. I was APPALLED at how the teachers and school counselor treated Mrs. Winters. There was a light of sighs, eye rolls, talking under their breaths, etc.  One teacher stormed out in the middle of the meeting with a loud door slam.

Many issues were discussed, but I think the main reason nothing was getting accomplished was because the school did not think the Winters' were fit parents.There was so much going on, I don't even think I could list it all. Mrs. W didn't want to teachers to give the kids a snack if they had eaten their snack from home on the bus or if she didn't send one. The teachers didn't think that was fair. Mrs. Winters didn't want the teachers to hug the children, because she is trying to teach them proper boundaries. Compromise was made to offer side hugs and make sure the children ask before. Mrs. Winters has to deal with a lot of sexual behaviors at home that the children aren't usually displaying at school - so she sends them to school with punishments. Teachers don't think it's fair. Just around and around and around.  With little respect, nothing much was accomplished. I too, would be defensive if my child's teacher was implying that they have to feed my child because I am not.

Though I was amazed at the lack of respect towards Mrs. Winter, it was easy to see why the teachers were behaving that way.  Mrs. W kept bringing up past offenses (like from the last school year) of things she didn't like. Even after the therapist explained to her that keeping snacks away from kids who hoard isn't going to help, she still didn't want to let the kids have two snacks, etc. etc.

I caught a glimpse of the kids on the way back to the car and they were beautiful :)  Hard to imagine they had been through so much.

When we arrived back at the office I was able to read a few of the files Isla was closing.  Awful.

I don't really have many thoughts about today yet.  Though I did post a facebook message after work about not being sure I was cut out for the job.  I need to think back on the day and what made me feel that way.  I know a lot of it had to be with being assertive, something I know I need to work on.


I also discovered I have severe phone phobia!  I HATE making a phone call with other people in the room. At one point I had to make some calls to ensure an infant was being taken to his well baby exams.  That was hard work in an office full of people!

I know this probably doesn't make much sense, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot the details of today. If you made it through this far, I am sorry for going on and on!

Change

I love this song :)

Almost there

Did my last presentation today.

My research paper on adoption and first mothers is due Tuesday at 12. After that, I AM HOME FREE. I'm flying home on the 16th for the holidays.

Next semester, I have two electives: Forensic Social Work and Adoption & Foster Care.  Required classes...I can't remember.  LOL, sad I know.

This program as definitely been a learning experience. I snickered at orientation when they talked about how we would come to know ourselves in a different light. So true. Coming from such a closed minded under-graduate school and city, it's been eye-opening to me to see people who are so different from me in class. It's forced me to think about how I really feel. I've had many debates in my head about my beliefs and why I believe what I believe. If certain beliefs are actually biblical or just someone's interpretation.  I've had to learn how to take my own beliefs out of the equation, when it comes to other people.  In that case, it doesn't matter what I think is right or wrong.  Harder to do than I thought.

I think everyone should have to take some social work classes and get uncomfortable, it's good for you!

Thankful

Today I am thankful for -

I stumbled up Francesca after hearing "It's my Life" being played in the Jon & Kate Plus 8 finale commercials. I downloaded that one song and a friend asked me if I had heard her others.  I had not,so I did a bit of research.  I have been listening to her entire CD non-stop for the past few days.  It is that good!

If you like Christian music, I would highly suggest it for this holiday season :)

I have been enjoying my week off and I can't believe it's almost over.  I have done a whole lot of nothing.  I'm here by myself, but I have been enjoying it.  I've seen quite a few movies this week and it's been fun to entertain myself.

Only 2 more weeks of this semester left!

I changed my blog again, lol.  But this time, I did the whole template. I love it, but I did lose all my widgets in the process.  Hopefully I'll be able to get at least my bloglists back up soon.

Here's a link to a list of free blogger background/template sites: http://butterflygirlmsblogdesigns-designers.blogspot.com/

Mine came from: http://lenatoewsdesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/detailed%20templates

Overhaul

of this blog.

Learned about wordle over on Eyes Opened Wider.

My header is supposed to be all thew  words from the song, Hazel by Bob Dylan.

Hazel, dirty blonde hair
I wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with you anywhere
You got something I want plenty of
Ooh, a little touch of your love.

Hazel, stardust in your eye
You're going somewhere and so am I
I'd give you the sky high above
Ooh, for a touch of your love.

Oh no, I don't need any reminder
To know how much I really care
But it's just making me blinder and blinder
Because I am up on the hill and still you're not there.

Hazel, you called and I came
Now don't make me play this waiting game
You've got something I want plenty of
Ooh, a little touch of your love.

I don't know why it's not centered - but I guess it will do.
 

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!

November, you say?!

I can't believe I've made it this far!

First semester of school almost over.  Classes have been going well.

We were finally assigned our placements for next semester. I will be working in DFCS, in a county about 30 minutes away from where I live.  I'm excited, nervous, anxious, unprepared, etc.  I tried calling my contact yesterday with no luck.  I'll have to try back on Monday.  Quite a few of my friends are in DFCS as well, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of people the talk with.

Added a new member to the fam yesterday...hoping I don't regret this, lol! Fin is giving me a run for my money.